By Steve Lienert
The Phanatic Magazine
My brother Mike is a poker dealer on the strip in Vegas and his ride back to Sin City from Phoenix following the NFC Championship Game two weeks ago provided a glimpse of the fan base that has gotten to revel in the spotlight of Super Bowl XLIII.
Needless to say, Cardinals’ fans and their overall cluelessness have officially made me sick.
On the six-hour ride home, Mike tortured himself and listened to ESPN radio following the Eagles’ 32-25 loss to Arizona. He made himself listen to Phoenicians (Phoenixians? Phoenixvillites?) celebrate the biggest football victory most them have ever experienced.
One fan called in to the program and went on a diatribe about how long he’s waited for the Cardinals to deliver a Super Bowl. He spouted off about how long he’s suffered, making Cardinals’ fans out to be Israelites being led through the desert for 40 years.
It was all fine and good right up until the end of the call, when the fan said it was longest nine seasons of his life.
I really don’t know how my brother stopped himself from driving off the side of the road. Mike is a displaced Philadelphian, but like me and everyone else in my family, we’re lifelong Eagles’ fans.
I’m 37 years old and I’ve been suffering with the Eagles since birth. Mike just turned 30. That’s 30 years of championship-less football. My first child is about to be born sometime in the next three weeks and it has already suffered through its first Eagles’ disappointment.
(Seriously, you guys should have seen it. The baby was kicking the crap out of my wife’s uterus for three days after the loss in Arizona. I was so proud.)
Yet that stinkin’ Cardinals’ fan stands a good chance of calling himself a Super Bowl Champion after nine grueling seasons. How did he ever make it through?
Granted, rooting for the Cardinals for nine seasons is like rooting for an actual NFL team for 18 years, but Eagles’ fans my age have done that kind of time standing on their heads.
The best call of the day came from a fan that professed to be a two-year season-ticket holder. First of all, there is no such thing as a two-year a season-ticket holder in Philly. No self-respecting season-ticket holder would call himself a season-ticket holder unless they’ve been to every Eagles home game for at least five straight years.
There have been fans on the Eagles’ season-ticket waiting list three times as long than that guy has owned those, ahem, highly-coveted Cardinals’ tickets.
Anyway, the host of the show asked this guy what the most surprising part of the NFC Championship Game was for him. The fan said that the thing that surprised him the most was the number of people in their seats before kickoff.
Stunned by the answer, the host asked him why that was the case. The fan said that normally Cardinals’ fans keep tailgating in the parking lot until midway through the first quarter before checking the score of the game to see if the Cards are winning.
If they’re winning, they’ll go to the game. If not, they’ll just stay outside and keep tailgating. I kid you not.
If that isn’t a kick to the collective crotch of Eagles’ fans, I don’t know what is.
This is the fan base that has gotten an unexpected invite to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII.
If that isn’t reason enough to root for the Steelers on Sunday, I don’t know what is.
Steve Lienert has been covering the Philadelphia Eagles for the past six months for PhiladelphiaEagles.com. He can be reached at stevelienert@hotmail.com.
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