Monday, January 31, 2005

Let the Eagles Soar II

Just a note of caution: A lot of Eagles stuff this week. Twenty-four years worth, actually. You've been warned.

Bill Lyon today talks about the last Eagles team to win it all:
The last Eagles team to win the championship of professional football might have been the loosest team in sports history. The Super Bowl was still seven years away from being born when the 1960 Birds defeated the Green Bay Packers, 17-13, the day after Christmas in the Gothic bleakness of snow-shrouded Franklin Field.


Concrete Charlie, a.k.a Chuck Bednarik, the last of the 60-minute men, tackled the Packers' Jim Taylor and sat on the squirming, fuming fullback for the last nine seconds.

Two nights before that game, quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, whose word was law, who routinely convened team "vespers" at local watering holes, was host at a loosen-your-chin-straps-boys gala that ended with several sleeping in flower beds. It didn't seem to affect the team's performance.

That was the only playoff game Vince Lombardi ever lost.

He then concludes:
These Birds can win. These Eagles can beat the Patriots. It will take something along the lines of Villanova's practically perfect game against Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA basketball final, but it is possible.

No turnovers. Every scoring chance cashed. No injuries forcing players out of the game. And no making out the opponents to be larger than life.

Yo' Adrian, I'm with him.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good-keep it up! With the Superhype machine in full gear no-one seems to remember how the defending champs were thrashed by the lowly Ventral Fins on Monday night. Besides, someone needs to dispel this false aura of inevitability that has surrounded the Flying Elvii since their victory at the big ketchup bottle!

Anonymous said...

Good-keep it up! With the Superhype machine in full gear no-one seems to remember how the defending champs were thrashed by the lowly Ventral Fins on Monday night. Thank God that some folks aren't afraid to dispel this false aura of inevitability that has surrounded the Flying Elvii since their victory at the big ketchup bottle!