by Brandyn Campbell
It’s Sunday and there is no Eagles football. What oh what is a fan to do?
This post is an adaptation of a column by Philly Sports Muse for the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2013 season.
Nine months of waiting for football season to arrive, followed by several weeks of the ups and downs that mark being a fan of Philadelphia Eagles football. It’s what Fall’s all about, but once a season it comes to a screeching halt: The bye week.
In theory, getting an extra three hours back into your week should be a good thing. There’s never enough time to get everything done, right? The bye represents the only Sunday in 17 weeks where you can do extra chores, sleep longer, visit family – whatever your heart desires. But somehow, it never feels like a carefree addition of hours into your day. Instead, it feels like a desert, a long, dry stretch before once again quenching the thirst for more football. What’s an Eagles fan to do?
In fairness, we shouldn’t be selfish. Though it’s a short season compared to the other major sports, the bye week is a much needed period of rest for players. Football is a grueling game, and it offers an opportunity to rest their bodies and minds from the otherwise relentless season. It’s also an important chance to prepare for the challenging second stretch of the season, which features matchups with the Cardinals, Texans, Panthers and Packers just in the month following the bye.
This year, the week off comes at a time when the Birds are riding particularly high. They are 5-1, and rolled into their break with a resoundingly glorious a**-whopping of the New York Giants, shutting out Big Blue 27-0. And to top it all off, the Eagles are sitting pretty atop the NFC East. Finally, in that thorough trouncing of New York, all aspects of the game came together to show just how dangerous this Eagles squad can be when firing on all cylinders.
Like it or not, we’re all forced to take a pause from our Sunday routines this week. Eagles players, coaches and personnel probably welcome the brief respite. The fans don’t really need a break. In fact, we don’t even want one. Sure, some of us have intense tailgating schedules, but eating, drinking and cheering is fun. Who wants to take a pause from that?
We’ll find a way to deal. What that looks like will vary from fan to fan, from household to household. Your bye week coping strategy may look something like one of the following methods:
Keep It Going. While there is no Eagles football, there is still lots of football to watch. You still adhere to your game-watching traditions and settle in for a long day on the couch watching how other teams in the league fare. It’s football season, baby, and nothing’s gonna slow you down!
Denial. You’ve known all season that this week means no Eagles football, but you just can’t fully wrap your mind around this fact. You envy fans of other teams who play this Sunday. You stare at your television screen blankly, neither taking in other games nor moving forward with your usual game watching routine. In a word, you are lost, sad and withdrawn. Week 13 can’t come soon enough.
Walking Dead. You want to do something very badly to make use of this “free” Sunday, but just can’t bring yourself to do anything. You just laze around and stare at a dark TV screen all day. Come Monday, you wonder where all of your time went.
Productivity City. The Bye Week is a fact of football season and you make the most of it. Cleaning, cooking, bill paying, shopping, and everything in between, you are a whirling dervish of activity. The team may be resting, but you are not. Gotta make this time count!
Whatever your coping strategy and however forced this break from Eagles football is for you, one thing is clear: It’s going to be an exciting stretch to the finish line.
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Brandyn Campbell of Philly Sports Muse, for War Room Sports
