Love to Hate

Posted:May 26th, 2025 |Author:Tommy Lawlor

I jokingly asked a couple of co-workers how excited they were by the news that the tush push wasn’t banned. Both of them responded they were actually disappointed. They also told me they had developed a hatred for the Eagles.

This caught me off guard. One is a Broncos fan and the other a Panthers fan. Neither of those teams is a rival for the Eagles. I thought about their response for a bit and then it hit me. The Super Bowl champion Eagles are so good they are now worth hating. That’s actually quite a compliment.

Go back to the 1990’s. The most loved team in the league was the Dallas Cowboys. The most hated team was…the Dallas Cowboys. They won big. They were brash and arrogant. Watching Dallas lose could put a smile on a dead man’s face. It was a glorious time to hate.

The Cowboys fell apart by the start of the next decade. They had no answer when Troy Aikman retired. Anthony Wright? Clint Stoerner? Ryan Leaf? None of those guys were worth caring about, much less hating. My instincts were to pull against Dallas, but it was hard to get fired up cheering against a team coached by Dave Campo.

You need to be good for fans to really care. The Eagles were great last year. That drew some fans onto the bandwagon, but it also got some fans to start pulling against the guys in green. You can also see some other reasons fans might not like the Eagles. Nick Sirianni’s sideline antics will turn off some people. The roster is loaded with star players.

Stars can be polarizing. It doesn’t always make sense, but people will just dislike certain players. As a kid, I hated Steve Garvey with a passion. I have no idea why. I hated Joe Montana. Again, not really sure why. You can bet there are people who hate Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown or Jalen Carter.

Then there is the Howie Roseman factor. Fans aren’t going to hate him, but the success of his moves. If you’re a casual fan, it must feel like the Eagles are the luckiest team in the world. They got their star QB in the second round. Carter fell to pick 9 and the Eagles got him.

Zack Baun went from nobody to All Pro. Saquon Barkley was gifted to the Eagles. Jordan Mailata was a late round pick. The Titans traded AJ Brown to Philly. Why on earth would they do that? And how in the heck did Cooper DeJean fall to the Eagles?

Those fans don’t see the mistakes. The Eagles don’t trade for AJ if Jalen Reagor isn’t such a failure. Mailata wouldn’t have a job if Andre Dillard hadn’t been a flop. Hurts wouldn’t be an Eagle if Carson Wentz had gone as planned. And so on.

The other key thing is that Howie is able to sign so many players and keep them around. Jeffrey Lurie lets the team spend a lot of cash, which allows them to work around the salary cap. That is maddening for a lot of fans and even rival players.

You can imagine Joe Burrow’s frustration when the Bengals tell him they can’t afford a star QB, 2 star receivers and a pass rusher. The Eagles have that and a lot more. I’m sure it feels like the Eagles are cheating at times. They aren’t. They work around the cap, which you can only do if your owner gives you the resources.

There is also the matter of the tush push. Eagles fans love it. Some fans are ambivalent. Others hate it. That play is just another reason for opposing fans to hate the Eagles.

If you think back to 2017, that was a loveable team. They weren’t loaded with stars. They beat the evil Patriots in the Super Bowl. Nick Foles over Tom Brady. Doug Pederson over Bill Belichick. I think most of the NFL world liked that team. They enjoyed the underdogs winning. This is different. The Eagles were a juggernaut last year. They have been to 2 Super Bowls in the past 3 years and could have more in their future.

They are now a team that some fans love to hate.

http://igglesblitz.com/2025/05/love-to-hate/

I feel like we are always hated though? Maybe right now more so because we are so good but we just aren’t a popular team. Opposing fans hate our fans and they like to talk trash about our HC and QB.

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I feel like we are always hated though? Maybe right now more so because we are so good but we just aren’t a popular team. Opposing fans hate our fans and they like to talk trash about our HC and QB.

I think it's more that people have hated Eagles fans, not necessarily the team. Lawlor is just saying that now people are starting to hate on the Eagles because they're good. Other fans will relish in watching us lose, in the same manner Eagles fans always enjoyed watching Dallas lose when they were a juggernaut.

Really Tom?

Do you still live in the Pocono Mountains?

Having been born and raised in Philly, attended my first Iggles game in 1960, watching from the "horseshoe" at Franklin Field and falling in love the Cinderella season that ensued...I have endured most of my life addicted to the allure of professional football. I wouldn't be dissapointed if I were to bleed Kelly green.

I've despised the Dallas Cowboys since the 60's...both the team and the city...more than any other team. I enjoy every E-A-G-L-E-S victory, but I experience deep pleasure in crushing the Cowgirls.

I know Philly fans, justified or not, have a long-standing reputaion...going back to the drunk Santa being pelted with snowballs...even by the future mayor. The700 level is where I suffered watching losing teams, usually in cold, wet and windy conditions. Prior to moving here, I dreaded driving to Atlanta in the fall to visit my daughter until I found the Rocky Mountain Pizza crowd on GA Tech campus to watch games with fellow fan

I was scheduled to go on a cruise in February of 2005, when I realized the Eagles would be in the Super Bowl. I was in a tiz until I found out it would be broadcast in the ship' theater. On my latest cruise I wound up sitting with folks from Kansas City to watch the matchup in November of 2023. We had a ball together.

Anyway, my point is most fans approach sports contests as competitive fun...some more seriosly than others. Some rivalries can be alot of fun.

NFL Films tagged the Cowboys "America's Team" back in 1978 to very mixed reactions. I think this, as much as anything, has conjured up love/hate in football teams.

In subsequent times the Patriots and the Chiefs have become rather dominant.

Perhaps now that the Eagles have become so successfull, the mantle will soon pass on to us.

On 5/31/2025 at 4:43 PM, Crazy Legs said:

NFL Films tagged the Cowboys "America's Team" back in 1978 to very mixed reactions. I think this, as much as anything, has conjured up love/hate in football teams.

In subsequent times the Patriots and the Chiefs have become rather dominant.

The Cowboy's still being called "America's Team" is laughable ... they are most definitely living on past glory. The Patriots and more recently the Chiefs have surpassed them and assumed the title. Isn't it extra sweet that we beat them both to capture our first 2 Lombardi trophies??

All I know is that I frequently listen to NFL radio on XM and they seem to praise the Eagles as often as Fox praises Trump.

Could it be that we are in the early stages of a perceived transition (passing the torch so to speak)?

On 6/3/2025 at 7:09 AM, time2rock said:

The Cowboy's still being called "America's Team" is laughable ... they are most definitely living on past glory. The Patriots and more recently the Chiefs have surpassed them and assumed the title. Isn't it extra sweet that we beat them both to capture our first 2 Lombardi trophies??

I think the initial attractions in the sixties were the uniform/star, cowboy image, Roger Staubach, Thanksgiving game on TV and the fact that there was not another NFL team within 850 miles of their TV market