Philadelphia Eagles celebrate 86 years of existence

The Philadelphia Eagles officially move into their 86th year of existence on July 8th. Time flies. Doesn’t it?

Yes, time does, indeed, fly. Well, doesn’t it? The 4th of July probaby feels like it was two weeks ago to some of you, but it wasn’t. Here’s something to keep you occupied though. If you have a few fireworks left, here’s a good excuse to light a few. The Philadelphia Eagles celebrated a birthday. They, officially, turned 86 years old on July 8th.

It’s easy to forget birthdays sometimes. We all can admit to that. If you spent most of your Monday trying to get back into the swing of another week, the team made sure they gave all of us a reminder via their social media sites.

Take a look:

‘The Birds’ came into existence when the remains of the now-defunct Frankford Yellow Jackets franchise was sold to a syndicate of Philadelphia-based businessmen. It didn’t start off in excellence. It wasn’t the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it was brutal. Seven of their first ten seasons produced two wins or less, but in typical Philly fashion, the team would saunter on.

‘Greasy’ Neale was hired in 1941, and by the close of the decade, Philly had worked their way into relevancy. By 1947, they had made their first championship appearance. They’d follow that with two NFL Championship wins in 1948 and 1949.

Here we are, many moons later, and another championship in 1960 over Vince Lombardi‘s Green Bay Packers would eventaully be followed by a Super Bowl in 2017 against what’s been, possibly, the greatest dynasty in all of sports. It’s been quite the ride. Many of us missed a lot of it, but we can say this.

Life as an Eagles fan hasn’t been too bad. Just look at some of the names. There’s the aforementioned ‘Greasy’ Neal, Norm Van Brocklin, Steve Van Buren, and Chuck Bednarik.

Some of you younger fans remember another flock of ‘Birds’. They include the likes of Dick Vermeil, Buddy Ryan, Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid. The names can make you smile when you read or hear them. We’ll trust Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz, Derek Barnett and guys like Shareef Miller to take it from here. It appears the future is in good hands.