Football is a sport we all love for the entertainment, the brutal hits and the excitement that entices us to commit 17  Sundays in front of our televisions, in a local watering hole, or in a plastic seat at a stadium each fall.

Millions of people like watching football, and hundreds of thousands possess a unique passion for the pigskin.

How many of us can actually pinpoint the precise minute they developed a fanatic obsession for NFL Sundays? How many people know exactly when they fell in love with their team?

Randall Cunningham created a passionate fan base that still exists.

For me, it was 4-yard touchdown pass on Monday night, October 10, 1988. I was 12 years old.

A 4-yard pass? Really?

Yeah, except this wasn’t a routine short score. This was one play that defined a night, a season, a career, and an era of special Philadelphia Eagles football. This was the 4-yard pass from Randall Cunningham to Jimmie Giles in the corner of the end zone.

We’re talking about a play during which Giants defender Carl Banks seemingly had Randall Cunningham falling face forward to his knees for a sack. Only Randall didn’t go down.

Instead, he put his hands to the concrete of Veterans Stadium in South Philly, and stayed upright. He regained his poise in the pocket and gunned a strike to Giles for a 7-3 lead. The Eagles never looked back en route to a 24-13 win in a classic NFC East battle.

As our friend V said when talking about Randall the other day, “My dad made me like football; Randall and Buddy (Ryan) made me LOVE football.”

At 12 years old, you are still in the formative years of developing yourself as a sports fan; your teams aren’t set in stone. From the second Giles hauled in that touchdown, I was and am a proud, passionate, obsessed Philadelphia Eagles fanatic.

Randall made me love the Eagles.

Countless other plays followed through the years. There was the 56-yard touchdown run against the Patriots in 1990. The 95-yard touchdown to Fred Barnett against Buffalo. The 90-plus yard quick kick against the Giants. And more. Oh, so many more.

Randall defined an exciting era of Eagles football. He defined an exciting era of the NFL. He redefined the quarterback position.

He was the original human video game.

Cunningham opened the doors for Steve Young, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair and Michael Vick to pull down the ball and take off down the field to make a play and win a game.

More importantly, he made young Philadelphians at the time care about football and the Eagles.

Most of the fans in the 30-to-40-year old age range who file into Lincoln Financial Field today to watch Randall get inducted into the Eagles Honor Roll got their start watching No. 12 scramble over, under and through opposing defenses.

The man created a passionate fan base that exists to this day. That is the best tribute any player could desire to earn throughout his career.

Randall, thanks for being there when we needed you. Without you, we may not have found our way to Eagle Nation!

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