The Q-View

The Eagles Super Bowl LII win was made possible by our dog, Leo.

Just saying.

We acquired Leo a little over a year ago. The Eagles went 16-3 this year. Need I say more?

Yes, I guess I do.

Despite decades of good luck charms, juju, superstition, requests for Divine Intervention the Eagles always came up short. No Lombardi Trophy.

“If I’m reading the signs,” as Tiffany said in Silver Linings Playbook, Sunday’s win showed a dogged resolve. The Eagles reveled in the role of underdogs, and this is the Chinese Year of the Dog.

And there was Leo.

He was witness to Eagles football either from the couch or the floor in the family room in front of the TV with me squirming through the ups and downs of the game. When I was at the Linc, Leo dutifully stayed with Terry as she rooted in front of the television.

Terry had been after me for years to get a dog. Obviously, I know now that I could have improved my Eagles karma years ago. If I’d been reading the signs, the Eagles might have owned the Lombardi long ago.

Of course, I know it wasn’t only Leo. There were several other things that insured victory.

Surfing, I came across the movie The Fugitive on Saturday night. Tommy Lee Jones character is referred to as The Big Dog at times.

I decided to watch Silver Linings Playbook, which I had recorded long ago, because I had watched it the week before the Minnesota game. I watched about two-thirds of it before I went to bed. The movie was filmed locally and gets Eagle Nation right.

I started Sunday lectoring at the 7:30 Mass. That was a good sign, because I was on the altar, serving, before the Minnesota game two weeks ago. The priest’s vestments were white, black, and Eagles green. As we left church, the organist was playing “On Eagles Wings”.

I went to the Y and had a great run on the treadmill. The greeting of the day was “Go Birds!” I met Terry and Vicki for breakfast at the diner, increasing my good husband karma!

Lo and behold, Sunday’s Inquirer had a feature article on Silver Linings Playbook, “A movie that got fandom right”. Gary Thompson wrote, “I wonder how many Eagles fans will be arranging their remote controls just so, or clutching their carefully folded handkerchiefs in their left hands”, as Robert DeNiro’s character, Pat Solitano, did in the movie. “All to ward off the bad juju.”

I watched the Villanova and Temple basketball games. Both won. Good sign, although Temple’s victory came against a team,Tulane, wearing green. Mixed omen.

Between the games, I finished Silver Linings Playbook, picking up at Tiffany’s (Jennifer Lawrence) epic rant to Solitano, Sr. “She doesn’t necessarily believe in the superstitions,” Thompson wrote, “but she believes in their power and is canny enough to use that power to her advantage–as a force for positive change.”

After the Phillies 5K in March, every year, I pay homage to Silver Linings, by suggesting we go to lunch at the Llanerch Diner, where a key scene in the movie was filmed. There is a plaque at the table where Pat Solitano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany sat.

For the last two Eagles Super Bowls, we had hosted viewing parties. They lost. Not doing that again. I was happy to be home with just Terry and Leo viewing the game like it was just another Sunday.

As much as I trusted Leo’s presence, I invested in other gameday juju. Dawkins white #20 jersey. No doubt. I had worn it to all the home games, except one. My monthly contacts were overdue for a change–I had first used them on Christmas Day– and giving me headaches, but I had viewed the Atlanta and Minnesota wins through those contacts, and they were not coming out!

I did dare to change my watching spot in the family room, which is usually on the far right of the couch and then the floor if things are going badly. I boldly chose to sit in the corner chair. Leo sprawled on the floor. Terry sat on the couch. She left for the bathroom at one point, and the Patriots scored.

Leo and I reprimanded her.

And who was sitting next to Jeffrey Lurie in the owner’s box?

Bradley Cooper.

It all worked. 

Yeah, Nick Foles, Zach Ertz, Corey Clement, Alshon Jeffrey, Brandon Graham et al, had roles in the Super Win.

But really, thanks mostly to karma and Leo, the Eagles will no longer be dogged by a zero after “Eagles Super Bowl victories”.