The two most watched TV shows of the year both happen in February, and they both end with trophy presentations. The winners of the Super Bowl receive a trophy at the beginning of February, and the winners of the Academy Awards receive their trophies at the end of February.
I haven’t seen a trophy hoisted in Philadelphia in a long time.
—–
The Eagles, Phillies, Sixers and Flyers have won a combined 10 championships.
I was alive for 5 of them.
I really only remember 3 of them.
I would trade every one of them for one Eagles Super Bowl victory.
—–
The Philadelphia Flyers won Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975.
The Philadelphia 76ers won NBA Championships in 1955, 1967, and 1983.
The Philadelphia Phillies won World Series in 1980 and 2008.
The Philadelphia Eagles won NFL Championships in 1948, 1949, and December 26, 1960. The reason I know that date is that I was born 368 days later. Those NFL Championships happened so long ago, that they were before the era of the Super Bowl. I have not experienced watching the Eagles win a Super Bowl, because the Eagles haven’t won one.
There have been 49 Super Bowl winners.
The Philadelphia Eagles have never won a Super Bowl.
—–
After the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, Bill Simmons wrote a book entitled “Now I Can Die In Peace”. I understand.
I have a life list (also known as a bucket list). I have “celebrate an Eagles Super Bowl victory” on that list.
It drives me crazy to have something that I can’t control on my life list.
—–
The Eagles were tied with the New England Patriots, 14-14, at the end of the third quarter, in Super Bowl XXXIX, in Jacksonville, Florida.
I know. I was there.
Unfortunately, the Patriots won the 4th quarter, 10-7.
Final score, 24-21.
My favorite Super Bowl will be the one that the Eagles win.
I can’t wait.
—–
A note about the last championship parade in Philadelphia-
The 2008 Phillies were struggling in September. One night, after losing to the New York Mets, I told my wife “they’re done”. At the time, the Phillies were 78-65- they were playing .545 baseball, and were about 3 games out of first place.
I had no idea that they were about to go on an unprecendented tear.
They went 14-5 the remainder of the regular season. That is a .736 clip.
Then they went 11-3 in the playoffs. 3-1 vs. Milwaukee, 4-1 vs. the Dodgers, and then 4-1 vs. Tampa Bay to win the World Series.
After playing .545 baseball for 143 games, they played .757 baseball for the final 25 games.
Remarkable.
—–
The 2015 Phillies are not going to play .757 baseball.
They aren’t going to play .545 baseball either.
They are projected to win about 67 games, or .413 baseball.
I’m not even sure that they will win that many games this year.
—–
The Philadelphia Eagles ended this past season without making the playoffs. After starting the season 9-3, they ended it by going 1-3. The last four games looked sloppy and disorganized. The games were full of mistakes, turnovers and penalties.
The Eagles made the playoffs in 2013. I was very hopeful that 2014 was going to be even better. Instead, they took a step backwards, and looked especially bad at the end of the year. As a result, one thing I’m certain of, is that there isn’t going to be a Super Bowl trophy hoisted here at the end of next season.
Hal