It’s Payback Time.

Jan. 19, 2003. The last Eagles game every to be played at Veterans Stadium.

Coming into that that crazed South Philly pit were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This one was a lock. Tampa never won when the temperature was below 32 degrees.

A chilled Vet awaited a final banquet, ready to feast on Buccaneers.

Didn’t work out that way. I think Joe Jurevicius is still running. If you don’t know what that means, you are not a serious Eagles fan.

The same can be said for Ronde Barber. He stepped in front of a Donovan McNabb pass at the goal line as the Eagles were driving for the tying touchdown and took it coast to coast.

It’s as quiet as Veterans Stadium has ever been. A numbed crowed filed out in silence.

They tore the place down a few months later. But they did not dispel the demons.

A year later, it was the Flyers turn to exact our revenge. They faced the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Instead the Lightning zapped the Flyers on the way to a Stanley Cup.

Now it’s payback time.

The Phillies will be in Tampa Bay Wednesday night to kick off the World Series. The Rays – just Rays now, they dropped the Devil – finally advanced and became the Phils’ opponent when they beat the Red Sox in a deciding Game 7 Sunday night.

The Phils are rested and ready to go.

We have not forgotten Joe Jurvecius and Ronde Barber.

It’s time to exact some revenge.