Love Your Favorite Team, No Matter What

Last weekend, I spent my Sunday afternoon watching Season 5 of "24" and playing the latest edition of Madden 2009.

As I was sitting there, playing an exhibition game between the Eagles and Bengals, all of a sudden I got really excited for football season.

One week from tomorrow (August 28), the 2009 NFL season will officially kick off between the Redskins and Giants. Even though I'm a die-hard Eagles fan, the fact that I will be able to actually watch a game next Thursday night excites me.

As a student in Dayton, OH, there aren't too many Eagles fans around. A majority of my friends are either Bengals, Browns, or Steelers fans. Throughout the years at Dayton, I have caught myself watching some of my friend's favorite teams during Sunday afternoons.

The one thing I can't stand is when my friends give up on their team so easily.

After the Browns exciting 10-6 record last year, I already hear some of my friends talking about how the Browns don't have a chance at making the playoffs this year. Where is the faith? I don't even know how I'm supposed to react to comments like that when all of the teams in the NFL are currently tied for first with a 0-0 record. 

I don't mean to sound conceited, but I'm pretty sure I'm one of the best at loving my Eagles no matter what type of situation they are in. Let's take a trip down memory lane to last season.

One Sunday evening back in November, the Eagles made the trip up to Foxboro to take on Tom Brady and the undefeated New England Patriots.

I won't deny the fact that the Eagles 5-6 record that season was very disappointing. I'm not one to live in the past, but there are certain games the Birds lost that season that I knew would hurt us later on.

Opening week took place in Green Bay at the historic Lambeau Field. Don't get me wrong, I love what Favre and the Packers had done at this point in the season. I will never respect any athlete as much as I respect Brett Favre (best of luck adjusting to the New York life my friend). The man has ignored the idea of retirement for years, and has proved he still has some gas left in the old tank (I'm sure Aaron Rodgers was loving the millions of dollars he was making while he waited for his time to shine).

Despite their strong record that season, we handed that game to the Pack during opening week. Thanks to Greg Lewis (who I'm pretty sure has never returned a punt in his life) and J.R. Reed (attempting to dive for a punt, is this guy for real?), a couple of fumbles pretty much gave the game to the Packers.

Week 2 against Washington...well we just couldn't do squat in the red zone. Four field goals and no touchdowns will not give you a W in the win column. I'll pay my respect to Jason Campbell, who led an excellent drive for the game-winning touchdown. Give that guy a few weapons on offense with his arm and you have yourself a dangerous quarterback in the future.

The Chicago Bears...words can't even describe how I felt after this game. Brian Griese. Brian Griese. Enough said. 97 yard drive with no timeouts under two minutes left in the game with Brian Griese as your quarterback.

Like I said, I hate to live in the past but those are three games the Birds could easily have won right there. When I look back at the Eagles strong finish with an 8-8 record, all I kept thinking about was how we could have easily made the wild card.

Now that I got all of that out of my system, I guess I should get to the point of my entry. Love your team...no matter what. Your favorite sports team isn't going exceed all expectations every year.

I respect the fans of teams such as the 1-15 Dolphins or the St. Louis Rams who still show up to the games.

That Sunday, not one person in this country gave the Birds a shot to beat the New England Patriots. Tom Brady had more weapons last year then Bruce Willis in any one of his "Die Hard" movies. I even thought it would be a long shot to stop the New England Patriots at the time. However, that didn't make me think we didn't have a chance of winning.

When I went home for Thanksgiving break, the headline in Friday's "Daily News" was a picture of Underdog in an Eagles jersey. With Donovan McNabb starting, the Patriots were favored to win by more then 3 touchdowns. When Andy Reid announced McNabb would rest and A.J. Feeley would start, Las Vegas removed the game from the betting line because the spread was too high.

To be honest, my expectations were not high for the Eagles to win. It was the New England Patriots for crying out loud. But there was still that part of me that believed we could win.

Any given Sunday any team can shock the world.

This is what bothered me when I went home for break. When talking to other fellow Eagles fans back home, I felt as nobody had the slightest bit of hope. They didn't even believe the Eagles had a chance of pulling of a miracle.

People told me I was nuts for saying the Eagles upsetting the Patriots could happen. Mike Ditka laughed on Sportscenter when he was asked about the Eagle's chances. Nobody gave A.J. Feeley a chance.

Then look what happened.

The Eagles played some of the best football they played all season against the Patriots. Even though we lost by three, I was still alright with how the game turned out. Don't get me wrong, I would have LOVED it if the Eagles pulled off the biggest upset in NFL history. The state of Ohio would have hated me if it happened because I probably wouldn't shut up about it for weeks.

Throughout the game, all of the people who said the Eagles had no chance were starting to believe. A.J. Feeley played the game of his life that night. I always knew A.J. was a solid quarterback. The man led the Eagles to a 5-1 record back in 2003 when McNabb went down and threw for 300+ yards and three scores to the backups in last years season finale against the first string Falcons defense.

If A.J. hadn't thrown two silly interceptions to Asante Samuel, the Eagles would have won the game—there is no doubt in my mind.

I guess what I'm trying to prove here is never give up on your team, no matter how bad the situation might be. Even though it was a long shot, there was still that part of me that believed the Eagles could have won. And what do you know, they almost shocked the world.

As bad as it sounds, the loss could almost be seen in a positive way. The Eagles proved everybody wrong by hanging around with the Patriots. The commentators, the fans, and even friends, the Eagles proved them all wrong and almost pulled off an amazing upset.

No matter how bad the situation seems, sometimes all you have to do is believe.