So we’re a little more than 48 hours into the new year and we’re stuck inside thanks to a frigid arctic blast (is there any other kind of arctic blast?) a waiting another big game to close out the season between the Eagles and Cowboys.
It’s funny how things don’t change from year to year. It was last season’s finale where the Eagles needed a perfect storm of luck with two other teams losing the early games just so the game at the Linc against the ‘Boys would be meaningful.
From there the Eagles kept winning until they got to the NFC Championship game. Until there was a little more than two minutes left in the game it looked like the Eagles were headed back to the Super Bowl.
That’s where the luck ran out, of course.
This time around the Eagles don’t need any help getting into the playoffs. This time if they beat the Cowboys in Dallas in the regular-season finale, they get the No. 2 seed, a first-round bye, and a home game to open the playoffs.
If they lose, well then, all bets are off. Chances are they might have to hit the road next weekend.
Nevertheless, it’s already been an eventful start to 2010 even before we consider the big Eagles-Cowboys showdown. Of course everyone seemed to impressed with the Flyers-Bruins game at grungy, old Fenway Park in what will still go down as just another regular-season game. Nevermind the notion of what it says about the game if it has to be removed from its regular venue and placed in another sports’ ballpark just to get an audience outside of the die hards that will watch no matter where or when the team plays.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 college basketball team in the country showed up in North Philly, kicked some butts, took a few names, and left still ranked No. 1. Yes, Kansas beat Temple, 84-52, in a game that conjured memories of the 1993 butt-kicking from Wake Forest at McGonigle Hall.
Only the air outdoors was colder than Temple this weekend.
Yes, it’s very cold. It’s dangerously cold, according to the good folks at AccuWeather. But come 4 p.m. there should be plenty of TV sets warming up things in these parts.