Philadelphia
Thursday February 8th, 2018
Today the City Of Philadelphia celebrated the Eagles Super Bowl 52 win by holding a victory parade. Seventeen open top busses and vehicles departed at the Eagles Lincoln Financial Field in “South Philly by the Nay Yard”, and proceeded north up Broad Street, around William Penn atop City Hall, and along the Benjamin Frankin Parkway until it reached the Rock steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art more than five miles away.
Generations of devoted Philadelphians have literally “lived and died with their Eagles”, and never saw a super bowl victory. With each passing decade the Eagles cemented their identity as a team who could not win a championship. The fans associated with that identity. A sense of hopeless appothy seemed to underlie the confidence of the Eagles fan base. Despite the best of seasons, the constant repetition of disappointment took it’s tole.
Each year brought the prospect of a new winning football team. Fans always believed that we could win it all, and it did finally pay off. The idea of winning it all, never felt real to Eagles fans though. The prospect of a super bowl would seem real enough to us at the height of what ever optimism we may have experienced in any given year, but it was only hope. There was never a confidence or realistic expectation of winning a super bowl. Despite our best hopes, our expectations were not capable of comprehending a super bowl victory, or how it would really feel when it finally did happen. Giants, Redskins and Cowboys fans all knew this feeling, and they constantly reminded us.
Then along came Doug Pederson. Pederson was hired by Eagles GM Howie Roseman. This followed the head coach hiring and firing debacle of Chip Kelly. The Eagles took a chance and hired a wildcat college coach when they hired Kelly. By all outside observances, Kelly seemed kinda tightly wound, up tight and tense. He did not seem to connect with people emotionally. It seemed clear from his machine gun style of delivery and intensity. Pederson seems more vested in the lives of his players then Kelly was. Even my 93-year-old Mother likes Doug Pederson. She says “he loves his players”. I think that about sums it up Mom. And it looks like te feeling is mutual.
In his first year as head coach of the Eagles Doug Pederson sent veteran quarterback Sam Bradford packing to Minnesota and handed his team over to rookie quarterback Carson Wentz. This was just after Howie Roseman handed the team over to the rookie coach. And a year later Philadelphia wins the super bowl.
Eagles fans went to bed last Sunday night as super bowl champions. And it is only now, 4 days later on Thursday that it is even beginning to feel real. On Monday morning the Eagles team and their fans woke up thinking “did that really happen?”. It did, and it was an entirely foreign feeling to everyone, the Eagles won the super bowl. We clamored to social media to share our enthusiasm. And i suspect that enthusiasm will not dwindle anytime soon.
Today’s parade cemented the championship elation we all experienced separately into a cohesive connection or our collective reality. Despite the many good seasons that the Eagles have had previously, they never got there. And despite the victory last Sunday night, it is only now, after the parade, that it is beginning to feel real to many of their fans, me included
From this point forward Philadelphia is not only a Super Bowl Champion, it now has Championships for all four of their professional sports teams. We’ve won championships in the NHL, MLB, the NBA and now, finally, the NFL.
This victory improves the quality of life for the city. Tomorrow morning we will wake up to the same problems as we went to bed with. But we will approach our same problems and life tasks knowing that the Eagles are Super Bowl Champions. Starting tomorrow we will all be carrying a private refuge of satisfaction within us. And no matter what life may throw at us, we can say “yea, but we won the super bowl”. Life is just a little bit better today in Philadelphia…. and it’s permanente.
But even on the day of the Eagles 2018 Super Bowl Parade, the World Champions are underdogs to the New England Patriots, who are already favored to win the 2019 Super Bowl. I digress…
But tomorrow morning Eagles fans will wake up to a new reality, a new paradigm. Or as Eagles Coach Doug Pederson says, a new normal. The parade is over and we move onto day 1 as consummated Champions. For the fans at large, it’s gonna take some time for the memories of the past 57 years to dissolve. Jason Kelec called us fans underdogs, and he’s right. But I don’t think that even think Kelec is fully aware of how deep the underdog monocle is rooted in the Philadelphia psyche.
Long before the Eagles ever played their first game, Philadelphia had a baseball team, the Phillies. The Phillies played 97 seasons before winning their first World Series in 1980.
Yes, Philadelphia is a football town, but it was once a baseball town, it was they had. But in time it did become a football town, but only because we had baseball beaten out of us by the Phillies.
My Father was an old school Phillies fan. Old school meaning that he was born in 1911, and lived through DECADES of terrible Phillies baseball. The only reason that Philadelphia is a football town is because the Phillies have more loses than any team, in any sport, on this or any other planet, ever.
The losing tradition runs hard and deep with Philadelphia sports. The Phillies were 50 years old in 1933 when the Eagles joined the National Football League. They were 50 hard years. The Frankford Yellow Jackets did preceed the Eagles in the NFL starting in 1924. They went bankrupt in 1931, deepening the roots of failed sports teams in Philadelphia.
The Phillies were not just bad, they were relentless at it. Take a look at the Phillies statistics for the first 50 years. The numbers speak for themselves.
Pl Win Loss % Games Behind
Philadelphia Quakers
1883 NL 8th 17 81 .173 46
Philadelphia Quakers/Philadelphia Phillies
1884 NL 6th 39 73 .348 45
1885 NL 3rd 56 54 .509 30
1886 NL 4th 71 43 .623 14
1887 NL 2nd 75 48 .610 31⁄2
1888 NL 3rd 69 61 .531 141⁄2
1889 NL 4th 63 64 .496 201⁄2
Philadelphia Phillies
1890 NL 3rd 78 54 .591 91⁄2
1891 NL 4th 68 69 .496 181⁄2
1892 NL 4th 87 66 .569 161⁄2
1893 NL 4th 72 57 .558 14
1894 NL 4th 71 57 .555 18
1895 NL 3rd 78 53 .595 91⁄2
1896 NL 8th 62 68 .477 281⁄2
1897 NL 10th 55 77 .417 38
1898 NL 6th 78 71 .523 24
1899 NL 3rd 94 58 .618 9
1900 NL 3rd 75 63 .543 8
1901 NL 2nd 83 57 .593 71⁄2
1902 NL 7th 56 81 .409 46
1903 NL 7th 49 86 .363 391⁄2
1904 NL 8th 52 100 .342 531⁄2
1905 NL 4th 83 69 .546 211⁄2
1906 NL 4th 71 82 .464 451⁄2
1907 NL 3rd 83 64 .565 211⁄2
1908 NL 4th 83 71 .539 16
1909 NL 5th 74 79 .484 361⁄2
1910 NL 4th 78 75 .510 251⁄2
1911 NL 4th 79 73 .520 191⁄2
1912 NL 5th 73 79 .480 301⁄2
1913 NL 2nd 88 63 .583 121⁄2
1914 NL 6th 74 80 .481 201⁄2
1915 NL * 1st 90 62 .592 — Lost World Series (Red Sox) 4–1 *
1916 NL 2nd 91 62 .595 21⁄2
1917 NL 2nd 87 65 .572 10
1918 NL 6th 55 68 .447 26
1919 NL 8th 47 90 .343 471⁄2
1920 NL 8th 62 91 .405 301⁄2
1921 NL 8th 51 103 .331 431⁄2
1922 NL 7th 57 96 .373 351⁄2
1923 NL 8th 50 104 .325 451⁄2
1924 NL 7th 55 96 .364 37
1925 NL 6th 68 85 .444 27
1926 NL 8th 58 93 .384 291⁄2
1927 NL 8th 51 103 .331 43
1928 NL 8th 43 109 .283 51
1929 NL 5th 71 82 .464 271⁄2
1930 NL 8th 52 102 .338 40
1931 NL 6th 66 88 .429 35
1932 NL 4th 78 76 .506 12 Chuck Klein (MVP)[h][139]
1933 NL 7th 60 92 .395 31 Chuck Klein (NL Triple Crown)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Phillies
Though they started in 1933 it was not until 1948 that the Eagles won an NFL Championship. They won again in 1949, and then again in 1960. But in the modern era, the Eagles had won nothing until February 4th, 2018.
But it’s a new day in Philadelphia. I want to believe that we have a new norm, I really do. The Super Bowl parade has clearly shown us what is possible. But remember, next year the Eagles will have the toughest schedule in the league. Every team will be gunning for them. For now, I’ll learn to savor this moment and take my Super Bowls as they come.
Pitchers and Catchers report in less than two weeks…..