FanNation

The One Sided Rivalry

This article was from Philadelphiaeagles.com and written by Dave Spadaro

October 30, 2007 | Last Updated: 10/30/07 5:13 PM ET  

The rivalry with Dallas goes back as long as anyone can remember being an Eagles fan. For me, it started in the early 1970s when the Eagles were a lousy team and the Cowboys were on the way to becoming "America's Team." Hating the Cowboys has been a way of life every since.

Can't you count off the top of your head the great Eagles-Cowboys games ever? The 1980 NFC Championship Game, of course. The 1987 game in which head coach Buddy Ryan ordered two kneel-downs and then threw into the end zone for a touchdown to run up the score against the strike-busting Cowboys. The bounty Ryan placed on Dallas kicker Luis Zendejas -- I've heard the reward was $500 -- as linebacker Jessie Small took a shot at Zendejas on a kickoff. Snowballs thrown at Jimmy Johnson. "Fourth-and-1 and they stop him again!!" when the Eagles defense rose up and stopped Emmitt Smith not once, but twice in 1995. Tommy Hutton's blown hold in 1997. Andy Reid's first win in 1999. The Pickle Juice game in 2000. Donovan McNabb's scramble and T.O.'s big game in 2004. The sweet sweep last year, punctuated on Christmas Day with a convincing rout in Dallas.

What needs to change in the Eagles Franchise?

It's obvious from the Eagles flagging performance that things are going south real fast. So I'm checking in with my Anti-Homer Eagles fan members here as well as the FanNation community at large. What needs to change within the Eagles organization for the team to get back to the winning tradition and NFC dominance that was the hallmark of the franchise? More importantly, what is it going to take to get the Eagles their first Lombardi trophy?

What is With the Eagles Horrible Uniforms?

I heard just about every goofy quip from pundits and fans alike about the Eagles "throwback" uniforms. Personally I'd like them to throw them back in favor of the modern ones. However, to enlighten those who didn't know and didn't think to Wiki or Google the story, here goes. Links to the full story will be provided below. I'm just putting the history in a nutshell for you here.

 The city of Philadelphia had a suburb called Frankford. This suburb is now a part of the northeastern part of the city. Back in 1899 Frankford had an Athletic Association that fielded a football team. Twenty-five years later Frankford fielded another team called the Frankford Yellow Jackets. The team was actually pretty good, winning a championship in 1926. Unfortunately, the team folded due to the Great Depression in 1931. Less than 2 years later two businessmen bought the right to begin a football franchise in the NFL under the name of the Yellow Jackets. The name of the franchise changed to the present day Eagles as an homage to F. D. Roosevelt's "New Deal", and of course our nation's symbol.