Why The Eagles Wear Green

There are few things more annoying than Philadelphia Eagles fans. Not only are they obnoxious, they are annoyingly delusional. They tell themselves they have a legitimate reason to scorn the Dallas Cowboys and belittle their fandom. They point to recent years, which have featured some very nice Eagles teams and some admittedly atrocious Cowboys' squads and squawk about superiority. The trouble with all of this is that, historically, the Philadelphia Eagles are little more than a pedestrian pro football franchise that has enjoyed marginal success and has floundered much more than it has thrived.



Consider some comparative facts regarding the Eagles and the Cowboys:

• The Eagles have won three NFL Championships, all of which predate the merger and the Super Bowl. They won them in 1947, 48 and 60. The Eagles have managed two trips to the Super Bowl. They are 0-2 in the big game. The Cowboys organization was not founded until 1960, yet they have represented their conference eight times (an NFL high) in the Super Bowl, winning it five times, tying them with the 49ers and Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins by a franchise.


• The Eagles have been to the playoffs twenty times in their sixty year history, or 33% of the time. Their post-season record is 17-17 and they are below .500 in regular season wins and losses with an all-time record of 474-521-25. Conversely, the Cowboys have been to the playoffs 28 times since 1960, or 61% of the time. their playoff record is 32-23, and in the regular season, they have posted a stellar record of 408-300-6.


• Furthermore, despite the recent relative success of the Iggles against the Cowboys, the all-time head-to-head record favors Dallas: 52-41.

There is no doubt the Eagles fans hate the Cowboys, and with good reason. They hate them the way any fan of any team hates the team that is everything they wish their team could be. Meanwhile, the Cowboys' fans can barely muster the interest to hate the Eagles. They have other fish to fry, like the Redskins and the Giants, whom they detest at least as much, if not more. I don't blame Eagles fans for feeling the way they do. I just wish you could find one that is honest and rational enough to admit that the "Cowgirls" are a pretty damn good sports franchise.

It was great fun last Sunday night seeing the defeated look on the faces of the dozen or so fans who took their humiliating 38-10 defeat at the hands of the hated Cowboys like men and stayed in the stands to the bitter end.

I doubt a single Eagles fan will ever admit anything good can come out of Dallas, but at least when they wear their team colors, there is honesty in that.

You know they have to be green with envy.