When did I start to be a football fan? Good God. I look back and think of all the times I’d have to amuse myself of a Sunday just so I could avoid spending the whole day watching ridiculously overpaid animals smack hell out of each other for the longest 60 minutes known to mankind. Dunno, somewhere along the line I began to understand some of the rules and could begin to follow the action and suddenly I make time to be home for the bigger games and can sit still for the three hours plus a game takes and thoroughly enjoy myself.
Odd. Must be part of this growing up thing. A friend and I have decided this whole impending middle-age thing is very peculiar. Where fifteen years ago I would have severed a limb to get out of an art musuem and be able to hang about in a bar, these days I can spend hours looking at even modern art and not be champing at the bit to get loose. Hell, I can even go for a drive in the mountains and be awed by the scenery. Someone mentioned a trip to Longwood Gardens fer chrissakes and I thought it sounded like an excellent idea!
This is very hard to deal with.
In any case, back to silly American football. The Eagles managed to pull one out last night. I didn’t begin to think they even had a chance until about halfway through the third quarter. Then it seemed as if they just couldn’t catch a break. Back to back holding calls, bad passes, tough defense, freaking annoying. Then the big fourth down play and they eked out a victory.
Hey, it might work. They’re tough, they scramble and they don’t give up. Proper scrappers. Still, it’s terribly unsatisfying. They don’t play like a championship team, they play like they’re relying on some sort of oddball luck to get them through each contest. I guess it’s better to take it one game at a time, it helps avoid overconfidence.
I should think they can handle the Panthers but, I think most people would have thought the Panthers ought to have been handled by the Rams. A very interesting post-season, guess we’ll have to wait until next week and see how it all plays out.