When I sat down to start this little project about a week and a half ago, I had only anticipated making this list the top ten moments of the decade for the "Big Four" in Philadelphia sports. What I quickly realized, however, was that there were just too many moments to condense into a ten item list. After a little thinking and research, I've decided to spread it to the top 25 moments of the decade.
The years 2000-2009 have honestly been the Golden Age of Philadelphia sports, when you look back at them. While only one team has claimed a championship, all four teams have seen success, with the Phillies, Eagles and Sixers all reaching the championship games or series of their respective leagues, and the Flyers making it to the Eastern Conference Finals three times. The 90s were not nearly as forgiving to Philadelphia sports, as only the Flyers and Phillies made championship appearances, and both were subsequently defeated. The Sixers went through a period where they traded Charles Barkley, added Shawn Bradley, and then spent four years trying to find someone to play next to Allen Iverson. The Eagles only had four losing seasons during the 90s, but went through four head coaches and about ten different quarterbacks, and always seemed to be missing just that one thing that would put them on top of the NFC East. After 1993, the Phillies were horrible again, and they wouldn't have another winning season until 2001.
This decade has been different, though. The Phillies now haven't had a losing season since the 2000 campaign and have been to back to back World Series, winning one. The Eagles found stability at head coach and at quarterback, and reached five NFC Championships and one Super Bowl. The Flyers always seem to be one of the teams to watch in the Eastern Conference, and while the Sixers haven't made much noise of late, they did have one season where everything came together, and Allen Iverson led them to the 2001 NBA Finals.
Throughout this past decade, there have been plenty of special moments that made Philadelphia fans cheer, and for once, I think there were more good moments than bad. I'll be getting started on the Top 25 tomorrow, but I wanted to start today with an Honorable Mention. It's not a moment from one of the teams, but instead was something that the city of Philadelphia had been asking for for quite some time.
Honorable Mention: Lincoln Financial Field Opens-August 3, 2003 & Citizens Bank Park Opens-April 3, 2004
From 1971 through 2002, the Phillies and Eagles shared a home field. Veterans Stadium, which was seen as state of the art when it opened in the early 1970s, had become one of the worst stadiums in both football and baseball by the start of this decade. Both teams had put in requests for new stadiums in 1998, following similar requests from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers, who played in a similar "cookie cutter" stadium in their city. The multi-purpose stadiums had gone out of style, and when you looked at the Vet, you knew that it's days were numbered. Yes, the 700 level was the stuff of legends, but there were problems everywhere, and the field was easily the worst in both leagues. How anyone could play on AstroTurf is still beyond me.
The Vet wasn't the nicest stadium in the world, but Philadelphia fans felt an attraction to it. Sure, it wasn't that nice to look at, there were leaks and the field wasn't that nice...but it was ours. It was a toilet, but it was our toilet. We were allowed to talk badly about it, but don't expect a warm welcome if you were a player or fan of an opposing team. However, even that had started to fade, and when ground was broken in 2001 for not one, but two separate stadiums, the days of Veterans Stadium were numbered.
Of course, then everyone got a look at what the new stadiums looked like, and all was right with the world. Lincoln Financial Field, the new home of the Eagles, would open up first. The Eagles didn't open it in the best way, losing 17-0 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they would turn things around rather quickly. Citizens Bank Park opened up for the 2004 season, and the Phillies quickly started making memories of their own in their new stadium as well. The Vet was demolished on March 24, 2004, ending 33 years of AstroTurf, horrible injuries and memories. Then, the two teams set about making their new parks just as memorable. The Eagles have hosted two NFC Championship Games at Lincoln Financial Field, winning one of them, and have also had countless playoff and nationally televised games played there since the 2003 season. Meanwhile, the Phillies have made the playoffs the past three seasons, and Game Five of the 2008 World Series took place in Citizens Bank Park. You might remember that one, since it was the night the Phillies won the World Championship.
Veterans Stadium was great, but the Eagles and Phillies needed their own stadiums, and what they got moved them from the outhouse to the penthouse in terms of stadiums in the NFL and Major League Baseball. The moments that have already happened have been great, and there's sure to be more to come along the way. Like I said, this isn't a great team moment, per se, but I felt it needed to be included on the list. Without the openings of these two parks, about 75% of this list doesn't happen.
Tomorrow, I'll get started for real, with Number 25. Here's a hint on what it is: Two teams doing seven hours of work in a one hour game.
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