It Ain't Easy Bein' Green
It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green
Ok, so I’m originally from Philadelphia and am a die-hard Phillies (not even gonna go there) and Eagles fan. Baseball is my love, ever since I was a kid, but football is my PASSION – there is a difference. And, if you know anything about Philadelphia, you know us Philly sports fans are about THE most passionate you could find anywhere. Yes, we get a bad rap. No, we don’t deserve it. We’re just misunderstood. You see, in Philly we eat, drink, shit, breathe and sleep sports. It’s always been this way, and it will always be this way. It’s in our blood, and we bleed Eagle green. We live and die with every win, loss, pass, kick, and block - or lack thereof.
This passion I speak about was one of the reasons I was hesitant to leave that big dirty city on the east coast and move across the country to the green, rolling hills and clean air of Oregon, all on my own. They only have one pro team here, the Blazers, and basketball is my least favorite sport. Not a good selling point. Yet, with a tear in my eye I reluctantly left my home town and home team for a ‘more laid back lifestyle’ out west. Funny, you can take the girl outta Philly, but you can’t take the Philly outta the girl.
There are things about being in Portland that I like, such as great microbrews, nice people, clean air, no snow or humidity, all that happy horse shit. There are things about being here I do not like: months and months straight of rain, no pro sports teams, people call soda here ‘pop’ which irritates the hell outta me for no other reason then THEY’RE FUCKING WRONG!, and just about every place around here claims to have a "Philly Cheesesteak." They don’t. They have a froofed out west coast version with the wrong bread, wrong meat, wrong cheese and wrong attitude. You can’t copy this! Stop fucking trying! Anyway, I got off track here, didn’t I. I go and bring up the subject of food and I just get all discombobulated! One last thought on the subject: if you ever find yourself in Philly, and you don’t get swallowed up by those mean, arrogant, crazy, battery-chuckin’ Eagles fans, make sure you have yourself an authentic cheesesteak, it’ll be worth it.
Ok, where was I? Oh yeah. Football!!!! For the most part, football fans out here in Oregon are generally Raiders, Packers or 49ers fans. I was NOT a happy camper when I first moved out here. Luckily, I found out through the Eagles message board that, to my delight, there is an Eagles ‘fan club’ out here that meets every week for games during the season at a local bar in Tigard. Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo! I was psyched! Last year was my first year going and it’s awesome. It’s 40-50 die hard Eagles fans like myself, all stuck out here thousands of miles from our beloved team, but able to gather, share and bond with one another all in the name of FOOTBALL! Lots of us are ‘transplants,’ coming originally from Philly or Jersey, and many, to my surprise, are long-time Eagles fans that had not only never lived in or near Philadelphia, but have never even been there! I actually found it kind of amusing - we’re Eagles fans b/c we were born and bred to be, we HAVE to be, we’re from there. Hell, my 70+ year old mother, a Mississippi girl originally, is a die-hard fan. But hey, the more the merrier! The bar is totally Eagles. You walk in and see a sea of green, black and white Eagles jerseys. You are greeted by this as you enter:
It’s great! The games start out here at 10 am, and that’s pretty freakin early to be sitting at a bar, but hey what can ya do. You get used to it, trust me. By about 10 am, the shots start flowing and don’t stop, either in celebration or in defeat:
I can’t do a whole shitload of shots anymore, it’s just too much to ask from a 36 year old chick at 10 am on a Sunday morning. I’m lucky I can remember my name these days. Once in a while I’ll do one or split one with Erin, one of the few other girls in the "Fun Bunch," but usually I’m just sippin beers for 4 hours. This is the Fun Bunch:
The Fun Bunch are the loud, drinking rowdy sons of bitches that pretty much run the show for the club. I’m the newest member – not really by choice, I just kinda ended up there. Most of the club consists of older, less rowdy fans who are just happy to sit there, eat some good breakfast and watch the game and drink a beer or two. They do yell, scream and cheer, but not nearly at the level required of a Fun Bunch member. It’s a lot of fun and if you’re a die-hard Eagles fan like myself, it just doesn’t get any better.
So, anyway, back to the game: coming into this past Sunday’s game the Eagles were 7-0, first time in their history, I believe. We’re playing Pittsburgh, the team that trounced the New England Patriots the week before — before this devastating loss the Pats were previously undefeated for not only this season, but most of last season as well. We were hopeful that the Eagles could win, but knew the time would come when they’d have to lose a game. As much as we’d love to see it, we knew damn well they were not going through the entire season undefeated. Things that good just don’t happen in Philly. But this year is supposed to be OUR YEAR - after 3 failed attempts to get the Super Bowl the past 3 years, and the addition of Terrell Owens this year, we knew it was make or break time for us. We (meaning, collectively, Eagles fans everywhere) could not physically take another failure.
The game starts out bad and goes to worse, and quick. They SUCK AND SUCK BIGTIME. In no time flat they’re down 21-0, our run defense seems to have gone off in search of a cheesesteak (or 10) for Andy Reid b/c they certainly weren’t playing in yesterday’s game. I love the guy, but they’re gonna have to roll him onto the field pretty soon:
Anyhoo, Donovan can’t throw an accurate pass to save his life, T.O. was open several times during the game while Donovan, hurried and frantic to get rid of the ball (can you say interception?), instead threw either a short pass either at someone’s ankles or 5 feet above his head. It was just awful. It was like the Carolina game at the end last year - we just flat out sucked and deserved to lose. It was not pretty. We pretty much knew early on it wasn’t gonna happen, so today’s anticipated celebration quickly turned into drowning our sorrows in defeat.
Meanwhile at the Fun Bunch, Fred, the self-proclaimed patriarch of the group and one crazy mothafucka was threatening to kill himself and anyone who tried to stop him (I’m joking of course, did I mention us Phillydelphians are also overly dramatic? :op), the rest of the guys were ordering shots by the truckload, Erin and I were hugging each other hoping to avoid ...... well all of it. It wasn’t a pretty sight. You’d think we just lost the Super Bowl, assuming of course we can ever actually get there. A lot of them decided to go bowling after the game, but I had no desire to watch a bunch of drunk fat guys trying to bowl. So, I drove my goddamn minivan home and vowed to wake up the next morning with renewed hope and faith, for that’s what it’s all about. And next week is not only a Monday Night Football game, it’s AGAINST DALLAS!!!
I need to go now and get me one of these just for the occasion:
Ok, so I’m originally from Philadelphia and am a die-hard Phillies (not even gonna go there) and Eagles fan. Baseball is my love, ever since I was a kid, but football is my PASSION – there is a difference. And, if you know anything about Philadelphia, you know us Philly sports fans are about THE most passionate you could find anywhere. Yes, we get a bad rap. No, we don’t deserve it. We’re just misunderstood. You see, in Philly we eat, drink, shit, breathe and sleep sports. It’s always been this way, and it will always be this way. It’s in our blood, and we bleed Eagle green. We live and die with every win, loss, pass, kick, and block - or lack thereof.
This passion I speak about was one of the reasons I was hesitant to leave that big dirty city on the east coast and move across the country to the green, rolling hills and clean air of Oregon, all on my own. They only have one pro team here, the Blazers, and basketball is my least favorite sport. Not a good selling point. Yet, with a tear in my eye I reluctantly left my home town and home team for a ‘more laid back lifestyle’ out west. Funny, you can take the girl outta Philly, but you can’t take the Philly outta the girl.
There are things about being in Portland that I like, such as great microbrews, nice people, clean air, no snow or humidity, all that happy horse shit. There are things about being here I do not like: months and months straight of rain, no pro sports teams, people call soda here ‘pop’ which irritates the hell outta me for no other reason then THEY’RE FUCKING WRONG!, and just about every place around here claims to have a "Philly Cheesesteak." They don’t. They have a froofed out west coast version with the wrong bread, wrong meat, wrong cheese and wrong attitude. You can’t copy this! Stop fucking trying! Anyway, I got off track here, didn’t I. I go and bring up the subject of food and I just get all discombobulated! One last thought on the subject: if you ever find yourself in Philly, and you don’t get swallowed up by those mean, arrogant, crazy, battery-chuckin’ Eagles fans, make sure you have yourself an authentic cheesesteak, it’ll be worth it.
Ok, where was I? Oh yeah. Football!!!! For the most part, football fans out here in Oregon are generally Raiders, Packers or 49ers fans. I was NOT a happy camper when I first moved out here. Luckily, I found out through the Eagles message board that, to my delight, there is an Eagles ‘fan club’ out here that meets every week for games during the season at a local bar in Tigard. Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo! I was psyched! Last year was my first year going and it’s awesome. It’s 40-50 die hard Eagles fans like myself, all stuck out here thousands of miles from our beloved team, but able to gather, share and bond with one another all in the name of FOOTBALL! Lots of us are ‘transplants,’ coming originally from Philly or Jersey, and many, to my surprise, are long-time Eagles fans that had not only never lived in or near Philadelphia, but have never even been there! I actually found it kind of amusing - we’re Eagles fans b/c we were born and bred to be, we HAVE to be, we’re from there. Hell, my 70+ year old mother, a Mississippi girl originally, is a die-hard fan. But hey, the more the merrier! The bar is totally Eagles. You walk in and see a sea of green, black and white Eagles jerseys. You are greeted by this as you enter:
It’s great! The games start out here at 10 am, and that’s pretty freakin early to be sitting at a bar, but hey what can ya do. You get used to it, trust me. By about 10 am, the shots start flowing and don’t stop, either in celebration or in defeat:
I can’t do a whole shitload of shots anymore, it’s just too much to ask from a 36 year old chick at 10 am on a Sunday morning. I’m lucky I can remember my name these days. Once in a while I’ll do one or split one with Erin, one of the few other girls in the "Fun Bunch," but usually I’m just sippin beers for 4 hours. This is the Fun Bunch:
The Fun Bunch are the loud, drinking rowdy sons of bitches that pretty much run the show for the club. I’m the newest member – not really by choice, I just kinda ended up there. Most of the club consists of older, less rowdy fans who are just happy to sit there, eat some good breakfast and watch the game and drink a beer or two. They do yell, scream and cheer, but not nearly at the level required of a Fun Bunch member. It’s a lot of fun and if you’re a die-hard Eagles fan like myself, it just doesn’t get any better.
So, anyway, back to the game: coming into this past Sunday’s game the Eagles were 7-0, first time in their history, I believe. We’re playing Pittsburgh, the team that trounced the New England Patriots the week before — before this devastating loss the Pats were previously undefeated for not only this season, but most of last season as well. We were hopeful that the Eagles could win, but knew the time would come when they’d have to lose a game. As much as we’d love to see it, we knew damn well they were not going through the entire season undefeated. Things that good just don’t happen in Philly. But this year is supposed to be OUR YEAR - after 3 failed attempts to get the Super Bowl the past 3 years, and the addition of Terrell Owens this year, we knew it was make or break time for us. We (meaning, collectively, Eagles fans everywhere) could not physically take another failure.
The game starts out bad and goes to worse, and quick. They SUCK AND SUCK BIGTIME. In no time flat they’re down 21-0, our run defense seems to have gone off in search of a cheesesteak (or 10) for Andy Reid b/c they certainly weren’t playing in yesterday’s game. I love the guy, but they’re gonna have to roll him onto the field pretty soon:
Anyhoo, Donovan can’t throw an accurate pass to save his life, T.O. was open several times during the game while Donovan, hurried and frantic to get rid of the ball (can you say interception?), instead threw either a short pass either at someone’s ankles or 5 feet above his head. It was just awful. It was like the Carolina game at the end last year - we just flat out sucked and deserved to lose. It was not pretty. We pretty much knew early on it wasn’t gonna happen, so today’s anticipated celebration quickly turned into drowning our sorrows in defeat.
Meanwhile at the Fun Bunch, Fred, the self-proclaimed patriarch of the group and one crazy mothafucka was threatening to kill himself and anyone who tried to stop him (I’m joking of course, did I mention us Phillydelphians are also overly dramatic? :op), the rest of the guys were ordering shots by the truckload, Erin and I were hugging each other hoping to avoid ...... well all of it. It wasn’t a pretty sight. You’d think we just lost the Super Bowl, assuming of course we can ever actually get there. A lot of them decided to go bowling after the game, but I had no desire to watch a bunch of drunk fat guys trying to bowl. So, I drove my goddamn minivan home and vowed to wake up the next morning with renewed hope and faith, for that’s what it’s all about. And next week is not only a Monday Night Football game, it’s AGAINST DALLAS!!!
I need to go now and get me one of these just for the occasion:
posted by Miss_Vicki at 1:21 PM
|
<< Home