Fly Eagles FlyIf you have read my blogs before, you know I’m a big Philadelphia sports fan. As you can imagine, I’ve been on a high the past couple of weeks with how the Philadelphia Eagles played throughout the playoffs and in the Super Bowl, leading them to become Super Bowl Champions!

The whole playoff run was something special, so, going into the big game itself, I had a really good feeling about the outcome. After losing to the Chiefs two years ago and having the chance for a rematch, I knew Eagles players, especially quarterback Jalen Hurts, were going to go out there and prove themselves by playing their best game yet. And that’s exactly what they did. They dominated the whole game, were able to give the back-ups a chance to play in the biggest game of their career and even started celebrating by dumping Gatorade on Coach Nick Sirianni with about five minutes left in the game.

This year, I watched the game with my dad, like we did in 2018 when they won the first time. It was cool to be able to celebrate both wins together, considering I get my fandom from him.

After the initial celebration, the next question on every fan’s mind was, “When will the parade be?” Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long and we knew it was going to be on Valentine’s Day by Monday afternoon. It left Philadelphians plenty of time to coordinate plans and get off from work to celebrate on Broad Street with our favorite players.

Luckily, I have friends that live a couple blocks away from Broad Street so we decided to meet there and head up to get a spot around 10:30 a.m., an hour from the parade start. We knew we wanted to avoid the craziness of Center City or by the art museum where they were doing speeches later that day, so we figured it would be less crowded toward the beginning of the route where we were. Even though we showed up a little late, we were still able to get close to the barricades to have a great view of buses and players going by.

The celebration was already crazy: Fans were singing the Eagles fight song, chanting, drinking and more before the buses even got to us. By the time the first bus reached us, everyone went wild and we hadn’t even seen any players yet. As the parade went on, we saw Jalen Hurts have a catch with a fan in the crowd, Brandon Graham hype up fans, owner Jeffrey Lurie hoist the Lombardi Trophy, Jordan Mailata and Mekhi Becton run by with high fives, and more. Once the last float passed, we were happy with who we did get to see but we didn’t get to see some of our favorite players. They must have been inside the bus or on the ground on the other side of the street. We still had a great time, though!

After it calmed down, we made a pitstop at another friend’s house to say hi but once we saw on TV the parade was nearing the art museum, we decided to head back to watch the speeches.

Since I didn’t get to attend the 2018 parade due to a college presentation, I am sure glad I was able to celebrate with my city for this one!

— Mary Melnick, social media & editorial coordinator