They Love Us, They Really Love Us
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate any football writers who don't think blasting Philly fans is the easiest and quickest way to get a laugh. Especially after listening to an out-of-town radio broadcast of last night's Phillies loss in which -- no kidding -- the observation was made, re-made and re-re-made that occasionally local fans are known to boo their teams.
But this may be a case of giving us a little too much credit:
The poll asks Eagles fans to name the best middle linebacker in team history: the choices are Chuck Bednarik, David Lloyd, Tim Rossovich, Bill Bergey (recently the subject of a great NFL Network feature about his vicious rivalry with Cardinals guard Conrad Dobler), Byron Evans and current Eagles MLB Jeremiah Trotter.
You know how it would work in most towns: Trotter, the contemporary player, would snap up all the votes from simpleton fans. Guys like Evans and Bergey, who a number of people today would remember watching, would finish high up on the list. Anyone who played before 1970 would be forgotten or – even worse – mocked as some useless old-timer who couldn’t handle the game the way it’s played today.
Yet in this poll the oldest player on the list, Bednarik, has garnered the vast majority of the votes, 65.5 percent at the time we put together this story Sunday morning.
It's good news. It re-confirms our faith in Pennsylvania's football tradition, and tells us that most Eagles fans have a proper respect for the history of the game, and for one of the greatest players ever to strap on a helmet.
Which is nice and all. [Accepts pat on the back.] But let's be honest. It's Chuck Bednarik. The guy's a legend. That's like talking about how awesome Green Bay fans are for only naming Mike Holmgren the second best coach in franchise history.
And besides, Trot hasn't been tearing it up all that much recently. Those results might have been different a few years ago.
One thing's for sure though, Levon Kirkland and Barry Gardner are nowhere on that list.
The unfortunate thing is that on almost every other poll in that thing the Eagles are doing the fans have voted for the most recent guy. I think Chad Lewis may even have won the greatest TE voting...
Posted by: BleedingGreenNation | July 16, 2007 at 01:08 PM