A Small But Telling Point About Being An Eagle Fan At This Point In The Andy Reid Era

So I sat down to watch the NFL Wildcard Weekend games..

And as I watched Mike Smith turn a possibly dramatic game into a comfortable Giants win, and yesterday, as I watched Marvin Lewis turn first half opportunities into a second half deficit...

I realized that I didn't miss my laundry in the playoffs. At all.

I got to watch football, without any great emotional involvement, beyond hoping that my picks would win out. (Not so much.) I got to know, without having it really rubbed in my nose, that my laundry isn't good enough to beat the Saints, and maybe not even the Lions, next year, and they weren't even the top two seeds in the conference. (Or, given what they have done for the last month, the Giants.)

It's a relief, honestly. And it will be a relief next year if the exact same thing happens, and the team isn't in the playoffs again, since that would, you would hope, finally put the stake in the heart of Coach For Life's career here.

Consider, if you will, what this says about life in the colors here. I have no hope in a team that won four in a row to close the season to win anything of real importance next year. I enjoy playoff football games more for their absence. I'm ready to tank for a year in advance just to get the coach gone.

And sure, I'll get sucked into hope with a decent draft pick or three (as if they make those), a free agent singing, wins or coaching personnel shuffles into Daring To Hope. Hell, I was daring to hope all the way into the final minutes of the Jets-Giants game in Week 16.

But I didn't curse at my television once this year. I missed watching a game (due to traveling on business, but I did schedule the flight) for the first time in 20 years. I had opportunities to go to games this year and didn't. I purchased no merch, drafted no Eagles on my fantasy teams, and picked against them (to good success) all year.

And I can't imagine that I'm alone in this in Eagles Fandom, or that this won't start to matter. Especially if the ratings or attendance goes down. Right?