I wouldn't trade being a Philadelphia sports fan for anything, says Jake Tapper.

 

By now, you may have noticed my enormous, annoying dark green Eagles mug if you watch The Lead or State of the Union.

Yes, I am a long-suffering Philadelphia sports fan, albeit recently, to be honest, we haven't really been suffering that much.

With the Phillies victory in 1980, when I was 11 years old, the Eagles NFC Triumph (then Super Bowl defeat to the Raiders...) in 1981, and the Sixers championship in 1983, my fandom (phan-dom? At the time, my friends and I's commitment to these teams appeared pure and innocent.

I was then returned to that mindset—boyish, infantile, my happiness rising or dropping depending on a team's performance beyond any reasonable thought—because apps made it simpler to follow sports in the last five or so years. Just in time for these teams to reach a point of excellent convergence.

If you're not from Philadelphia, you might not give a damn. It's possible that you dislike us and find anything offensive. After our wonderful Super Bowl victory over the vile Tom Brady-led Patriots in 2018, Eagles center Jason Kelce said, "No one likes us. We could care less. I was in an almost continual state of anxiety, even at the 2018 Super Bowl. I was certain we were going to lose right up until Brady dropped back into the pocket to throw that Hail Mary.

That was partly because it was the Patriots, who do that to you, and partially because it was the Eagles, who do that to us.

I can honestly say that only the happiness I felt at my wedding and the birth of my two children came close to what I felt when that ball bounced limply into the end zone.

Sports fans from Philly are a strange bunch. We are aware of that. We all go through it together. These days, we say "Go birds" when saying goodbye. It is comparable to the Hebrew term "Shalom," which implies peace, hello, and goodbye. Though it has numerous meanings, they are all constructive. Jake, what's up? GO BIRDIES! Man, I get it.

After the Super Bowl LII victory, we descended once more into a pitiful melancholy. Both of our quarterbacks were lost. The two of them! The team rapidly dispersed as a whole.

It was strange to see how many of the players I had come to love weren't there when I watched them so soon after that exhilaration. Personally, I would have continued to use Nick Foles, but I obviously had no idea Jalen Hurts was standing nearby. The fact that Hurts is the name of our amazing new quarterback truly tells it all.

There is no denying that Philadelphia fans have a nasty reputation. When we win, there are people who boo and throw snowballs at Santa, climb traffic light poles, and dash inebriatedly into pillars on subway platforms. It's a tough place that breeds tough people.

It's a little silly; I assure you that drunk, disrespectful fools aren't a unique phenomenon to major league sports events in Boston, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. But I don't mind if the Linc, Citizens Bank Park, or Wells Fargo Center are daunting venues for other teams and their supporters to enter; in my opinion, that's a positive thing, especially if it helps us win.

It's true that the English soccer team Millwall is where the song "No one likes us" has its roots; yet, some people contend that Millwall's supporters are far worse than those of the Eagles.