April 02, 2009

Eagles vs. Phillies

Fascinating discussion on ESPN 950 tonight, as host Dan Schwartzman brought up a dichotomy, that I've noticed myself, between fan response in Philly to the Phillies over the years, and the Eagles now.

The rap on the Phillies over the several years prior to last year's title was the following: the ownership group is cheap and doesn't care about winning as much as money, the team president (Dave Montgomery) is a blue-blooded skinflint who doesn't care what the fans think, the manager (Charlie Manuel) is an idiot who can't handle in-game decisions and should've been fired a long time ago, and the team will never win a championship until all of the above is changed radically.

Lately, especially since the departure of Brian Dawkins, similar talk radio conventional wisdom has emerged about the Eagles- the ownership (Jeffrey Lurie) is cheap and doesn't care about winning as much as money, the team president (Joe Banner) is a blue-blooded skinflint who doesn't care what the fans think, the coach (Andy Reid) is an idiot who can't handle in-game decisions and should've been fired a long time ago, and the team will never win a championship until all of the above is changed radically.

Schwartzman got this far in the argument, but reached the exact wrong conclusion. The correct lesson from the above is that those who said that about the Phillies over the years were wrong, about everything, pretty much all along, and that maybe everyone saying the same things about the Eagles- who have had much, much more on-field success in the last ten years than the Phils did pre-'08- are equally wrong now. Instead, Schwartzman's conclusion was, and I quote, "all these years- we've been killing the wrong team!"

I don't know what's a bigger fallacy, calling the Eagles' last decade- with eight playoffs appearances, five NFC championship games, and one Super Bowl appearance- a "lack of success," or to imply that the fans haven't been killing Lurie, Banner, Reid and McNabb all along. Of course they have.

As I've said often, try going through a four-or-five year stretch without making the playoffs, or a season with Joey Harrington or Dan Orlovsky as your quarterback, or Matt Millen as your GM or Bruce Coslet as your coach. Then come back and let me know how horrible the Eagles are. The ones who played in the NFC championship game two months ago, those Eagles.

"They will NEVER A WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP as long as these owners are in charge." I heard that on WIP about 6,000 times about the Phillies between 2005 and 2008. It was, of course, not true then, and I've got a feeling it's not true about the Eagles now.

By the way, do you know how much the Phillies have been discussed on the two talk stations this spring, as the defending champs return to defend their title? Hardly at all. Sure, some of it has to do with tournament and Villanova's NCAA run, but the fans have had practically nothing to say. Probably because with a champion at last, there's nothing to complain about.

Posted by Stephen Silver at April 2, 2009 10:32 PM
Comments

You will never get it. it's a part of the mentality and mindset of Philly. If its not worth complaining about it's not even worth watching.

Posted by: LilB at April 3, 2009 03:17 PM

I heard the conversation. You have it wrong, Schwartzman said that MONTGOMERY has been the number whipping boy in the eyes of the fans when it should have been BANNER. Now with the Philles having won, Banner takes his rightful place as public enemy #1. THat was what Schwartzman's point was. By the way, in the last decade, the Eagles have exactly NO Super Bowls, therefore not a successful decade overall.

Posted by: at April 20, 2009 09:43 PM
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