Sports

SIGHTING OF T.O. GIVES FANS HOPE

JACKSONVILLE – What you ask for is a chance, for a prayer, for an opportunity to shake your fist at the world. So as thousands of the Philadelphia Eagles’ faithful flock streamed into Alltel Stadium yesterday afternoon, the first thing they did was scan the field.

“There he is,” one whispered.

“Where?”

“Over there.”

“Are you sure that’s him? That doesn’t look like him. Oh, man! It’s him!”

“TEEE OOOH!”

“TEEE OOOH!”

“TEEE OOOH!”

And really, that’s all it took. That’s all that was necessary. There may have been a few board-certified surgeons in the house yesterday, wearing Eagles jerseys, painting their faces green and white, but if they were, they weren’t there to analyze the medical risks Owens was taking.

All they cared about was their superstar wide receiver, the man who not only stretches his mouth at the drop of a hat but stretches the field just by showing up, had in fact showed up. He was warming up. He was ready to go.

Or so it seemed from high above Alltel Stadium.

“Can you see what he’s doing?”

“He’s trotting, just having a catch.”

“Is he limping?”

“He’s not limping.”

“TEEE OOOH!”

“TEEE OOOH!”

“TEEE OOOH!”

Owens himself had vowed to spend Saturday night the way he spends every other game-day eve, visualizing the way he wants the game to play out, visualizing his own place in those games – and the responses he will invariably pursue if the time is right.

“I don’t want to rely exclusively on emotion,” he’d said.

On the field, three hours before kickoff, he was business-like and brief. A little running. A little stretching. And he was off. Bringing a fresh wellspring of hope back into the clubhouse with him.

“My mindset is to play however long I am able to play,” Owens had said on Thursday. “Whatever plays Coach allows me to play, I’m going to play and when I’m in there I am going to play 100 percent.

“At this point, just going through practice, I’m just trying to get my conditioning in because I haven’t played in a long time.

“Other than that, I just think emotionally it’s going to take me throughout the game and I’m just going to let Coach dictate where he wants to put me on the field.”

Just the possibility was so delicious for the Eagles fans who flooded the parking lots and vestibules of Alltel, who brought their leather lungs and the battered hearts with them.

If the Red Sox can win the World Series after nearly losing their heart and soul – Curt Schilling – then wouldn’t it make sense that this may be a time and a season for all longtime suffering fans?

Why not the Eagles, who’ve tormented their fans for 44 long years?

“Why not us?” Owens said earlier in the week.

So much of the Eagles’ fan’s mindset has been tied up in the status of T.O.

To understand, truly understand, the kind of angst that was battering them when Owens went down three weeks before the end of the regular season back in December, you had to be there yesterday, when just the sight of Owens on the field gave them whatever the diametric opposite of that agony is.

Some players, the special ones, are like that. Some players, the special ones, can provide that kind of emotional lift not only for their teammates, but for their fans, too.

Terrell Owens is one of those players. Eagles fans already knew that.

Now, with the Super Bowl as his stage, he had the opportunity to prove it once and forever to the world.

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How the Eagles got here

Giants W 31-17

Vikings W 27-16

at Lions W 30-13

at Bears W 19-9

Panthers W 30-8

at Browns W 34-31

Ravens W 15-10

at Steelers L 27-3

at Cowboys W 49-21

Redskins W 28-6

at Giants W 27-6

Packers W 47-17

at Redskins W 17-14

Cowboys W 12-7

at Rams L 20-7

Bengals L 38-10

Playoffs (2-0)

Vikings W 27-14

Falcons W 27-10