Opportunity knocking one last time for Philly

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:54 AM EST

Article Source: Delaware County Times

sports, nfl, philadelphia, philadelphia-eagles, nfc-east, eagles, jack-mccaffery

PHILADELPHIA --- The 10 years of pounding and knocking has been reduced to a gentle tap. And after all of that -- after an era of Philadelphia sports that should have, could have been considered golden -- only the Eagles are left to answer the call of opportunity.

Undervalued if not missed entirely, yet in retrospect a 10-year burst of sports brilliance, the period from 1997 through 2007 in Philadelphia was one of contending teams and superstars, glamour coaches and billion-dollar investment. It will also have been a time of shameful waste ..unless the Eagles win their next three games.

Should the Eagles run their pending six-game winning streak to nine, including a victory Saturday night in New Orleans, it will have made all that was for Philadelphia in the past 10 years worthwhile.If they don't, it will be typical. Not that the Birds would be to blame for all the wasted chances, but they will have provided one, last appropriate flourish.

It is the final flourish because the ping-pong balls are about to stop floating, the senior-citizen witness is heading home and the lottery is about to leave Philadelphia with nothing but crumpled tickets.