I'm from East Brunswick, New Jersey. The house where I grew up is 48 miles from Yankee Stadium, across the street from the site of the old Yankee Stadium, home of the NFL's New York Giants from 1956 to 1973; and also 48 miles from the site of the Polo Grounds, home of the Giants from 1925 to 1955, and the New York Jets (originally the New York Titans) from 1960 to 1963.
The house is 36 miles from MetLife Stadium, home of the Giants and the Jets, built next-door to the site of Giants Stadium, home of the Giants from 1976 to 2009, and of the Jets from 1984 to 2009.
The house is 51 miles from Citi Field, built next-door to the site of Shea Stadium, home of the Jets from 1964 to 1983, and of the Giants in 1975.
And it's 65 miles from Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, adjacent to the site of Veterans Stadium, home of the Eagles from 1971 to 2003.
Based on distance alone, it would make more sense for me to be a fan of the Giants, or the Jets, than the Eagles.
But the things that would seem to make the most sense don't always. Because of their 1970s success, when they were frequently on television, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins and then then-Oakland Raiders gained lots of fans in big cities, and their suburbs, whose teams weren't doing well at the time:
* The Giants did not make the Playoffs between 1963 and 1981.
* The Jets did not make the Playoffs between 1969 and 1981.
* The Eagles did not make the Playoffs between 1960 and 1978.
* The Boston/New England Patriots did not make the Playoffs between 1963 and 1976.
* And the Chicago Bears did not make the Playoffs between 1963 and 1977.
This would also be true for the 1980s, despite the Giants and the Jets recovering enough to make the Playoffs on a regular basis. The Bears, the San Francisco 49ers, and the team then known as the Washington Redskins gained nationwide followings.
As a result, in New York, in Philadelphia, and in their suburbs, which, between them, includes the entire State of New Jersey (included the hardscrabble cities and the rural areas), there's a lot of people who root for an NFL team other than the G-Men, Gang Green, or the Birds.
So, given my age, it would be understandable if my favorite team wasn't either of the New York teams or the Philadelphia team.
But television has nothing to do with my not being a Giants fan, or a Jets fan.
The reason I am not a fan of the New York Jets is that most Jet fans tend to also be fans of baseball's New York Mets, due to their sharing of Shea Stadium, and also due to their both having won their league's titles in 1969. I'm a Yankee Fan, and Met fans struck me as having all the arrogance and obnoxiousness of Yankee Fans, without having earned it. Treating one title (2 for the Mets from 1986 onward) as if they meant more than the 22 titles the Yankees then had, and treating the 4 NFL Championships won by the Giants as not counting, because they came in the pre-Super Bowl era.
Plus, I was sick of hearing about Joe Namath, who, by the time I was old enough to watch him, was a broken-down wreck.
So, the Giants, right? After all, I'm from New Jersey, and the Giants were the pioneers in playing in New Jersey. For those of us growing up there at the time, Giants Stadium was huge. Not just big in physical size, but in terms of how it raised our profile. We were "major league," and could stand alongside New York City and Philadelphia with pride.
Except... the Giants kept the New York name. They took the "ny" logo off their helmets, replacing it with "GIANTS" -- until the year 2000, anyway -- but they remained, officially, "the New York Giants." Or, in the traditional, plus accent, "the Noo Yawk Footbawl Ji-unts."
In New Jersey public schools, we were taught to be proud of our home State. As a result, it really offended me -- indeed, it offended the entire family, including those of us who also made the voyage across the Hudson River from New York City to New Jersey -- that the Giants wouldn't change their name to "the New Jersey Giants."
So, the Jets, right? After all, they're the other alternative, unless you want to be one of those bandwagon fans who roots for the Cowboys or the Steelers.
But, no. I didn't want to hang around Jet fans. It meant hanging around Met fans.
So, that's it, right? I just don't have a favorite football team.
Then came November 19, 1978. The Miracle of the Meadowlands. A last-minute screwup by Giant quarterback Joe Pisarcik gave the Eagles a stunning win, pushing them on to their 1st Playoff berth in 18 years, while the Giants crashed and burned.
And I noticed something else. Not only were the Eagles good, they were interesting, led by head coach Dick Vermeil. And their quarterback was Ron Jaworski. In his second act, as an NFL analyst on ESPN, his nickname is "Jaws." But, as an Eagle quarterback, his nickname was "The Polish Rifle." He was Polish -- and so was I. This -- not Pisarcik, who was also Polish but seemed to stand in for all the stupidity people joked about Polish people having; not Namath, who was Hungarian but by now retired; and not Richard Todd, Namath's replacement as Jet signal-caller -- was a quarterback I could get behind.
My Quarterback -- Then
And not that far to the south of me, in towns like Spotswood, Monroe and South Brunswick, was, more or less, the unofficial border between the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, where Yankee and Met fans gave way to Phillies fans, and the Giants' and Jets' fanbases faded out and the Eagles' faded in. Same with the Knicks and Nets to the 76ers, and the Rangers -- not yet any Islander fans in New Jersey, and the Devils didn't exist yet -- to the Flyers. So, to be an Eagles fan in East Brunswick was unusual, but hardly outrageous.
And I was getting in on the ground floor of something good, or so it seemed: The Eagles reached Super Bowl XV in 1981. But that was the peak: They lost that game to the Raiders, and fell apart after that. They got good again in the late 1980s, and remained so until the mid-1990s. They got good again in 2001, and went to 4 straight NFC Championship Games, but won only one, and lost Super Bowl XXXIX, to the New England Patriots.
I was in Philadelphia on the day of the 2008 NFC Championship Game, which the Eagles were favored to win over the Arizona Cardinals, but they lost. I walked into a Wawa, and there was a uniformed policeman there. I told him, "Officer, I want to report a crime: The Eagles are killing me." He said nothing, just nodded. He knew.
The Eagles finally won Super Bowl LII in 2018, beating the Patriots. They lost Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, and are playing the Chiefs again this Sunday, in Super Bowl LIX. I'll be behind Jalen Hurts and the Broad Street Birds all the way.
My Quarterback -- Now
What's more, for reasons I won't get into here, I can't drive. And, even with the addition of the Meadowlands Rail Spur to New Jersey Transit in 2009, in time for the transition to MetLife Stadium, it's still easier to use public transportation to get to the South Philadelphia sports complex than to the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Yes, I know, the Eagles have the most-hated fan base in the League. Yes, I know, they once "booed Santa Claus." Who's kidding who? They're smarter than Cowboy fans, and saner than Raider fans.
Did I make the right choice? Right now, certainly: Both the Giants and the Jets have stunk for years. Overall? Compared to the Jets, absolutely: They've played 65 seasons, and gotten to the Super Bowl exactly once, even though they won it, and it was one of the most epic moments in pro football history. Compared to the Giants, no: The Giants have won 8 NFL Championships, including 4 Super Bowls. The Eagles have won 4 NFL Championships, only 1 in the Super Bowl era.
Taking everything into account, I'm still glad I chose the Eagles over the Giants and the Jets. Fly, Eagles, fly, on the road to victory!
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