The Philadelphia Eagles are your Super Bowl Champions. And because that makes the City of Philadelphia happy, that makes me happy.
Let’s face it, Philadelphia hasn’t had a lot to be happy about lately.
Were it not for the generosity of Gov. Josh Shapiro, our more than a little underfunded mass transit system would be cutting service and doing more than just eliminating discounts for those who use SEPTA’s Key Card system to raise money to stay afloat.
We have a serious problem with affordable housing, or the lack thereof.
And don’t even get me started on the first few weeks of Trump 2.0 (This Time It’s PERSONAL!!!) and what that’s meant to the City of Brotherly Love’s immigrant and LGBTQ communities.
When you have this much going against you, whether you’re a human being or a city filled with human beings, you deal with the issues. But you also look for space to breathe. To take a moment. To rest.
You need it. Otherwise, you’ll get burned out and will never solve the problems that you need to solve.
So, when the Philadelphia Eagles managed to beat everyone who came to Lincoln Financial Field in the NFL postseason and went to New Orleans for a Super Bowl LIX rematch with former coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and the Kansas City Chiefs, the run, and the greetings of “Go Birds!” that people kept giving each other, represented a chance for folks to relax a little.
(Although seeing City Council Chambers decorated like a pep rally at a middle school last Thursday was a little much. I get the whole spirit thing, but was that trip really necessary?)
On Sunday night, I joined a bunch of Eagles fans at the African American Museum in Philadelphia for a Super Bowl watch party. Now you might wonder why AAMP would host such an event, but the combination of it being Black History Month and the game being played by two Black quarterbacks for only the second time in Super Bowl history made it make sense.
While an offensive pass interference call on wide receiver A.J. Brown on the Eagles first possession made folks start to think that the whole “referees helping the Chiefs” thing was a reality, it didn’t take long for the game to get away from Kansas City, which was trying to win its third Super Bowl in a row.
Thanks to an Eagles defense that I’m sure Mahomes will be seeing in his sleep for a while, and a quarterback in Jalen Hurts that basically made everyone who downplayed his abilities look like an idiot, the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX.
(And while Saquon Barkley didn’t get a touchdown on his birthday, he’s getting a Super Bowl ring, as is cornerback Cooper DeJean. As birthday presents go, that’s not a bad tradeoff…)
But while the team gets the championship, and the Super Bowl rings, and all of the accolades that go with that, the City of Philadelphia gets something too.
A breather.
Now, I’m not an Eagles fan. Eagles fans have largely kept me from being an Eagles fan if I’m honest. I cheer for folks on the team and sometimes even for the team itself. But you’re not going to see me walking around in a Kelly green jersey anytime soon.
(Unless it’s a Hurts jersey. That I might wear.)
But even though I’m not an Eagles fan, I’m a Philly fan. I love Philly. I’ve been a lot of places, but Philly is one of my favorites. The only reason why Hall Monitor sports contributor Chris Murray and I live in Delaware is because he teaches at a college in suburban Washington, D.C. Otherwise, we’d be living in Philly. Not just because I love this city, but because he loves it too.
And this is a dude who was born and raised in Baltimore.
Like I said, Philadelphia has some stuff to deal with. The City budget is being introduced next month and no one knows what impact Trump 2.0 (This Time It’s PERSONAL!!!) is going to have on that.
The schools are still grotesquely underfunded and while Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed millions in new funding, it’s unlikely that the Republicans that control the state senate will let those millions get to the school districts that need it like Philadelphia’s.
And because Philadelphia is the poorest city of its size in the United States, getting rid of that distinction has got to take top priority.
But when the double decker buses filled with smiling Super Bowl champions makes its way through the streets of Philadelphia on Friday, it’ll be a Valentine to a city that often needs some Brotherly Love.
And the people receiving that Valentine will be happy because the city has just one more thing to be proud of.
Few things bring a smile to my face more than seeing that.
Go Birds!
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