The Eagles are 11-2 and there’s WAY too much bad juju around a team that has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations right now. Brandon Graham is divulging company secrets on the WIP airwaves, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown are apparently acting like an old married couple and eating lunch in absolute silence as they seethe at each other, and Nick Sirianni is desperately trying to spin the whole situation into a positive while the NovaCare Complex is burning down behind him.

Fun times!

There’s FAR too much negativity surrounding this team right now. Sometimes, gang, you have to look back to move forward, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do today.

But why today? Because today is the 35th anniversary of Bounty Bowl II, a seminal moment in Eagles fan debauchery and Cowboys hatred that saw the boys in silver and blue buried under a deluge of iceballs at Veterans Stadium on Dec. 10, 1989.

You all know the backstory. Just a mere two weeks after the original Bounty Bowl played on Thanksgiving in Dallas, the bad blood between the Eagles and Cowboys had been simmering all season. Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson accused Eagles coach Buddy Ryan of taking out a bounty on placekicker Luis Zendejas and quarterback Troy Aikman, offering a $100 reward for a big hit on either player.


You know, classic stuff. Hurt the kicker, hurt the quarterback, $100 in your pocket. Easy peasy. God, the 80s were such a different time.

But, instead of a never-ending cascade of think pieces and sports talk segments on the brutality of football and the sickening practice of placing bounties on athletes that would have happened today, CBS Sports CELEBRATED the insanity and declared the Dec. 10, 1989 matchup as “Bounty Bowl II,” hyping up the potential for violence and crimes against humanity with a pregame broadcast showcasing wanted posters involving players’ pictures and bounty rewards.

It went about as well as you’d expect with 65,000 drunken, rabid Eagles invading Veterans Stadium and finding, to their absolute delight, that the snow and ice from a recent storm hadn’t been cleared out of the seats.

Don’t take my word for it, though. Let’s revisit a channel 10 news broadcast from the day from the intrepid Pat Battle (who is still doing it for WNBC New York all these years later) and relive the anarchy. Click on the YouTube clip for time-marked highlights:

Always perfect to open up your news story with throaty DALLAS SUCKS chants from sauced up Eagles fans. NBC 10 was playing the hits way back in 1989. WELCOME TO BOUNTY BOWL II! Broadcaster Battle welcomes the viewing audience to what could have been mistaken for the fifth circle of hell (wrath). It’s cold, there’s ice and snow everywhere, everyone is drunk and angry… perfect conditions for an Eagles game.

Oh my goodness the signs at the old Vet for this one. “MCBOUNTY SPECIAL 49-CENTS DALLAS CRYBOYS SHAME LUIS?” It’s like X in 1989, but somehow less racist. Rambling, incoherent messes in 140 characters or less. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

“No bounty hunting, we’re just playing good hard football.” AMAZING portable headphones to hear Merrill Reese’s broadcast of the game. You know these things had an antenna that went up six feet and continually poked fans in the eyes rows behind him. This guy rules.

Well said, sir. He knows how to keep his mouth shut and not snitch. HE DIDN’T SEE NOTHING. Maybe Brandon Graham can take some lessons from him?

South Philly John Candy does NOT appreciate having his new Flyers hat demolished by snowballs. I don’t blame him. Probably made $10 on the day. Thought it would be a sweet gig to watch his Eagles play for the season, a low-key affair, and didn’t think he’d have to keep his head on a swivel for three hours to keep his skull from getting caved in by an ice ball thrown from 300 feet up in the 700 level.

Our man is BACK, this time dutifully guarding Battle from harm as she gives us her report. You can see his head craning upwards to make sure no projectiles come close to the beloved reporter. Well done, sir, loved you in Uncle Buck.

Even on the sideline the Vet turf looks like the least safe playing surface of all time. Add in a nice thin sheen of snow and ice and it’s a marvel that Battle didn’t tear both ACLs trying to get off the field. You can also see a snowball narrowly miss her at the 1:15 mark. Would have been a shame to muss that sweet, sweet fedora she was wearing.

NARC! NARC! You keep that stuff IN-HOUSE, missy. You knew what you were in for when you took this job…the fatality rates of Veteran Stadium security guards for Eagles games were likely higher than a Philadelphia beat cop in 1989. You kiss your kids when you leave the house before gameday because YOU MAY NOT BE COMING BACK THAT NIGHT.

“I got hit in the head with an ice ball about the size of a football that came down from the 700 level. It’s not way to play a game, no way at all. The commissioner is here, I just hope he see’s what’s going on.”

BOO HOO. I call foul 35 years later. No WAY she got creamed by an ice ball from that high up and lived to tell the tale. Obviously trying to set herself up for a sweet payoff, though knowing notorious skinflint Eagles owner Norman Braman at the time he would have tried to settle for $500 and a signed Izel Jenkins jersey.

The absolute highlight of the package. Look at the guy in the Eagles jacket and hat on the railing….in the span of 10-seconds he douses what looks like Jimmy Johnson (or a Dallas coach) with a full cup of beer and then absolutely BLASTS Cowboys punter Mike Saxon in the face with a snowball, followed up with one of the most perfect “DICKHEADDDDDD” shouts you’ll ever hear. The amount of times this guy has told his friends this story at a South Philly bar is incalculable.

Stick around for Saxon coming back out of the tunnel and trying to volley back with a half-hearted “(censored) SUCKER!” Saxon, if you think that guy hadn’t been called a “(censored) SUCKER” hundreds of times his Delco friends before this moment you’d be sorely mistaken. That was his confirmation name.

What a moment in time. What a game. What a MEMORY.