There Is No Fate in Sports

The Eagles can't keep the fans' feelings of invincibility, from the Phillies' title, alive.

Fate. Destiny. Meant to be. These, along with countless other cliches, seem to be used to describe at least one team's success every year in every sport. Unfortunately none of it exists. As was proven in the NFC Championship on Sunday, the better team that day will win. Period.

Philadelphia fans saw something extraordinary this fall. By now the Phillies' story is well known. Throughout the month of October, fans invested more and more emotion into their sports team. And for the first time in 25 years, they weren't let down. First the first time in my life (Coincidentally, I'm 25 years old), I now knew I wasn't always going to be doomed to the "Close, but no cigar."

And then when everything line up perfectly for the Eagles on the final day of the regular season, in order for them to make the playoffs, things seemed destined. Things seemed even more destined when we found out that the only thing between the Birds and the Super Bowl were the Arizona Cardinals; the same Cardinals the Eagles crushed on Thanksgiving Night; the same Cardinals who's championship drought dwarfs that of the Eagles.

Before the Phillies' breaking through in October, I'd view this past Eagles game with a certain degree of trepidation. But things are different now. I went all out, emotionally, on this one. Because of the Phillies, this Eagles team appeared destined to do something special as well. Lesson learned; games, and championships especially, are won on the field (or ice or court), not in the "heavens."