I often get asked why a California girl living in Idaho would love the Philadelphia Eagles. This is not an easy question to answer.

3 years ago I never watched football. My husband wasn’t a football guy and it’s just not what we did. I do enjoy football, and always have, but with two kids & a husband with no interest it was easy to keep our football watching to just the Super Bowl. I watched the game, he watched the commercials.

Then … we separated and my life, our lives, changed forever. I looked for consolation and solace in things that were completely & wholly unrelated to my husband. I spent time with friends who didn’t know him, I leaned on people at work, on my online friends, anybody unconnected with my married life. Within this realm, I had a friend who is a devoted Eagles fan. When the 2013 pre-season started I heard about the Eagles constantly.

WhenI heard that the former coach of the Oregon Ducks, Chip Kelly, had moved to the NFL and was the new head coach of the Eagles it piqued my interest. Being a member of the Boise State Bronco Nation, that struck a memory about a story regarding Chip Kelly from when the Ducks lost a game to the Broncos. A Ducks fan complained to Kelly that he’d spent a certain amount of money to travel to the game and was disappointed. Kelly wrote him a check to reimburse the fan’s expenses. Dude. That’s class.

I was intrigued. I started watching the Eagles games. I watched the Packers, Ravens, Broncos, Cowboys, 49ers, Saints & Giants too. But I mainly watched the Eagles. I started re-learning the game. Learning more. Digging in. Trying to understand terms that weren’t clear to me. I started googling different terms, plays, positions. Just as I was really digging in, the season ended.

What do you mean I have to wait 8 months for the season to start again?? Noooooo!!

I kept reading. I started watching football movies. I loved Draft Day. I cried & laughed. I watched the actual NFL draft, noting the Eagles draftees.

When the 2014 season started I was so excited, so ready, so eager for the Eagles to get out there and do their thing. Every week, starting with pre-season, I couldn’t wait for the next game. I was lucky that a lot of the Eagles games were televised in my area. I briefly thought of mortgaging my house to buy the NFL Sunday Ticket just so I wouldn’t have to miss any games at all. But that’s just silly. (Right??)

The thing is, every week I had this wonderful, exciting thing to look forward to and it never mattered what happened during my personal life that week. The Eagles would be there. Just like they were there last season. This season they became even more. More to me, more to my life. I could be broken-hearted, exhausted, lonely, or whatever, and the Eagles would make it better, win or lose. (Mostly wins, except for effing December. Grrr.)

I love Chip Kelly & his philosophy. I love how he supports the team and his matter of fact, practical logic regarding wins & losses. I love Nick Foles, Darren Sproles, Conner Barwin, Cody Parkey, Shady McCoy, Ertz, Huff, Cooper, Peters, Acho, and just the whole damn team. I love their heart. I love their ambition & spirit.

Eagles for life. I owe them a big part of my life. My sanity, at least. Thank you, Eagles.

Counting down to August …

Xoxo,
Stef