Why the Philadelphia Eagles Need to Win This Year's Super Bowl

The Philadelphia Eagles need to win this year's Super Bowl. Actually, it is more than a need; they MUST win in Tampa.

It is mid January in Philadelphia, and this translates truly into 'do or die' time for sports fans in the city.

We have watched a roller coaster of an '08/'09 season that five weeks ago saw the Birds pretty much nailed shut in their coffin, swept away for the rest of the season much as they had been last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Then head coach Andy "Big Buddha" Reid benched quarterback Donovan McNabb, and the team has literally risen like Lazarus from the dead. McNabb has been playing out of his mind; grizzled defensive genius Jim Johnson has shaken the bones of his aging D-line until they rattled. There's hope in the city of Philadelphia that this football-crazed town hasn't seen in too long of a time.

The last time we were this excited, Terrell Owens ended up spitting and strutting on the Florida sidelines, complaining that Donovan McNabb not only couldn't hold on to his team during the Super Bowl, he also couldn't hold down his lunch.

But that was many moons ago, happily. Yes, the Phillies won the World Series, but truth be told, Philadelphia has always been, and always will, be a football town. Billy Penn won't smile down on the city until Super Bowl rings have been won.

In all fairness, Philadelphia deserves to win this year's Super Bowl. Having lived in this area for over sixteen years, I've come to terms with certain things. One of them is that there's really not that much else other than a great sports championship that Philadelphia has to offer.

The weather is dreadful, especially at this time of the year. It's never really "good": too hot and humid in the summer, too cold, gray and overcast in the winter. We're a city that's physically and spiritually dirty. Our politicians are tainted. We're Manhattan's little wannabe: never quite clever enough, edgy enough, glitzy enough to compete with the Big Apple. When people can't make it there, they end up in ... Philadelphia.

Our economy sucks. Gone are the infamous steel and shipyards; gone, long gone, are the jobs that were held by the people who live in the tiny brick rowhomes, the ones who worked at those steel mills and shipyards. Violence has become a way of life here. Our police commissioner jumped at the chance to land the top job in New York City; who could blame Ray Kelly? We're cutting edge when it comes to crime statistics.

The school system is in chaos; our graduation rate for high school seniors neglible. Somehow, we've grown to accept that fact as being ... acceptable.

There's not much good that you can say about Philadelphia. At least give the people what they really want: a Super Bowl win. Or, failing that again, at least the chance to at least PLAY in the damned game, win or lose. Losing: that's something with which we've become way too familiar, even comfortable. This is, in all honesty, a blue collar town populated more so by working class people of all colors. The minions of Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square are a dying breed. Philadelphia needs the Eagles to win the Super Bowl because it needs a shot of love, a jolt of energy, something to get up for in the morning. This city needs a reason to spread some of that Brotherly Love.