Before we plunge head-first into the mania that is the Eagles season, we offer one other sports number of note today.
It is a depressing exclamation point to close out a true bummer of a summer.
The number is 15,125.
That is not the number of phone calls the Eagles received to protest the team's decision to jettison popular backup quarterback Tim Tebow.
That is - allegedly - the number of people who paid to get into Citizens Bank Park last night to see the Phillies get pounded by the Atlanta Braves.
That marks the smallest attendance in the 12-year history of Citizens Bank Park.
Not helping much was the Phils' decision to play a night game on the Labor Day holiday, when much of the league was toiling under a gorgeous sun.
The Braves had lost 19 of their previous 20 games before feasting on the pitching of Aaron Harang.
On the other hand, the Phils' beleaguered offense once again struggled mightily against the Braves.
There was a time when the Phils could get 15,000 people standing in line for tickets. Now it's all they can draw to the ballpark.
And another thing about that number.
That may in fact be the number of tickets sold for last night's game. But anyone who saw any of the game would have to doubt that many people actually went through the turnstiles.
There was a time when I thought the Phillies had actually discovered the magic of sports. They built a gorgeous little bandbox of a park in South Philly and turned into the place to be in summer in South Philly. Forget the shore. Citizens Bank Park was the No. 1 party place for young people as the Phillies managed to reinvigorate a generation a lot of people believed had turned off baseball for good.
The game didn't matter. It was the stadium. And the atmosphere. And the party.
Turns out, there is another sports axiom that still holds true.
You have to win.
Otherwise you wind up with 15,000 at a game on Labor Day night.
OK, we can start the Eagles season now.
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