1924 – Since Philadelphia blue bloods are anti-pro football, city officials require that in order for the fledgling NFL to establish a franchise here, it must (a) play somewhere no one can find, and (b) bear a ridiculous nickname. The Frankford Yellow Jackets are born.

1933 – Bert Bell - along with mother, Ma, and half-cracked brother, Liberty - is awarded the struggling Yellow Jackets franchise. Seeking a nickname that will better reflect its Philadelphia home, Bell considers Bribes, Malcontents, Potholes, and Scofflaws before settling on Eagles.

1936 – The Eagles make Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger the first pick in the first NFL draft. Mel Kiper Sr. hails the selection, contending Berwanger's 40 time of 6.76 is better than all but two of the Midwestern running backs who will never play in the league.

1940 – The team's move from Municipal Stadium to Shibe Park is nearly scuttled when perpetually impoverished Philadelphia A's owner/manager Connie Mack attempts to sell Eagles QB Davey O'Brien.

1943 – A World War II manpower shortage forces the Steelers and Eagles to merge into the Steagles. Bell originally hopes to combine his team with the Giants until he realizes the result would be the Giggles.

1948-49 – The Eagles win consecutive NFL championships. Congress demands an immediate investigation.

1949 – One hundred Philadelphians, paying $3,000 apiece for their single shares, purchase the Eagles. The "Happy Hundred" setup quickly proves unwieldy when all demand access to Shibe Park's owner's box for the season opener.

1958 – The Eagles move again, this time to Penn's Franklin Field, after 48 of their 100 owners have their hubcaps stolen outside Shibe Park.

1960 – The Eagles win a third NFL title, beating Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. In the immediate aftermath, their players are so overcome that Tommy McDonald stops talking, Chuck Bednarik stops griping, and Norm Van Brocklin stops cursing.

1963 – Jerry Wolman buys the team for $5.5 million. Ed Snider claims it belongs to him.

1970 – Wolman's bankruptcy puts Eagles back on the market. Leonard Tose purchases the team for $16.1 million after hitting a six-game college-basketball parlay in Vegas.

1971 – The team relocates to new Veterans Stadium. In a cost-cutting measure, plans for a 700-Level library are scrapped.

1974 – The Philadelphia Bell becomes a member of the short-lived World Football League. The news is met with such little interest among fans that desperate owners hand out tickets throughout the city, briefly earning the team the nickname of Philadelphia Parking Authority.

1981 – The Eagles reach their first Super Bowl, in New Orleans. Unfortunately, their fans get there first and by daybreak Sunday, little remains of the old city.

1982 – Coach Dick Vermeil resigns at 45, citing burnout and dental problems.

1983 – The United States Football League's Philadelphia Stars begin their brief but successful existence. Despite winning two titles, the team had fewer season-ticket holders than the 1949 Eagles had owners.

1985 – Miami car dealer Norman Braman buys the Eagles for $65 million after Tose promises to throw in a CD player and floor mats.

1994 – Braman sells the Eagles to Jeffrey Lurie. Lurie's aide-de-camp, Joe Banner, is denied access to the introductory news conference for failing to meet the "must-be-this-tall-

to-enter" requirements.

Two Philly teams? According to Going Long, an oral history of the American Football League by Jeff Miller, Philadelphia nearly got the eighth and last of the AFL's original franchises in 1959.

"The competition for that club had come down to interests in Boston and Philadelphia," Miller wrote, "before the Philadelphia group, led by the Carpenter family, which owned baseball's Phillies, stepped aside."

Imagine. Competition for the Eagles and no New England Patriots. The Eagles might actually have won Super Bowl XXXIX.

No word on why the Carpenters backed off, but the fact that the NFL and commissioner Bert Bell were headquartered here probably had a lot to do with it.

NASCAR note of the week Here's what Dwayne Moore, a member of Michael Waltrip's pit crew, said after getting hit by driver Tony Stewart's car during a recent race:

"I wish NASCAR would implement a rule that if you hit a pit-crew member, then the driver gets a penalty."

Sure, go ahead and take all the fun out of the sport.

Just add J.A. Here's one vote for moving J.A. Happ to the bullpen. After all, the Phillies' 'pen has been hapless all season.