Apparently I'm not the only Eagles fan who is mellowing.
Our lead sports columnist Jack McCaffery also has noticed.
Jack points out the reaction by Eagles fans after that heart-breaking loss to the Saints in the NFC Divisional round last weekend. Alshon Jeffery dropped a ball from Nick Foles hit him right in the hands. There was a time when that would have punched Jeffery's ticket to the Philly Sports Hall of Shame.
Instead, a weird thing happened.
We opened our hearts to Alshon.
I know I did.
This all goes back to a year ago, when the Birds finally ended out collective lifetime of misery by winning a Super Bowl. I know for me an Eagles game, and especially another playoff loss, was usually a matter of life and death.
But this year is different. We won. We had a parade.
Maybe it's the Super Bowl hangover.
Or maybe it's just growing up.
Took long enough.
I got another dose of this new reality yesterday.
I can admit that after Sean Payton and the Saints first ran up the score on the Eagles earlier in the season, then ended another miraculous comeback by Nick Foles, that I was rooting against them yesterday in the NFC title game vs the Rams.
And yes, at first, I was glad when they lost in overtime.
But I found myself feeling bad for Payton - and Saints fans - for the way they lost, on about as bad a missed call on a pass interference call and helmet-to-helmet hit that, if called correctly, would have allowed the Saints to run out the clock in regulation.
Nobody, not even Sean Payton, should lose a game - let alone the chance to go to the Super Bowl - on that kind of blown call.
Then there is Andy Reid.
Still dealing with the ghosts of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Maybe next year, Andy.
A compassionate, empathetic Eagles fan?
How times have changed
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