For The Win
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks for reading this morning.
Go Birds.
They did it, man. They really did it. The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions. As a fan, I’m thrilled, man. I won’t lie to y’all.
You want to know the best thing about watching your team win a championship? Never having to apologize for anything again.
HOW THEY DID IT: The Eagles punched the Chiefs in the mouth, stomach and everywhere else.
Sports debates are built around caveats. Yeah, Player X is great, but they can’t do this. Team Y is solid, but it’s not a contender because it doesn’t have that. We’re always pointing out the flaws in things that could, otherwise, be pretty good!
Generally speaking, it’s such an exhausting endeavor. You always have to look at things through a glass-half-empty lens. It’s almost a requirement. That requirement takes so much joy out of an exercise that should, otherwise, be a pretty fun time. That was me with the Eagles for a lot of this year.
A handful of times this year, I’d sit back and watch the team saying, “You know, maybe they don’t throw the ball enough.” Or “Should they really be running Saquon this much?” I’d question how real the defense so dependent on rookies to make plays was.
All of that is out the window today. The doubt. The trepidation. The apprehension. It’s gone. The Eagles are champions now and they never have to apologize for it.
Say what you want about Jalen Hurts. Call him a running back who can’t throw. Say he doesn’t see the middle of the field. Talk about how he doesn’t have the biggest arm.
Just make sure you call him champ when you do it.
Say what you want about Nick Sirianni. Goodness knows I have. I’m still unsure exactly what his head coach job entails. Does he run the offense? What does he do for the defense? No idea. But it doesn’t matter.
He’s a champion now.
Did the Eagles overpay for Saquon Barkley? Should they have let him break the NFL’s rushing record? Will he wear down after such a fantastic season with a heavy workload? Only time will tell. But we don’t have to worry about that right now. Why?
Because he’s a champion today.
THE JOKES ARE FLYING: Abbott Elementary is going up today
See what I mean? Nothing else matters, man. Every team has flaws. Every player has different tendencies. Some are good, some are bad. But they all add up. And if they add up well enough to win it all? Then that’s really what matters in the end.
Complain about the process as much as you want. The results are what they are. The...
