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Am I a "Real" Fan?

Bob Whalon Written by Bob Whalon, Wednesday December 14 2011
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I have always considered myself to be a passionate sports fan.  Growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs, I am a fan of all of the local teams.  I mostly follow baseball and football, so I've known a lot of losing in my lifetime.

The Philadelphia Phillies are one of the best tams in baseball these days, but they have only won two World Series in their entire existence and have lost more games than any other professional sports franchise.  The Philadelphia Eagles haven't won a championship since 1960, which was before I was even born and they have never won a Super Bowl.

My point is that I have seen more losing teams than winning teams and being from Philly I don't just sit back and accept that fact with a smile.  Philly fans boo.  I've written about a fan's right to boo athletes before.  The great athletes get that and have no problem with it.  The athletes who can't handle the booing aren't mentally tough enough to be a winner anyway and therefore justify my booing.  

I was crushed when the Phillies lost to the eventual World Series Champions in each of the last two seasons after winning the World Series themselves in 2009, but at least they are trying.  The Phillies spend more money on their payroll than every team in MLB except the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.  They also embrace their fans and continually try to win.

On the other side of that coin is the Eagles, which is why I'm writing this article.

I don't like this Philadelphia Eagles team and I really do not like the Eagles front office and head coach Andy Reid.  I have even gone so far as to say I was rooting for the Eagles to lose the rest of their games this season so that the franchise would be embarrassed enough to fire Reid.  That is when my fandom was questioned.

I assumed people who didn't know me beyond my articles would rip me and say I'm not a "real" fan.  It was laughable how little those people really knew about football.  But I also took some serious shots from people that I have known all my life who told me that a "real" fan can't root against his team.  I disagree.  A fan is short for fanatic and I certainly am fanatical about sports.  It's just that sometimes I channel my fanaticism into hatred instead of blind Homer-ism.

The critics I know personally are all intelligent sports fans who follow the NFL and are passionate about their hometown teams.  My problem is that I think they are too passionate.  I think it is clouding their judgment.  I mean, just because you are a fan of team doesn't mean you have to think they are going to win all the time.  It's OK to point out when your team does something wrong, or stupid, or as is often the case with the Eagles, downright arrogant.

With the Eagles it has become painfully obvious that they will never win a Super Bowl with an incompetent jerk like Andy Reid running the team.  I have been calling for his firing since he and Donovan McNabb teamed up to cough up a possible Super Bowl win after the 2004 season.  Reid's flaws are obvious to anyone who watches his team blow games and sees the horrible drafts he has regularly produced during his 13-year tenure in Philadelphia.

The national media ate up that "Dream Team" crap because they didn't know any better.  They don't follow the Eagles every day like a real fan would.  Peter King once wrote that "Andy Reid is a former offensive lineman, so you know he likes to run the football."  That is the single most inaccurate statement ever and it proves just how little the national guys know about the inner workings of each professional team.

But the guys who said I wasn't a "real" fan know better.  They all get frustrated by Reid's constant failures as a coach, evaluator of talent and his arrogance during every interview.  His arrogance is completely unacceptable since he has never won a thing.  Bill Belichick gets to be a pompous ass because he won a few Lombardi Trophies.  Reid should be a little more humble.

These guys all get angry at the team when they fail.  They criticize Eagles management when they mistreat the fans.  And none of them has ever seen a Super Bowl Championship parade in Philadelphia.  Yet they get on me for saying that it would be better if the team lost.

It's not easy to root for my team to lose, but I'm looking at the big picture here.  Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is a billionaire even though he never earned a dollar in his life.  He was born rich.  Team president Joe Banner is a money guy who controls the cap and likes the way Reid runs the football operations.  The only way those two would fire Reid is if the bottom fell out of the franchise and it started hurting them in the wallet or hurt the team's public relations.

Since the waiting list for season tickets could fill the stadium again, there is no real threat of them losing money that way.  I even have season tickets myself and will never give them up.  I plan on out-living the "Unholy Trinity" of Lurie, Banner and Reid, which I feel may be the only way to ever see a Super Bowl parade.  

The Eagles are 1-5 at home this season and the fans actually chanted "Fire Andy" during the last home game.  It warmed my heart to hear support for my cause to rid the team of the cancer that is Andy Reid.  It became a national story and if it happens again, it was be a complete and utter embarrassment for the Eagles organization.  That may be the only hope for those of us who want Reid gone.  That's why I want the team to lose.   

I figure that if the Eagles keep losing this season, the fans will become restless and voice their displeasure at the games.  It already happened once, so if this Eagles team continues to underperform and seemingly quit like they have so far this season, it could happen again.

If you watched the Eagles last game at Miami on TV you might have thought it was a home game for the Eagles.  Well, except for the part where the Eagles actually won the game, that is.  You could hear the Eagles fans cheering for their team.  Those are "real" fans.  But I am a "real" fan too?  Those people just have more disposable income to travel to an away game in Miami to cheer on their team.  They also bought those tickets before the season, when the national media hype was in full bloom and the fans thought the Eagles were going to be a good team.  

I take a lot of criticism because I am so passionate about my teams and it comes out in my writing.  I am not afraid to voice a strong opinion and debate anyone who disagrees with me.  I understand that puts an easy target on my back.  That's OK.  I can take the shots and I won't back down.  But that doesn't mean that I am going to accept someone questioning whether or not I am a "real" fan.

Of course I am a real fan.  I support my football team by buying tickets.  I invest my time into my teams.  I invest my heart in my teams.  I love it when they win and hate it when they lose.  Well, until recently that is.

I think a "real" fan can root for his team to lose if it is for the greater good.  The greater good for the Philadelphia Eagles is doing whatever it takes to end the Andy Reid era.  If that means biting the bullet and enduring a horrible season of loses, then it's worth it in my mind.  

I'm in this thing for the long haul.  I was born a Philly sports fan and I will die a Philly sports fan.  All I want is a Super Bowl championship parade someday.  In order to get that, I think Reid needs to go.  Now.

Hey, it's not like the Eagles were going to win anything this year anyway.  This team proved early that they were a gutless bunch of quitters who got carried away reading their own press clippings.  And Reid's God-complex wore out years ago.

I am a real fan and I am rooting for my football team to lose.  If you don't agree with me, that's fine.  Just don't tell me I'm not a real fan because nothing could be further from the truth.

 


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