Opening Day

Sunday was opening day both for church and for the NFL (I'm going to overlook that Thursday night game for purposes of the poetic parallel.)

Now that we live on the east coast, the tragic conflict between church and watching the Eagles play is mostly behind us, but with an hour-long drive home from church, I am sad to say we missed kick-off. We parked the car in front of the house, frantically threw off church clothes and replaced them with, in my case, a shirt that says "Eagles" in rhinestones, and after Wuggie Norple grabbed his travel-pack of Pokemon necessities we were off. Unfortunately, the Eagles are STILL not our local team, so this week we headed to the local sports bar to watch. Fortunately, Uncle Joe's is less than a block from our house. (The parking lot was so packed, that I think our house may have been the closest parking available!)

Joe's was filled with excitement inside. I don't think I've ever seen so many different jerseys in one place. Eagles, Bills, Pats, Steelers seemed to make up the largest groups, but Wuggie's Dad said he even saw a Titans Jersey. Joe's makes the best wings in town, and has $3 Bombers. (Sadly, a 16 oz soda costs the same as a 30 oz beer. Part of the unique reality paradigm that exists only in sports bar.) We grabbed the last booth in the place, Wuggie settled in to his Pokemon deck and cheese pizza, and we strained our eyes to see the nearest TV showing the Eagles game. (Now we know- this is no spontaneous outing. Come early and camp to be close to your game.)

The last time we watched Eagles games at a Sports Bar on a regular basis was at Jersey's Cheese Steaks in California with Wuggie's Aunt and Uncle. Ah, those were the days - Eagles jerseys as far as the eye could see. In this new inter-team environment, a cheer goes up and you have no idea which of 16 TVs has the touchdown on it. Thank goodness the Steelers fans brought their towels. We always knew when the Steelers were doing well.

All that really matters is this; our first ingathering service at our new church was warm and full of energy. And our first Eagles game of the season went 38-3.

Go Eagles!