The beginning of September traditionally means two things for me.

The first, the changing of the seasons. Summer recedes with the number of hours in the day. Even now, Sept. 4, the sun is setting much earlier than it did even a month ago. The temperature will hopefully drop even more, and before long, trees will be bare and snow will fall.

The beginning of September also signals the beginning of football season, and for me that means Philadelphia Eagles football is back. As reigning Super Bowl champions, they get to open the season on Thursday Night Football. For the first time in franchise history, the team begins the season as Super Bowl champions.

On Feb. 4, 2018, I was doing the same thing many people in the Philadelphia area were doing. We were waiting nervously for the game to kick off. In any other year, the day acts as a reason to have a big party where commercials are the main draw for viewers. This year, our home team had a chance to shock the best cumulative team in recent history, the New England Patriots. Surrounded by my family and some of the biggest Eagles fans I know, I watched the Eagles forge a path to their first Super Bowl.

Through four long quarters, my nerves were fried until the completion of the Philly Special. Once we knew the win was official, everyone packed into the car and made our way to the local town’s gathering spot, a point where five roads connect at one usually obtuse intersection. On the night of the Super Bowl, the entire area was a party for a mile in each direction. The last time a celebration materialized there was October 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series. Before then, the 1980 Phillies were the reason to group up and party.

That night in February was the first time the Eagles won the big game and fulfilled a want countless Eagles fans had. With the return of football season tomorrow evening, the Eagles open the pathway to repeat.

— Erich Martin, assistant editor