He, along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, created their megateam down in Miami, complete with preseason party with pyrotechnics and smoke machines. They yelled and screamed and talked about winning six championships before they had even practiced together. It was pretty spectacular.
A few months later, after a disappointing end to the 2010 season, the Boston Red Sox went shopping. They shipped away the system for Adrian Gonzalez and they sent briefcases full of cash to the front door of Carl Crawford. Nearly every baseball expert on the planet picked the Red Sox to win the World Series, despite a questionable pitching staff and some holes in the lineup. They were too good to lose.
And then came the Eagles. They added all-world cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to play with Asante Samuel. They signed Jason Babin, Ronnie Brown and Cullen Jenkins. Michael Vick signed a huge contract extension. Backup quarterback Vince Young dubbed it the dream team.
(Cue the bad jokes about it actually being a nightmare.)
The Eagles, after a pitiful performance in Buffalo, are now 1-4. It's unimaginable for a team that was thought to be a Super Bowl contender to be 1-4 at this very moment. And yet, there they are.
If they want some company, they can look to their fellow superteams.
The Heat got off to a 9-8 start, losing to Boston (twice), New Orleans, Utah, Memphis, Indiana, Orlando and Dallas. Everyone wondered aloud if they were overhyped. They were, but they went on to win 12 in a row and 21 of their next 22. Suffice it to say, they figured it out.
The Red Sox, likewise, had an unfathomable April, opening the season at 0-6 and eventually falling to 2-10. They, too, turned it around, regaining their footing and eventually contending to have the best record in baseball for a while. They went 20-6 in July and were on pace for 100 wins. Despite the sluggish start, it all, eventually, was going according to plan.
What both the Heat and Red Sox will be remembered for, though, is failure. The Heat made it to the Finals but couldn't beat the Mavericks, blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 2. The Red Sox couldn't even make the playoffs, thanks to a 7-20 record in September.
Despite the bitter endings, the Red Sox and Heat never looked as bad as the Eagles do right now.
The Eagles are 31.3 percent of the way through their season, and they've won 20 percent of their games. If the Heat were to have done the same, they would have been 5-21 to start the year (they were actually 18-8 through 26 games). If the Red Sox were have done the same, they would have gone 10-41 to start the season (they were actually 29-22 through 51 games).
Of course, the Eagles could still very well win their division. The Redskins lead the division with a 3-1 record, but nobody thinks that will last. The Giants are 3-2 but look capable of losing every single week, and the Cowboys are buried in mediocrity at 2-2. A four- of five-game winning streak could see the Eagles atop their division, right where they were in August.
For now, though, they're giving superteams a bad name. Even the Heat and Red Sox have to agree.
