Monday, October 20, 2008

Bye week lets area connect with fall and the outdoors


"God, I wish every bye week was this nice," said Frank Tollenz, referring to the picture perfect fall weather the Philadelphia area experienced over the weekend. "I can remember one bye week a couple years ago being very rainy and I just hated bye week that year. I was like,'god, I hate bye week.'"

Tollenz, like many other Eagles fans, only gets to enjoy one fall weekend every year due to the team's single week off—usually scheduled around the middle of the season. Though the games are on Sunday's, Tollenz spends Saturdays preparing for the game by watching film and purchasing food for football gatherings. At least twice during the workweek he drives to Lincoln Financial Field and circles the stadium twice before driving the 40 minutes home.

The Bristol,PA native pledged to his family that he would "really enjoy" this year's off-week no matter what the weather. The family, including wife Sharren and twin sons Demp and Donny, 7, took a drive around Bucks and Montgomery Counties to witness the fall foliage at its best and take in a hike.

The four were amazed at what they saw. Each reported having seen pictures of leaves changing colors, but never the real thing.

"A friend told me some years ago about leaves and colors and changing ... it was a real science fiction explanation. Something out of a UFO movie, but today I really saw what my buddy was saying."

The family seemed to be on quite a high as each were looking forward to next year's bye week already. However, the family gave an odd look when asked what they thought if the Eagles had two bye weeks per season.

"If there were two byes, that could allow me to get the old bike out of the shed or take my sons fishing or some other stuff, but that would mean two weekends of Eagle-less football and I don't know if that would work," said Tollenz.

"What a great experience this weekend was. I am truly looking forward to the 2009 bye week. I really mean that."

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