By PHIL ANASTASIA
(Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, left, and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffen celebrate as they leave the field. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

PHILADELPHIA - "Hello darkness, my old friend." - Simon and Garfunkel ...This wasn't the Phillies squandering that 14-9 lead in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series. This was worse.

This wasn't the Flyers coughing up that 3-games-to-1 lead in the 2001 NHL Eastern Conference finals.

This was worse.

This wasn't 1964, nor 1977, nor 1997, nor any year that has come to symbolize the suffering of the slumped-shouldered, world-weary wanderers who walked - heads down, hearts broken - out of Veterans Stadium on this cold, bleak Sunday night.

This was worse.

"Now what do I do?" Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas was wondering a few minutes later, sitting in the old locker room for the last time, looking back at the stunning events of the previous three hours.

Douglas wasn't the only one with unanswerable questions in the wake of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' stunning 27-10 victory over the Eagles in the NFC Title game, in the last football game in the big, concrete bowl at the corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue.

Everybody else was left to ponder their own part - direct or indirect, real or imagined - in this most recent red-letter day in the blues-themed history of Philadelphia professional sports.

Was there too much hype by the media, too much expectation from the fans?

Was there too little respect for the Bucs by the Eagles, too many references to the cold and the results of the previous two playoff seasons?

Or was there something else at work, a malevolent force that seems to doom these teams, and this town, to this kind of collapse, and this type of frustration?

"Ding, dong, the witch is dead," Gruden said, his blond hair still wet from the bucket of ice-cold water his delirious players dumped on his head near the Bucs' sideline.

The Eagles have lost big games in the past. They will lose big games in the future.

The Phillies, the 76ers, the Flyers - and all their fans - they've all known their share of difficult defeats. They've all experienced a softer shade of Sunday's super-charged suffering.

This was different. This was the Eagles, in perfect position to make amends for years and years of disappointment, and dropping the football in the middle of the field.

They didn't lose. They were rocked. They were outhit, out-hustled and out-coached - from here to Tampa and back again - and they were lucky it wasn't 30-3, or something like that.

It would be funny - in a twisted sort of way - if it wasn't so sad, if so many faithful fans hadn't seen their latest, greatest hopes dashed on the hard surface of the old stadium like a rotten apple thrown from the 700 level.

"Real significant," Eagles safety Brian Dawkins labeled the loss, and that wasn't the half of it.

The build-up to this game, the drumbeat of expectation, the hype surrounding this team and these playoffs - it was unprecedented.

It was as if the Eagles had rooms reserved in San Diego, had confirmed their status as NFC representatives in the Super Bowl. It was as if they just needed to show up at this game, dispatch the Bucs, and get down to the real business of winning the franchise's first championship since 1960.

It was all you heard around the city, around South Jersey - "E-A-G-L-E-S" cheers, analysis of the anticipated matchup with the Oakland Raiders and disparaging remarks about the Buccaneers.

Did we jinx them? Was there one green-painted face on the cover of one too many newspaper? One too many booked airplane flight and reserved hotel room? One too many advertisements sold in this week's planned special section of the newspaper?

Did the Eagles commit the deadliest of sins, believing the hype? Did they figure the Buccaneers would feel the 26-degree temperature, sense the 16-degree chill factor, remember the results of the last two seasons, and quit?

"They were here for a reason," Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon said. "Nobody pulled their name out of a hat. They're a good team, and they played a good game."

In the long, sad history of Philadelphia professional sports, this was an all-timer. For the Eagles to be dominated before a capacity crowd on a cold January afternoon with the Super Bowl on the line - in the last football game in Veterans Stadium, mind you - is the kind of thing that makes you shake your head in disbelief.

But it happened. This wasn't a loss on a tipped pass, or a crazy bounce, or a bad call. This wasn't even a good game, a crackling good contest between two desperate teams operating at close to peak efficiency, with palpable urgency.

"As far as I'm concerned, if this is the way we were going to play in a championship game, we should have taken our asses home with everybody else when the playoffs started," Eagles linebacker Carlos Emmons said.

That's why this loss struck such a deep chord, sent such a shiver through the 66,713 spectators in the stadium, and the millions more who watched in stunned disbelief from their living rooms or some sports bar.

Nobody expected this. Nobody thought the Bucs had a chance after the Eagles brought back Ron Jaworski and Wilbert Montgomery to re-enact that 42-yard touchdown in the 1981 NFC Title Game, whipping the crowd into a towel-waving frenzy and setting the stage - or so it seemed - for another trip to the Super Bowl.

Nobody thought the Bucs would recover from an early 7-0 deficit and control the game. Nobody thought the Bucs would sneer at the cold, shrug at the wind.

Nobody thought Brad Johnson would lead Tampa Bay on touchdown drives of 96 and 80 yards. Nobody thought the Bucs defense would shut down Donovan McNabb, and turn the Philadelphia quarterback's last pass of note into a 92-yard interception return for touchdown by Ronde Barber.

"What can I do?" Douglas wondered, again. "Time is running off the clock. I guess I have to go home and sit in the dark a little while and try to let it go."

Sitting in the dark, and trying to let it go.

It's a familiar feeling for the Eagles, and for their fans.

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