The End of an Era

Number 5 is now a Washington Redskin. I never thought I'd see Donovan wear any other color than midnight green and black for the rest of his career, Burgundy and gold are his new threads though and the world moves on. I grew up in the McNabb-Reid era. I was too young to really remember the Buddy Ryan-Randall Cunningham days. I was a sophomore in high school in 2004 ( the most recent year the eagles made it to the super bowl) I remember I was on a bus heading home from Birmingham, Alabama coming home from my JROTC's Drill competition.

I grew up in a team that at one point had a three headed monster of a back field with Duce Staley, Corell Buckhalter, and Brian Westbrook our Wide outs were James Thrash and Todd Pinkston and in the slot we used Freddie "I love my hands" Mitchell. None of these guys are on the team anymore. The only constant for the past decade when it has come to the Eagles has been Donovan. This year's offense seems to be the best offense the iggles have had in years, no injury concerns to our running backs, a shored up Wide Reciever corps, an O-line that finally has seen some stability, and now, we discard the leader.

I remember back in 2000 my mom bought me a black McNabb jersey, I didn't want to take the thing off. My dad told me that he doesn't buy jerseys anymore because no one seems to stick around anymore. (This was because he owns a Flyers Eric Lindross jersey and gets boo'd whenever he wore it to a game.) Two years ago for his birthday I bought him a Brian Westbrook jersey. We Eagles fans never stop to think that these guys will ever leave. We want them to die wearing the wings on their helmets.

Kevin Kolb is the new Quarterback, Kolb threw for 300+ yards in both starts he made during the season when McNabb was injured and was named NFC player of the week in his 2nd start. Seeing #4 behind center on the first game of the season will take a little getting used to, then again so was seeing Brian Dawkins wear a Denver Broncos uni.

People grow attached to sports figures because they view them as representatives of themselves . McNabb had that smile in the huddle and the goofy celebrations that made you adore him, Despite constant critisism and people calling for his job, he kept his cool, never once going out and throwing anyone under the bus or complaining about everyone else besides himself. Donovan has acted as a professional throughout his tenure.

Even though Donovan never won the eagles a super bowl, he's still the most dynamic figure in the team's history, the legacy he leaves with this town is that of someone who could have jumped the ship when things started heading south, but stayed onboard and helped the team get back on track. When The Eagles play the Redskins during a monday night football game on October 26th, expect me to wear my #5 jersey even though his will be a different color, he's always gonna be an Eagle.