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

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