The Luggie Heard ‘Round the NFL

By Steve Lienert

The Phanatic

Eagles’ fans are taught at a young age that they root for two teams on Sunday during football season: The Eagles and whoever is playing the Dallas Cowboys.

So, with that said, through the transitive property of mathematics, if the Dallas Cowboys ever played Al Queda in a football game, I’d root for Al Queda.

Why? That’s the way I was brought up as an Eagles fan.

And because the Cowboys always have been, always will be full of smarmy, sketchy and soulless people that will screw somebody over at the drop of a hat if it happens to be in their self-interest.

Not only shouldn’t he lose his job for spitting on the star at midfield of the new Cowboys Stadium last Sunday, but I have three reasons that PhiladelphiaEagles.com editor Dave Spadaro shouldn’t ever have to buy his own beer in this town ever again.

The First Game at The Vet

Most Eagles’ fans that sit in the palatial Linc nowadays probably don’t remember this game, but perhaps a quick refresher will help kick-start my ‘Buy Spuds a Beer’ campaign. On September 26, 1971, the Eagles hosted the Dallas Cowboys in the first game at the Vet.

At the time, the Vet was, well, what Jerry Jones’ palace is to modern times: Beautiful, state-of-the-art and majestic. The Cowboys, led by coach Tom Landry and quarterback Dan Reeves, had built an insurmountable lead heading into the fourth quarter against a hapless Eagles squad.

Landry and Reeves kept throwing the ball, however, running up the score to the tune of 42-7. The Eagles didn’t surrender that many points the rest of the season. But Landry and Reeves wanted to stick it to the Eagles—which gives any Eagles fan, or employee for that matter, every right to spit (or worse) on that crappy star anytime they get the chance.

The 1987 Scab Game

Famously, Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan told his team to either strike or cross, but to do it together. The team, and the NFL players union, went on strike. Cowboys’ owner Tex Schramm then convinced the other owners to use replacement players, or scabs, in an attempt to cripple the players’ union.

Suspiciously though, Dallas had the most regular players in the league cross the picket line and during one of the NFL’s darkest times, Landry and the Cowboys ran up the score again against a Guido Merkins-led Eagles squad, 41-22.

Two weeks later, Ryan got his revenge later when Randall Cunningham took a fake knee and hit Kenny Jackson for a meaningless touchdown in a 37-20 romp at the Vet. But that does not dismiss the fact that Schramm knew the rest of the league’s regular players were going to sit out and that his team could pick up a few wins against inferior competition if he made his players cross.

If running up the score doesn’t make an Eagles fan or employee want to spit on that star, perhaps getting stabbed in the back by the despicable deeds of a Cowboys owner will.

T.O and the Star

As a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Terrell Owens stood on the star at midfield after scoring a touchdown, prompting outrage all over Dallas. As an Eagle, Owens stood on the star in the end zone after scoring touchdown, prompting glee throughout the Philadelphia region.

After Owens got cut by the Eagles, the Cowboys sold their souls once again and signed the malcontent. They reaped what they sowed and he brought down the team for three consecutive years.

The fact that they were willing to take a chance on somebody that ‘disgraced their precious logo’ numerous times tells you all you need to know about that team and their fans.

I would be remiss if I failed to dishonorably mention Michael Irvin, cocaine and the White House in Big D, that Jones unceremoniously fired Landry the first year he owned the team and anything that Nate Newton or Leon Lett have ever done in their lives.

It’s not like Spadaro spit on a person; he spit on a field that gets spat upon all the time during games. Sometimes that spittle happens to land on that ugly star. Spadaro isn’t the first person to do it and he won’t be the last.

The fact that he had the cojones to put it up on the site and not hide it deserves to be applauded rather than chastised. Given the chance, most Eagles fans would do far worse things to that logo.

And make no mistake about it: Spadaro loves the Eagles as much as we do. But being overzealous is not and should not be a fireable offense.

So the next time you see Spadaro out and about, buy him a beer and thank him. It may the closest any of us get to desecrating a star that deserved far worse.

Steve Lienert has been an Eagles season ticket holder for over 15 years. He can be reached at stevelienert@hotmail.com.