You know the saying; you don't realize what you had until it's gone?
Until two days ago, I had that thing, but now that it's gone, my days seem to be longer and the sun seems to shine less and less, doesn't it?
You see, the thing that is now gone from my life is Veterans Stadium.
As a Philadelphia Eagles season-ticket holder for almost the past two decades, ten Sundays a year I could look forward to the ride to the Vet with my dad to meet up with, according to almost every sports publication outside of Philadelphia, the malcontents, the classless, the uneducated -- a.k.a. the Eagles fans.
But in reality the only people who really know what Birds fans are all about are the people who follow them. If you know anyone who likes the Eagles, you know the most passionate and loyal fan in all of professional sports.
Although these fans are given a bad name by the media, the Vet was a place where this loyalty and passion shined through all of the snowball fights and name-calling that Eagles fans are infamous for.
The Vet was a place where the minions could meet and act the way they wanted to, if only for three hours, and not be ridiculed by outsiders. The Vet was a place where we could boo whoever and whatever we wanted because, even though your Penn State officials may want you to think differently, it's alright to show your frustration when your team isn't doing particularly well. That is actually something that I believe should be done more in Happy Valley to show your feelings on certain Saturday in the fall, but that's an argument for a different day.
The Vet was also a place where people of all races and ethnicities could unite and feel as one unit, which is sorely needed in this topsy-turvy world of ours. For example, last Saturday, when the Eagles were playing the Atlanta Falcons, Eagles cornerback Bobby Taylor intercepted Michael Vick's pass and trotted into the end zone. Amidst all of the chaos I was hugging people I didn't even know and at one point I'm pretty sure the man behind me kissed me on the cheek. Now, in any other situation I would have been shocked by this action, not that there's anything wrong with that, but at that time I could care less because I was lost in the excitement and exuberance of the Vet.
The Vet was the perfect stadium for the perfect blue-collar team, the Rocky Balboa, if you will, of all the stadiums. A place where ticket prices weren't too high, but beer prices were. I mean, almost six bucks a beer, talk about capitalism being exploited.
The Astro-Turf that ended many a career and the new NexTurf that forced a cancellation of a preseason game between the Eagles and the Ravens linger in my mind. And since the Vet was erected in 1971 only one championship was won in that building and it wasn't even the Eagles who lay claim to it, so maybe I shouldn't be too upset seeing it demolished after the Phillies finish up this season.
But then again there are all of the memories that stem from the Vet. Names like Izel Jenkins and Jerome Brown and Andre "Dirty" Waters that tug on the heartstrings. The day the Eagles stopped Emmitt Smith, not once but twice on fourth and one and when we cheered as the flamboyant and boisterous Michael Irvin was carted off of the field. Where cheers for Randall turned into cheers for Rodney, which turned into cheers for Ty, which turned into cheers for Bobby, which turned into cheers for Donovan, which on Sunday turned into a few cheers for A.J.
And now as the Eagles are preparing to move across the street to Lincoln Financial Field, where the best qualities of all stadiums are supposedly being combined to form the ultimate stadium. Where you have to lay down two grand just to have the rights to your seats, and where eventually the price of season tickets will undoubtedly increase in the upcoming years. Where the blue-collar image of the team and the city may be misconstrued in the lights and the glamour of the "Linc."
But everything is going to be same, won't it?
