Hey Eagles Fans, think this Super Bowl is tough for you?
Think again.
At least you don't root for the Jets.
Sure, we hate Boston and New York. It seems like the teams from Boston continually knock Philadelphia teams out of the playoffs. And, yeah, the Patriots did beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. And obviously, Eagles fans hate the Giants. Their division rivals somehow sneaked their way out of a 7-7 hole and powered their way to Indy.
So maybe it is a tough Super Bowl to watch as a Birds fan, but it's nothing compared to the pain Jets fans are feeling. At least, if Sunday is a little tough, you can take solace in that.
This is a point I first heard last Sunday on Full Contact, in Jody McDonald's victory time. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right.
You probably know some Jets fans -- the few, the sort of proud -- but I wanted to find the biggest Jets fan I could and see what he's going through as the big game approaches.
NFL
Hayden Bluth might be the biggest Jets fan in the world. If not, he's damn close. The 32-year-old Jets fan grew up in Marlboro, N.J. but now lives in Arlington, Va. His family has had Jets season tickets for 42 years. Although he now lives in Virginia, he never misses a home game. For each Sunday home game, he gets up around 3 a.m. and drives to the Meadowlands.
This Super Bowl hurts him. A lot. And it's the second time the matchup has happened in five years.
"I'll have a bottle of Jameson nearby," Bluth said over the phone this week. "The only way I'll get through Sunday is with some alcohol consumption."
But even then, it's just a momentary fix. It will only numb this super Jets fan for a few hours. The pain of either the Patriots or Giants hoisting the Lombardi Trophy will last with him for the entire year, maybe more.
It's really hard for Eagles fans to imagine the Super Bowl hurting more for someone else, but put yourself in the shoes of a Jets fan. The game is a matchup between their biggest division rival and their big brother.
It brings up a tough question for Jets fans, not unlike the one that has been stumping Birds followers this week: Who the heck do they root for?
Bluth says he'll root for the Giants. On the Jets' scale of evil, no team ranks higher than the Patriots. No person ranks higher than Bill Belichick.
If you don't know the story, Belichick was once thought to be the heir apparent to Bill Parcells with the Jets. Belichick, however, lasted just one day as the Jets head coach. And soon after his resignation from the Jets, Belichick became the head coach of the rival Patriots. Since then, he's won three Super Bowls.
"What Belichick did to our franchise ..." Bluth said, suddenly struggling for words. "I despise Tom Brady and Belichick."
The Giants, who play in the same stadium as the Jets, have won three Super Bowls, most recently in the last Jet fans' nightmare game, when they beat the Pats in 2007. The Giants are like that annoying big brother to the Jets. They know they're better and they rub their noses in it.
"We share the town so it's like a sibling rivalry," Bluth said. "You love your brother, but do you want to see him win?
"My friends are Giants fans. At the end, you root for them, but you don't want them having a parade and running their mouths all year."
The Jets? They haven't won it all since Super Bowl III in 1968, when Joe Namath was tossing touchdown passes. The only passes Namath throws these days are to Suzy Kolber ... and even those fall incomplete.
So all this stuff about this Super Bowl being tough for Eagles fans, what does Bluth make of that?
"I have very little sympathy for Eagles fans," he said. "This is a nightmare. It's the second time in five years."
Really, the Jets and Eagles had quite a bit in common this past season. Both had Super Bowl aspirations. Both finished 8-8. Both will be watching on Sunday. Both will be in pain.
But one will be in more.
"Next to something going wrong with the family, this is the worst," Bluth said. "We can't win."
Neither can Eagles fans. But on this Super Bowl Sunday, at least they can take solace in the fact that they don't have as much to lose.
E-mail Dave Zangaro at dzangaro@comcastsportsnet.com