Philly

After I graduated college, I got a job at Baxter in Thousand Oaks, CA. I worked in drug manufacturing and I worked 4-10s, which meant I worked Sunday - Wednesday, noon-10pm every week. I worked with some really fantastic people and, for a while, I really loved that job. My shift lead was Nicky, a late-twenties body builder and ex-football player. He was a big, lovable lug and he was a great boss.  We worked on Sundays, and all the guys followed football, so I decided to learn about football too. In our downtime, Nicky taught us a lot about the game and the teams. He told me to choose a team to follow. He followed the Miami Dolphins. I picked the Philadelphia Eagles because I liked their logo and I had been to Philly a couple times and I loved it. Following the team taught me more about the game and it was always awesome when the Eagles would win and the Dolphins would lose. It made me feel like I had picked a good team.

In 2003, I moved to Philly and football became a weekly interest, especially when the fall cold came and days got shorter and it was harder and harder to stay outside. The Eagles had been my team and it was so fun to get together with my friends from grad school and watch Sunday or Monday night football. One friend, Marcus, was obsessed with the Eagles. He would have dozens of people over to his house on Sundays and he projected the games on a huge wall in his house. They would mute the game cast from the national TV station and they would play the local radio station instead. The vast majority of national TV broadcasts were super negative about the Eagles, while the local radio was always singing their praises (or recalling super random and obscure sports trivia about the team). Marcus would get so worked up, screaming and yelling at the TV. It was great fun.

When I first moved to Philly, I went to the Wawa (like 7/11) to get some groceries. I remember the clerk saying, "Go Iggles" instead of "Thanks" or "Have a good one". The city literally stops when there is an Eagles game. Nobody on the streets. The cabs are empty. The bars are filled with screaming spectators. When you walk past houses, you can hear the game. You can hear people cheering or screaming. If you ever wanted to start a conversation with someone you didn't know, you could always say, "How about them Iggles?" (or Phils, or Flyers, or Sixers). That's how I got to know so many of the people I worked with at Penn. We always knew what was going on with the home teams and it made me a lot of friends, for sure.

In bars, it was normal for an Eagles cheer to break out, anytime, anywhere. (Bar singalong were also common - I miss those...). You could hear Eagles cheers at any sports games, not just Eagles games. I remember hearing them at Phils games.

But Philly has always been an underdog. A ragtag group of boys. Coaches who always made the wrong call. Quarterbacks who could only take us so far. And I think, to a certain extent, we liked being the underdog. You can't expect much and we just might surprise you (a bit like Philly itself). It shows we are tough. We can take the punches. We are loyal, not fickle. We stay with a team for life. It's part of our culture.

Last night was a triumph. It was honestly the most beautiful football I've ever seen Philly play (offensively). Foles was on. The coaches were calling the right plays. And the offense was on fire. And Brady was not. The Pats fell, but not without a good fight. So many superbowls are one sided and super boring. This game (for many reasons) had me on the edge of my seat. I am thrilled the Eagles brought the Lombardi trophy home. Philly deserves it. I am so proud of my adopted city and my team. And you can bet my family will be wearing some Eagles gear to represent! I wish I could have walked Broad St last night with the rest of the city. I did it when the Phils took the World Series, and I'd be proud to do it again. And I'd love to see the parade. Philly always does a parade right.

Suffice it to say, it was the best superbowl ever. Go Eagles!

Fly Eagles, Fly
On the road to victory
Fight, Eagles, Fight
For a touchdown 1,2,3
Hit em low,
hit em high
and watch those eagles fly
E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!