Emily Allgair, Editor

Dear Birds,

First off, I’d like to say congratulations. I can only imagine how exciting it must be to be going to the Super Bowl after winning the NFC Championship on your own home turf, or so I have come to find out, your own home reinforced natural grass (a type of grass that uses artificial fibers to stabilize the grass blades and roots that is also known as “DD GrassMaster”). It would have been really awkward for Jalen Hurts to sing the Eagles fight song in San Francisco, where a significantly lesser Eagles crowd would have done their best to be heard all the way in south Philly, although I’m sure they would have figured it out. I can’t imagine how proud all of your mothers must have felt watching you all play your hearts out. It almost brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. And now, Donna Kelce must be so excited to go to Arizona and see her sons doing what they love, together.

Second, I’d like to thank you on behalf of the city of Philadelphia. We, of course, went out to City Hall and wreaked a good kind of havoc, climbing greased poles and standing atop the Ritz-Carlton awning in a kind of solidarity that can only be found in the city of brotherly love. Never would I have ever though that hearing “Fly Eagles, Fly” six times on a subway car from Olney to City Hall would not annoy me, or that “Dreams and Nightmares” playing at overlapping times from three different speakers on the corner of Broad and South Penn Square would not confuse me, but rather bring an extraordinary sense of elation. Thank you for the sense of unity felt while crossing Ogontz and knowing that the cars honking at me are not doing so to catcall me, but rather to say “Go Birds,” a true term of endearment of the greatest city in the world. 

And finally, I would like to personally thank you for allowing people of all backgrounds, sizes and creeds to feel the excitement of the city. As someone who did not grow up understanding the rules of football yet still watching what I thought to be a good team (sorry to the Baltimore Ravens, but do better), the comradery of the Philadelphia Eagles is extended to anyone sporting green, black and white. They don’t care if you’re from the city, they don’t care if you understand the rules of the game, and most importantly, they don’t care if you don’t like them. And that, I’ve come to learn, is what it’s all about. So thank you, and good luck!

Sincerely,

A newly-found Philadelphia sports fan