Running Routes

Bold

"Listen you can call me what you want..."

50 Cent - God Gave Me Style

The NFL Hall of Fame game kicked off yesterday with the Tennessee Titans winning 21-18 against the Buffalo Bills.

Star

Preseason usually doesn't mean much of anything, expect for the fact that it eventually leads to the start of the regular season. However it seems that anything WR Terrell Owens does, becomes BIG news. He has been both the catalyst for achievement and disaster...and while that lays on his shoulders...I think that too much emphasis is placed on him. For the record...he is a football player, and yes he does have a reality show...but at the end of the day he's just an athlete...and more importantly a human being.

People like T.O. and Michael Vick have been placed on an unfortunate level that many other athletes or the average Joe doesn't have to endure. I'm writing this because as I and other members of the media cover the NFL this year...I secretly wish that everyone sticks to the script...does their job, and leaves the judgement and harsh opinions out of their story lines.

I do not expect T.O. to do anything out of the ordinary...yes he wants the football, and yes he wants to win...show me a person that doesn't want to win, and I'll show you a person that doesn't care much about anything else. We should celebrate his hubris, instead of throwing stones at it.

The Buffalo Syndrome

'Mo Betta Blues

“The Buffalo Soldiers, dredlock Rasta’s...”

Lauren Hill – Ready Or Not

The Philadelphia Eagles will enter their 5th NFC Championship game (6th in team history) within the last 8 years, and what’s more surprising than the Eagles opportunity at a Super Bowl berth...is the fact that they will face the Arizona Cardinals.

Bridesmaid, never the bride

The Eagles tied the Bengals (week 11), and lost to the Ravens (week 12), while the Cardinals lost 4 of their last 5 games of the regular season, as no one saw this day approaching, and that’s why the NFL is so great...especially this year. The two teams did meet in Philly, during a week 13, battle of the Birds, on Thanksgiving, with the Eagles prevailing 48-20. The Eagles are the favorite to advance this Sunday, but if they lose either the NFC Championship game or the Super Bowl, then they will qualify for an infamous title, that only the Buffalo Bills fans could understand. Misery loves company, so I wouldn’t be surprised if their fans welcomed Eagles revelers with open arms.

So how tortured are the fans that cheer in the frozen artic of Ralph Wilson Stadium...to put it simply, it’s like being a Red Sox fan circa October 1986. The Bills were a superb team in their days of AFL supremacy, winning back to back titles in ’64, and ’65...prior to the AFL/NFL merger. Since those glory days of yesteryear they returned to a quasi state of prominence beginning in 1990.

Buffalo won the AFC Championship in 1990, 1991, 1992, and again in 1993, however in these four straight trips to the big show, they came up empty each and every time...making their dominance over the AFC, more of a late night talk show hosts’ joke, than any point of strength.

The Atlanta Braves had their fair share of World Series let downs; however they earned their respect from the sports world, by winning it all in 1995 over the Cleveland Indians. The Eagles can equally erase the losses of their past, by winning a Super Bowl within this Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era. Like the Bills, the Eagles have never won the BIG game, as they boast 2 NFC Championship Trophies, and 3 NFL Championships, ’48, ’49, and ’60. The first Super Bowl was played 7 years later on January 15, 1967, thus diminishing the luster of the Eagles’ 3 NFL Championships.

In life and in sport, things don’t always work out the way they should, but all the ‘Birds (Eagles) have to do, is win...it sounds easy, but it’s not.

Any loss within the next two games would prove to be quite the conundrum. The expectations in the City of Brotherly Love are high, after the Eagles did the impossible by not only making the playoffs, but they have beaten the defending champions, as well as the Minnesota Vikings. The Phillies sparked the retro feelings of 1980, and with victories in the next two games, the Eagles can bring to fruition, what was once a childhood dream.
These are interesting times, as a new President will take office next week, and Philadelphia could possibly emerge as TITLETOWN USA.