Mike Mulligan has been an Eagles fan his whole life. He can probably recite Guido Merkens' passer rating from memory and still cringes whenever Jon Harris' name comes up in discussions about draft-day busts.
When the Eagles schedule comes out each year, he and his friends will run through it and mark each game with a win or a loss. But he also views the day with a twinge of cynicism, likely borne out of the Eagles' 48-year championship drought.
"I believe this whole schedule thing is a manufactured event set up by the NFL," said Mulligan, of Blackwood, N.J. "Baseball season just started. The NCAAs were just played. And the NHL and NBA playoffs are around the corner. So the NFL is in the background and it wants to be in front; so they set this up to make it seem so epic."
Charlie McKenna's grouchiness is a little closer to the heart. Another longtime fan, McKenna is disgruntled at the Eagles' decision not to retain a number of their veterans.
"I'm not as pumped this year," said McKenna, of South Philadelphia. "Once they got rid of [Brian] Dawkins and Lito [Sheppard] and Tra Thomas, I'm pretty [annoyed] about that."
"I always wanted to know when Dallas was coming to town, but not so much this year. Thank God for baseball, I'll tell you that."
