Fans sandwich anger with hope

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, July, 2003 | by Bill Lyon

And so another pilgrimage is nigh for that relentlessly loyal and persistently hardy band of zealots known as The Brotherhood of The Eternally Hopeful Beyond All Reason, Good Sense and Simple Logic.

Which is to say, Iggles fans.

No group so faithfully hands over its hearts and pledges its impassioned allegiance year after year after year. The universal truth about Eagles fans is that for them disappointment, no matter how keen the pain, is only temporary. You may discourage them, but they always return.

Their team encamps this coming Friday, at Lehigh University. Rookies and selected free agents first, then the rest of them, there to broil and toil under a merciless sun on treeless fields that offer no more shade than in the Sahara. They will grunt and...