Five Stages of Grief

Can’t believe it’s been 7 months since I’ve written in my blog.  I went through a whole NFL season without going on a rant, especially after the Eagles epic collapse at the end of the season. What is wrong with me?  Well, here I am and it took NFL free agency to pull me back in.  Let me start off by saying, over the last week, I think I’ve had like 25 anxiety attacks, 3 heart attacks and the five stages of grief.

It started off well when I heard the Eagles cut Cary Williams.  I think I even stood up and did a dance when that happened.  The next two announcements totally ruined that happiness; Todd Herremans and Trent Cole had been released. Ok, ok, these are sad moments because these men have been Eagles forever!  They were the heart and soul of the offensive and defensive lines.  I understand they were getting up there in age but it was just really hard to see them go.  So, the sadness of Todd and Trent leaving is finally letting up.

Now, what is about to happen next causes me to go through the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  A couple days later I’m scrolling through twitter and start seeing tweets that go something like this.  “Nooooo, not Lesean!!”  “OMG, this can’t be real life!”  “Eagles, wtf are you doing, you can’t trade Lesean!”  I’m thinking to myself that some fake account tweeted that the Eagles traded Lesean and pulled one over on some of my twitter friends.  Yep, nope.  When I saw that the Eagles had really traded Lesean to Buffalo for a man who didn’t play a game last year, I’m not sure what happened but I think I fell off my couch and blacked out.  Lawd, help me.  This cannot be real life!  Why is the Chipster doing this?  Why did he just trade arguably the best rb in the league for a guy with no knee???  I pull myself up off the floor and sit on the couch and say, nope, this did not just happen. I don’t care what the reports are, this is some kind of joke. (denial) Well, when I saw it on CSN Philly and ESPN, I knew it was real.    I needed to understand.  People kept trying to tell me it was for the best, that his contract was too much and Kiko no knee Alonso was a beast when healthy.  YES, WHEN HEALTHY!!!  Why am I seeing people happy about this?  Now I’m yelling and threatening to fight people who are glad Lesean is gone. (anger)  They tried to convince me it was the right thing to do and all I kept thinking was, dammit Lesean, if you would have just restructured your contract, you’d still be an Eagle.  (bargaining)  You were supposed to be an Eagle for life.  Now I’m sitting on the couch remember how fun it was watching him play and remembering the snow bowl game from last year.  I want to cry. I mope around the house and work for a few days trying to make sense of this. (depression)

Ok, I need to get over Lesean not being here anymore. I mean at least we still have Sproles in the backfield and I know Maclin will be back, right?  I mean he is close to a deal with the Eagles so I still got that going for me, right?  WRONG!!!  Twitter has just informed me that Jeremy Maclin has agreed to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.  No, no, no, this is not happening again!!!  You cannot take Maclin away from me now!  Are you seriously telling me that in 1 year, we have lost Desean Jackson, Lesean McCoy and now Jeremy Maclin?  It was not supposed to be this way!  They were the biggest parts of our offense and supposed to lead us to a superbowl now they’re gone?  Who the hell is Nick Foles going to throw the ball to now?  Welp, I got the answer to that a few days later.  Nobody from the Eagles.  Yep, the Chipster finally pushed me over the edge by trading Nick Foles to the Rams for Sam One Leg Bradford.  I am now back to stage one of my grief for like the third time in a few days.  I am so glad that I have a prescription for anxiety pills because if I didn’t I’m not sure I would have made it through the last week.

The only thing that has made me a little happy about everything that has happened with my Eagles lately is, taking Demarco Murray away from the Cowboys.  There is nothing better in the world than sticking it to the Cowboys and watching their fans go through the same 5 stages of grief that I am experiencing right now.  Oh and don’t you think for one minute I’d rather have him than Lesean.

I’m not sure what this team is going to look like come September but one thing I do know is I will miss every last one of those guys like crazy.  They gave me so many great memories while on the Eagles and I am thankful I had a chance to watch them play.  Oh and one more thing, stage 5, acceptance, has not come yet but when it does, all of you will be the first to know.