Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Where Do Philadelphia Eagles Fans Come From? Part 2 of 5
I had no idea how quickly this answer would come to me. Part one consisted of, boyish dreams, new-found identity, a new group of heros, and immediate success with a football team. Part two would be a rude awakening.
It doesn't take much of a "fan" to suffer through great success. In fact, here in Vegas, we have a name for people that always bet the favorites: Frontrunners. Most young fans start out this way, and I was no different. However, the rite of passage into ANY fan base, would have to be the endurance of defeat and undying support in the face of failure.
At 14 years of age, I would find myself completing this 'rite' right away.
The 1981 season had a few upsides, my new team would go 6-0 right out of the gate and although the 'dynasty' tag was not really thrown around in those days, there were a lot of Eagles believers back then. Wilbert Montgomery would have one of the best seasons of his career, rushing for 1400 yds and receiving another 500+ yds.We also boasted the #1 Defense led by 3rd year linebacker Jerry Robinson. Jerry Sisemore was the lone representative of the offense that year in the pro bowl. Defensively, Jerry Robinson, Frank Lemaster, Charlie Johnson, and Roynell young would all make trips to the Pro Bowl. However, long before the season ended, my Eagles' season ended.
Mid season, it all started to come unraveled. The Eagles would lose 6 of their last 10 games to finish 10-6 and then, only to be eliminated in the playoffs by the dreaded and all-evil Giants (with a defense led by a rookie kid named 'Lawrence Taylor'). It was a deflating end. The offense was snubbed in the pro bowl despite having the 4th best rusher (and 4th best offense) in the league.
My old Raiders buddy who was wallowing in the joy of a Superbowl victory over my team, was now bitterly enduring a 7-9 season. The team name-calling began. Just about any derogatory reference for homosexual was retro-fitted to the name Philadelphia, normally, I suppose I would have caved and safely move on to a team that was winning at the time Cincinnati? San Francisco? I couldn't do it. For some reason, the childhood attacks galvanized my support for the team. I survived the onslaught and would utter 5 words for the first time (of many times): "Just wait till next year".
Now, as a fledgling NFL fan, I didn't know much about draft prospects or anything even close to that. But I knew that our pick #20 was not the best position to be picking from, and the guy we got, was named "Mike Quick" and repeatedly I heard announcers say, "His name is Quick, but he is anything but quick". Little would I know that this 1st round pick would be my only bright light in the dark cave of the seasons that would immediately follow.
Start of the 1982 season 1 loss and 1 win, then, end of the 1982 season. The strike would shorten that year to 9 games only. My beloved Eagles, who I SWORE would be back in 1982, came back from the strike to go 2-5, end up with a 3-6 record, and find themselves eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in 4 years. What went wrong? Its hard to say. The coaching staff would claim, correctly, that the Eagles never really played good football from the middle of the 1981 season. Dick Vermeil, my new hero, would quit and utter a phrase that would become a mainstream idiom, he claimed he was "burned out".
Out came the detractors, more childhood name calling, and for me, I just learned to ignore it. I blamed it on the weird strike and guaranteed this team would be back next year! (There I go again)
By this time, I was nearly 15 and had abandoned my 7childish' plastic helmet collection. Gone was the paper route, now I had moved up to mowing lawns, digging ditches, and caring for plants at a plant store. Yep, I was big time, making a grand total of $3 an hour 6 hours a week! It was around this time that I began to invest myself in the Eagles even more. I began to collect football cards like a insane little teenager. My family was poor during those years and I wish I could say that I saved every penny and then hurriedly scampered to the 7-11 to buy some Topps football cards, but unfortunately, my youth was not quite Brady Bunch material. In reality, I bought as many as I could honestly, the rest I "borrowed" with all the integrity of a Las Vegas teenager. Not the brightest moment of my childhood. But within a short time I would go fully legit. In those days, we didn't have the internet with databasefootball.com or nfl.com to get our info. Most kids kept informed from the backs of these chipboard cheapie football cards. I was no different. I had fully immersed myself in the stats, records, and trivia that comprised the Philadelphia Eagles.
The time for my team was dark and only getting darker but strangely, I had developed a trait that Eagles fans have come to know well, and that is "resolve".
Where do Eagles fans come from? They arise during times of plenty, but ultimately are strengthened during times of want.
Part 3 will cover the plunge to rock bottom and strange hope that a cantankerous defensive coordinator and 2nd round draft pick would bring to the City of Brotherly Love.
It doesn't take much of a "fan" to suffer through great success. In fact, here in Vegas, we have a name for people that always bet the favorites: Frontrunners. Most young fans start out this way, and I was no different. However, the rite of passage into ANY fan base, would have to be the endurance of defeat and undying support in the face of failure.
At 14 years of age, I would find myself completing this 'rite' right away.
The 1981 season had a few upsides, my new team would go 6-0 right out of the gate and although the 'dynasty' tag was not really thrown around in those days, there were a lot of Eagles believers back then. Wilbert Montgomery would have one of the best seasons of his career, rushing for 1400 yds and receiving another 500+ yds.We also boasted the #1 Defense led by 3rd year linebacker Jerry Robinson. Jerry Sisemore was the lone representative of the offense that year in the pro bowl. Defensively, Jerry Robinson, Frank Lemaster, Charlie Johnson, and Roynell young would all make trips to the Pro Bowl. However, long before the season ended, my Eagles' season ended.
Mid season, it all started to come unraveled. The Eagles would lose 6 of their last 10 games to finish 10-6 and then, only to be eliminated in the playoffs by the dreaded and all-evil Giants (with a defense led by a rookie kid named 'Lawrence Taylor'). It was a deflating end. The offense was snubbed in the pro bowl despite having the 4th best rusher (and 4th best offense) in the league.
My old Raiders buddy who was wallowing in the joy of a Superbowl victory over my team, was now bitterly enduring a 7-9 season. The team name-calling began. Just about any derogatory reference for homosexual was retro-fitted to the name Philadelphia, normally, I suppose I would have caved and safely move on to a team that was winning at the time Cincinnati? San Francisco? I couldn't do it. For some reason, the childhood attacks galvanized my support for the team. I survived the onslaught and would utter 5 words for the first time (of many times): "Just wait till next year".
Now, as a fledgling NFL fan, I didn't know much about draft prospects or anything even close to that. But I knew that our pick #20 was not the best position to be picking from, and the guy we got, was named "Mike Quick" and repeatedly I heard announcers say, "His name is Quick, but he is anything but quick". Little would I know that this 1st round pick would be my only bright light in the dark cave of the seasons that would immediately follow.
Start of the 1982 season 1 loss and 1 win, then, end of the 1982 season. The strike would shorten that year to 9 games only. My beloved Eagles, who I SWORE would be back in 1982, came back from the strike to go 2-5, end up with a 3-6 record, and find themselves eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in 4 years. What went wrong? Its hard to say. The coaching staff would claim, correctly, that the Eagles never really played good football from the middle of the 1981 season. Dick Vermeil, my new hero, would quit and utter a phrase that would become a mainstream idiom, he claimed he was "burned out".
Out came the detractors, more childhood name calling, and for me, I just learned to ignore it. I blamed it on the weird strike and guaranteed this team would be back next year! (There I go again)
By this time, I was nearly 15 and had abandoned my 7childish' plastic helmet collection. Gone was the paper route, now I had moved up to mowing lawns, digging ditches, and caring for plants at a plant store. Yep, I was big time, making a grand total of $3 an hour 6 hours a week! It was around this time that I began to invest myself in the Eagles even more. I began to collect football cards like a insane little teenager. My family was poor during those years and I wish I could say that I saved every penny and then hurriedly scampered to the 7-11 to buy some Topps football cards, but unfortunately, my youth was not quite Brady Bunch material. In reality, I bought as many as I could honestly, the rest I "borrowed" with all the integrity of a Las Vegas teenager. Not the brightest moment of my childhood. But within a short time I would go fully legit. In those days, we didn't have the internet with databasefootball.com or nfl.com to get our info. Most kids kept informed from the backs of these chipboard cheapie football cards. I was no different. I had fully immersed myself in the stats, records, and trivia that comprised the Philadelphia Eagles.
The time for my team was dark and only getting darker but strangely, I had developed a trait that Eagles fans have come to know well, and that is "resolve".
Where do Eagles fans come from? They arise during times of plenty, but ultimately are strengthened during times of want.
Part 3 will cover the plunge to rock bottom and strange hope that a cantankerous defensive coordinator and 2nd round draft pick would bring to the City of Brotherly Love.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Where Do Philadelphia Eagles Fans Come From? Part 1of5
The Quick Answer: a 25 cent football helmet machine.
The Long Answer: From years of agonizing ups and downs
where loyalty is tested in the hell fires that spawned
little annoying demons of silver/blue, red/blue, and red/orange.
Growing up in Las Vegas, the "Entertainment Capital of the World", in the late 70's was about as entertaining as watching an off-broadway stage play starring Tony Danza in drag. (Which I think actually ran at the Riviera for a while). But like all desert dwelling kids with nothing to do, I found ways to pass the time.
Like other kids, I had a paper route and blew most of that money on Asteroids,
Space Invaders, and Pinball. I always saved a couple bucks for football cards
(Topps or Fleer chipboard gum-stained variety - we didn't have 'upper deck'
glossy cards back then)and our neighborhood version of childhood gambling:
NFL Football helmets. Yep, thats right, put a quarter in and DAMN if you didn't
get another lame Baltimore Colts or New England Patriots (2-14 that year) helmet!
EVERY quarter was a crap shoot.
I admit, at the point of near-vomiting, I was a bit of a front-runner at 11 and I think the winningest team of the day was the Steelers. I knew nothing about them, I just knew they recently beat the Los Angeles Rams on TV and that was good enough for me. I put a quarter in the NFL Helmet lotto dispenser and instead of a black and gold helmet, out came a Green helmet with silver wings on each side. I thought it was very cool looking. I kept it, despite wanting to trade it at first, and through a little magazine called "Football Digest" (We didn't have ESPN or nfl.com back in those days) I discovered that this was the Philadelphia Eagles, and with a "superback" named Wilbert Montgomery, was a serious up-and-comer in the NFL.
I read anything I could find about them, magazines, football stats from the backs of my Topps, chipboard, gum-stained cards, anything. The next season, I was going to watch for this team.
It just so happened that the season I chose to start following the birds was the 1980 football season. For a little 11 year old front runner, the timing couldn't have been better. I only saw one televised game in Las Vegas that year, Eagles vs Saints (of course we didn't have DirectTV back then). Which was an Eagle blowout. This Eagle team went on to a 12-4 record and I watched them destroy the only team I truly hated in the NFL at the time: The Dallas Cowboys. This new favorite team went to the Superbowl the first season I followed them. It was fate. I'm sure.
I began to trade my worthless Franco Harris, Stallworth, and Bradshaw cards
for the more valuable (in my mind) Jaworski, Carmichael, and Montgomery cards
(which I still have today). I couldn't wait for the Superbowl, my best friend
at the time was (and still is) an avid Raiders fan. He couldn't believe that
I was turning on him and his team to support the Eagles! He was still ticked
off at the Eagles because earlier that year Philadelphia played Oakland and
beat them 10-6.
Coming into this Superbowl game, the Raiders were the "underdogs"
(a new term to me that I would NEVER forget in the subsequent Eagle seasons).
I was sure that my new favorite team was guaranteed a Super Bowl victory
over the evil black jerseyed Raiders!
Then, reality set in, the game started, Rod Martin of the Raiders was EVERYwhere,
he intercepted so many of Jaworski's passes that I think he started calling for
"fair catch" every time Jaworski dropped back to pass (a la John McKay of the Buccaneers). It was awful. We managed 1 touchdown to Keith Krepfle, not even Montgomery or Carmichael! and one Tony Franklin field goal. Despite the
touchdown cutting the Raiders' lead to only 2 touchdowns (24-10)
our defense: Bill Bergey, John Bunting, Randy Logan, etc.
just couldn't stop Pumpkin-head Plunkett and his offense from getting
into field goal range. They scored the final points of the game bring
the final score to 27-10.
At the end of it, I confess, I was 12 years old and crying like a baby. I don't know why. As a 12 year old boy, I knew that crying was evil and make-fun worthy by every OTHER 12 year old boy, but I couldn't help myself. I sensed a great disappointment of missed opportunity. In fact, prior to that game I NEVER had any emotional attachment to any team besides maybe the little church soccer teams I played for, this was truly something I'd never felt before.
In hindsight, I believe that this new found 'attachment' was what made me a true Eagles fan. Even though I had never set foot in Philadelphia and was trapped in a mob-infested desert hell-hole in Nevada: I was still emotionally attached to this football team on the other side of the Earth.
I somehow, came to identify with a professional team, 'bled green' with, if you will, and Dick Vermeil was my new hero and my destiny as an Eagles fan would forever be cemented, despite that loss to the Raiders in Superbowl XV.
Part 1 ends with the Eagles reaching the Superbowl, part 2 will catalogue the excruciating tests of loyalty I was soon to face as a new-born Eagles supporter.
The Long Answer: From years of agonizing ups and downs
where loyalty is tested in the hell fires that spawned
little annoying demons of silver/blue, red/blue, and red/orange.
Growing up in Las Vegas, the "Entertainment Capital of the World", in the late 70's was about as entertaining as watching an off-broadway stage play starring Tony Danza in drag. (Which I think actually ran at the Riviera for a while). But like all desert dwelling kids with nothing to do, I found ways to pass the time.
Like other kids, I had a paper route and blew most of that money on Asteroids,
Space Invaders, and Pinball. I always saved a couple bucks for football cards
(Topps or Fleer chipboard gum-stained variety - we didn't have 'upper deck'
glossy cards back then)and our neighborhood version of childhood gambling:
NFL Football helmets. Yep, thats right, put a quarter in and DAMN if you didn't
get another lame Baltimore Colts or New England Patriots (2-14 that year) helmet!
EVERY quarter was a crap shoot.
I admit, at the point of near-vomiting, I was a bit of a front-runner at 11 and I think the winningest team of the day was the Steelers. I knew nothing about them, I just knew they recently beat the Los Angeles Rams on TV and that was good enough for me. I put a quarter in the NFL Helmet lotto dispenser and instead of a black and gold helmet, out came a Green helmet with silver wings on each side. I thought it was very cool looking. I kept it, despite wanting to trade it at first, and through a little magazine called "Football Digest" (We didn't have ESPN or nfl.com back in those days) I discovered that this was the Philadelphia Eagles, and with a "superback" named Wilbert Montgomery, was a serious up-and-comer in the NFL.
I read anything I could find about them, magazines, football stats from the backs of my Topps, chipboard, gum-stained cards, anything. The next season, I was going to watch for this team.
It just so happened that the season I chose to start following the birds was the 1980 football season. For a little 11 year old front runner, the timing couldn't have been better. I only saw one televised game in Las Vegas that year, Eagles vs Saints (of course we didn't have DirectTV back then). Which was an Eagle blowout. This Eagle team went on to a 12-4 record and I watched them destroy the only team I truly hated in the NFL at the time: The Dallas Cowboys. This new favorite team went to the Superbowl the first season I followed them. It was fate. I'm sure.
I began to trade my worthless Franco Harris, Stallworth, and Bradshaw cards
for the more valuable (in my mind) Jaworski, Carmichael, and Montgomery cards
(which I still have today). I couldn't wait for the Superbowl, my best friend
at the time was (and still is) an avid Raiders fan. He couldn't believe that
I was turning on him and his team to support the Eagles! He was still ticked
off at the Eagles because earlier that year Philadelphia played Oakland and
beat them 10-6.
Coming into this Superbowl game, the Raiders were the "underdogs"
(a new term to me that I would NEVER forget in the subsequent Eagle seasons).
I was sure that my new favorite team was guaranteed a Super Bowl victory
over the evil black jerseyed Raiders!
Then, reality set in, the game started, Rod Martin of the Raiders was EVERYwhere,
he intercepted so many of Jaworski's passes that I think he started calling for
"fair catch" every time Jaworski dropped back to pass (a la John McKay of the Buccaneers). It was awful. We managed 1 touchdown to Keith Krepfle, not even Montgomery or Carmichael! and one Tony Franklin field goal. Despite the
touchdown cutting the Raiders' lead to only 2 touchdowns (24-10)
our defense: Bill Bergey, John Bunting, Randy Logan, etc.
just couldn't stop Pumpkin-head Plunkett and his offense from getting
into field goal range. They scored the final points of the game bring
the final score to 27-10.
At the end of it, I confess, I was 12 years old and crying like a baby. I don't know why. As a 12 year old boy, I knew that crying was evil and make-fun worthy by every OTHER 12 year old boy, but I couldn't help myself. I sensed a great disappointment of missed opportunity. In fact, prior to that game I NEVER had any emotional attachment to any team besides maybe the little church soccer teams I played for, this was truly something I'd never felt before.
In hindsight, I believe that this new found 'attachment' was what made me a true Eagles fan. Even though I had never set foot in Philadelphia and was trapped in a mob-infested desert hell-hole in Nevada: I was still emotionally attached to this football team on the other side of the Earth.
I somehow, came to identify with a professional team, 'bled green' with, if you will, and Dick Vermeil was my new hero and my destiny as an Eagles fan would forever be cemented, despite that loss to the Raiders in Superbowl XV.
Part 1 ends with the Eagles reaching the Superbowl, part 2 will catalogue the excruciating tests of loyalty I was soon to face as a new-born Eagles supporter.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Hope in a Crazy World
This is a video with my nephew and niece performing the skit for Lifehouse "Everything". I called it "Hope in a Crazy World" because that seems to be what the message is about.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Newsmax Carpet Bombers of Popups in Your Browser
I've just had a rather annoying experience with a conservative news site called "Newsmax". I was so frustrated that I wrote a letter to the editor. Hopefully, dude responds so I can post that as well.
I just signed up for the RSS feed for Newsmax, after having turned away from your website a couple years ago.
Back then, I would have my email box bombarded with emails from Newsmax selling all kinds of strange things. Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore and I unsubscribed (repeatedly) from those continual emails, and after much effort, I was free. Now I've moved on to Web 2.0 and have embraced the idea of 'news digest' via an RSS reader...BRILLIANT! I thought. And I immediately sought out conservative news sources to balance the liberal CNN's, Yahoo's, and Reuters of the world. I first went to "Drudge Report". I love what the site has to say, but they may as well just print that out on a Guttenberg press, as they do not offer ANY option to subscribe via RSS. (they are SO 2003!) then, silly and giddy as I was in my new found technology, I returned to Newsmax, and you fine folks had an RSS feed...YAHOO! literally, yahoo...shouts of glee, not the liberal dotcom organization.
Anyhow, here is where my rant to the editor all goes to hell in a hand basket. I sign up with your RSS and do you want to know what happens!? OK I'll tell you since you asked, EVERY time I click on a news headline from my RSS feeder, I AM CARPET BOMBED BY POPUPS!!! Holy crap!? I am amazed that ANYbody besides PORN sites actually still uses carpet bombing popups...or popups at ALL! As I began to write this, LITERALLY, I was continually interrupted with popups that tried to sell me books about heart disease and some other weird crap that you guys tried to sell me through email 5 years ago! Now, to leave this lengthy letter, I had to give you my email address again, how much do you want to bet, Mr. Editor, that I start getting bombarded again with ridiculous ad emails from Newsmax again!? How much? Yeah, you're right. Its a sucker bet. I'll be posting this on my blog. I hope you plan to respond to this so I can post your response, in all conservative fairness, as well.
Love you guys, Having fun at camp.
your son
Andrew Hamilton
Hamilton International Productions
I just signed up for the RSS feed for Newsmax, after having turned away from your website a couple years ago.
Back then, I would have my email box bombarded with emails from Newsmax selling all kinds of strange things. Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore and I unsubscribed (repeatedly) from those continual emails, and after much effort, I was free. Now I've moved on to Web 2.0 and have embraced the idea of 'news digest' via an RSS reader...BRILLIANT! I thought. And I immediately sought out conservative news sources to balance the liberal CNN's, Yahoo's, and Reuters of the world. I first went to "Drudge Report". I love what the site has to say, but they may as well just print that out on a Guttenberg press, as they do not offer ANY option to subscribe via RSS. (they are SO 2003!) then, silly and giddy as I was in my new found technology, I returned to Newsmax, and you fine folks had an RSS feed...YAHOO! literally, yahoo...shouts of glee, not the liberal dotcom organization.
Anyhow, here is where my rant to the editor all goes to hell in a hand basket. I sign up with your RSS and do you want to know what happens!? OK I'll tell you since you asked, EVERY time I click on a news headline from my RSS feeder, I AM CARPET BOMBED BY POPUPS!!! Holy crap!? I am amazed that ANYbody besides PORN sites actually still uses carpet bombing popups...or popups at ALL! As I began to write this, LITERALLY, I was continually interrupted with popups that tried to sell me books about heart disease and some other weird crap that you guys tried to sell me through email 5 years ago! Now, to leave this lengthy letter, I had to give you my email address again, how much do you want to bet, Mr. Editor, that I start getting bombarded again with ridiculous ad emails from Newsmax again!? How much? Yeah, you're right. Its a sucker bet. I'll be posting this on my blog. I hope you plan to respond to this so I can post your response, in all conservative fairness, as well.
Love you guys, Having fun at camp.
your son
Andrew Hamilton
Hamilton International Productions
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)