The 2011 Eagles season was a mess from Week 1 on. After
preseason expectations were set high, the “Dream Team” crashed and burned. With
four games remaining, they had a 4-8 record and nearly all Philadelphia fans
had lost hope. For 12 weeks, Eagles fans had given up hope on this team,
expecting losses. They had cut emotional ties with games and were able to prepare
themselves for what lay ahead each week. Then they won back-to-back games.
Rumors began flying that if the right pieces fell into place, the Eagles could
make the playoffs after all. All of the sudden, Eagles fans that had long since
given up on their team, began to believe again. This hope is what once again
let Eagles fans have their dreams dashed. In the past 13 seasons under Andy
Reid, it seems that every year, there is a point in the season at which the
fans seem to think to themselves, “We can actually do it this year,” and every
year that team lets us down. It’s not just that they let us down. It is the way
they do it. There might as well be a recipe for Eagles’ seasons of late: Begin
the season hyped to win division. Struggle throughout the middle portion of the
season (usually when the “Fire Andy” chants begin). Somehow put together a few
big wins in a row so that an entire city is back on the bandwagon. Then crush
their dreams with a late season loss or in 2011’s case, with another team (the
Giants) taking the division away from them at the last moment. Just add water
and repeat.
This
year it is another Philadelphia team that is poised to follow this recipe. The
2012 Phillies season has been anything but hopeful. The season began with their
two most iconic players, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, on the Disabled List.
When Roy Halladay went down in the first month of the season, fans let themselves
believe, “If we can just hold on until the All-Star break.” With three of the
teams best players missing, no one stepped up to fill the void left by the
missing players. Cliff Lee struggled to through most of the first half of the
season without a win and when the trade deadline came the Phillies were
“sellers,” and Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino were dealt. Season over.
Nothing that Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Roy Halladay could do with this
roster would put them in a position to make the playoffs. “Not so fast, my friend.” Since losing back-to-back games to the Cincinnati Reds on
August 20th and 21st, the Phillies have gone 14-4, the
best mark in baseball over that span and have lost just two games since
September 1st. In the midst of a six game winning streak the
Phillies are gaining ground on the second wild card spot everyday. On the 21st
of August when the Phillies run began they were 10.5 games behind the 2nd
place wildcard spot (held by the St. Louis Cardinals). As things stand today,
they are a mere four games back of St. Louis and closing fast.
As
a Phillies fan I can’t believe that on September 12th I find myself
staying up late, “scoreboard watching” to see how far out we will be at the end
of every night. The Phillies, like the Eagles do every year, have the city
believing in them again. Hope is a dangerous thing to mess around with. With ESPN.com giving the
Phillies just a three percent chance to make the playoffs on September 12th, it is still an
improbable feat, but with the run the Cardinals made last season, it
seems possible. In all likelihood, the Phillies will fall short of their goal
of returning to the playoffs (probably losing on the final day of the regular
season with Ryan Howard striking out. Okay maybe I am just cynical…). In all
likelihood, the Phillies will take a chapter from Andy Reid and the Eagles, and
give us as fans hope, only to destroy that hope in the final moments of the
2012 season. I don’t know what is worse: accepting defeat early on in the
season or becoming totally invested in a team then losing. But here is to
hoping the Phillies prove me wrong and break the mold. Because, I mean, they
are only four games out…
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