In July of 1958, MGM Records released a 45 rpm entitled “It’s Only Make Believe” by country singer Conway Twitty.

That single crossed over into the mainstream, hit the top of the Billboard charts in 22 countries, and sold more than 8,000,000 copies.

Since the end of the 2014 NFL season, dozens of members of the Philly sports media have been playing “It’s Only Make Believe” with more than 8,000,000 Eagles fans. And they preached their delusions so incessantly, and with such fervor, that they convinced those more than 8,000,000 Eagles fans that Chip Kelly was going to miraculously pull Marcus Mariota out of Roger Goodell’s hat at the NFL draft.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there was no chance of that ever happening. Repeat – no chance.

Right from the get-go, by combining logic with sound judgment and some deductive reasoning, I concluded that Jesus Christ Almighty couldn’t have swung a deal to move up from number-20 to number-2. While theoretically possible, it just wasn’t going to happen.

Nevertheless, more than 8,000,000 Eagles fans endured a relentless onslaught of wishful thinking and misguided flimflam.

• Angelo Cataldi donned a Mariota jersey and brayed “The Hawaiian War Chant” on and on.

• NFL Insider Tim McManus – within hours of the draft – proclaimed that the chances of the Eagles drafting Marcus Mariota were 60 percent.

• NFL “guru” Sal Palantonio launched a #DoTheDeal campaign on Twitter. Less than an hour before the draft, Sal announced that the Eagles really wanted Marcus Mariota and that Chip Kelly would do everything in his power to #DoTheDeal.

Hey, Sal, guess what?

For years I’ve really wanted to have sex with Salma Hayek and Eva Mendes, but I never tried to #DoThatDeal because – while being theoretically possible, it just wasn’t going to happen. In fact, I still have a better chance of having sex with Salma Hayek and Eva Mendes – at the same time – than Chip Kelly ever did of drafting Marcus Mariota.

• There’s a Twitter buddy of mine – who shall remain nameless – who bantered with me right up until hours of the draft that the Eagles were going to draft Mariota.

I must confess – as you’ll see – that I believed Tampa was going to pick Mariota. Putting myself into the shoes of the Buccaneers hierarchy, I would’ve passed on Jameis Winston because he’s been prone to be a knucklehead off the field. That said, I felt certain that Mariota wasn’t dropping below the second pick.

I especially like the part where I called Sludge “a poor, misguided, Mariota crack-pot.”

But right now, I’m going to lump myself in with a select group of media members who never went for the fake. That group consisted of Reuben Frank, Ron Jaworski, Hollis Thomas, Ike Reese, Brian Westbrook, Howard Eskin, Tony Bruno – and, uh, me. This select group of sober thinkers not only didn’t see the Eagles drafting Marcus Mariota, but also felt that doing so would negatively affect the Eagles for years to come.

Thank goodness the Marcus Mariota nonsense is over because it was only make believe. Now we can move onto the task of figuring out why in hell Chip Kelly traded Nick Foles to the Rams in exchange for a crippled quarterback.

Barry Bowe is the author of Born to Be Wild, 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant, and 12 Best Eagles QBs.