The pro football team that represents
Philadelphia, in the
NFC East Division of the
NFL.
The Eagles are, in the best of times, an average to good sports team. They are rarely dominant, and are only consistent in being bad. Nonetheless, the longsuffering fans of Philadelphia are fiercely loyal to this hapless organization, and each year flock to
Veteran's Stadium with high expectations, which are usually dashed by mid-October.
(It must be admitted that the 2000 season was something of a fluke in Philadelphia Eagles sport history, with the team being almost consistently good. They were also consistently bad against the one team they needed to beat to advance to the Super Bowl, the New York Giants.)
Given the team's history, by the time winter weather comes to Philadelphia and snow falls in
Veteran's Stadium, the fans are bitter, angry people. A particularly nasty streak showed itself back in 1968, when the fans subjected
Santa Claus to a barrage of boos and ice balls. In 1989 the city gained another measure of notoriety when the hated
Dallas Cowboys got the
Santa Claus treatment. Now a local judge, Seamus McCaffery, holds court at each home game, and doles out summary justice to ice, beer and punch throwers.
The Eagles give the city of Philadelphia a wonderful inferiority complex, and an attendant "
up yours" attitude. At times, the stupidity of faithfully following a losing football team rises to a certain odd
nobility. With luck, the Eagles will keep losing the big game, and not rob the city of this one benefit of hosting an
NFL team.