Who Knew?

At 9:36 AM on Sunday October 26th Philadelphia sports fans woke up, flipped on the tv, and waited to make sure it had really happened. They were pretty sure that Carlos Ruiz had, in fact, knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, but it just seemed too good to be true. So before any feeling good was to be done the victory would have to be verified.

While waiting for their hangover vindication many fans may have seen that the Flyers completed a successful home and home sweep of the New Jersey Devils the previous night. They would have heard that the Flyers weren't off to a great start but they surely would not have seen last night's game. Hearing that the Flyers were 2-3-3 but headed in the right direction would have been of no comfort or concern to them, as there is only one thing they wanted to see this morning. But the news being the news, before they would show anything on the Phillies, would make you wait and promote this afternoon's Eagles game first. The Eagles, currently 3-3, have a match up against a still Vickless Falcons club that is being quarterbacked by a rookie.

"Great. Now get to the Phillies."

And after sitting through a couple minutes of Reid and McNabb interview clips they finally got to the Phils. And it was kind of like watching a memory: Chooch home run, Utley home run, Howard home run, Chooch throwing error, Rays tie it, Phils win in the ninth. Exactly how you would have remembered it if you didn't immediately walk to the bar, after jumping up and down with your buddies like a group of Spanish soccer players, and order 7 jager bombs.
It's not surprising that the Phillies World Series was a big enough deal to overshadow a crappy start by the Flyers and normal routine of what looked to be a sub par Eagles season. In retrospect, however, what an exciting morning. These things can only be seen by looking back, because looking forward is really just hoping and dreaming. But when we look back, on what's actually happened so far, it's pretty amazing.

The Phillies would go on to win Philadelphia's 1st major sports championship in 25 years, after much controversy, during 3 innings of a resumed game that Wednesday. The Eagles would go on a roller coaster ride of a season and somehow squeak into the playoffs. They would then beat the Vikings and Giants to make it to the NFC Championship - only 2 wins away from a Superbowl. And not to get ahead of myself, but the Flyers would eventually catch their stride, and even though they'd have a slew of injuries, they would begin 2009 in first place in the Atlantic Division.

And at some point I'll be able to write a post that references this moment right now as I did the one above. It will be the beginning of April and a new Phillies season will be starting, the Eagles will have at least made it to the NFC Championship Game, and the Flyers will be gearing up for a post season run of their own. Now is a very exciting time to be a Philadelphia sports fan.