Welcome to Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love and home to the Super Bowl LII champions. On Feb. 8, 2018, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the streets from Lincoln Financial Field to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to welcome the Eagles home from their amazing win in Minnesota.
The city had just gotten finished celebrating the win from Sunday, but no one had come down from the adrenaline high it caused. The busses packed with players, coaches, staff, and family departed from the stadium at 10:45 a.m., but some of the parade goers at the museum had claimed their spots as early as 9 p.m. the night before. Despite the lack of sleep, no one in the city appeared to be tired. As soon as the first bus departed through the gates, the crowd roared.
The win has evidently been incredibly important to the city of Philadelphia. The first Super Bowl win in franchise history, the win that some people have been waiting for their entire lives. Mike Kasloski, a 48-year-old, said, “I’ve been watching since I was 10. This win is everything.”
Albert Vittorini is a 91-year-old man who claimed, “I’ve waited my whole life to be standing at this parade.” He couldn’t wait to see the players hoist that trophy in the air that morning.
The energy was in everyone, including the teenagers who dropped every responsibility of that Thursday and took trains in from the suburbs. Nick Muro, an 18-year-old senior at Council Rock North, “has been waiting 18 years for this and the city wide party was well worth it.” He explained that his favorite part of the day besides, Jason Kelce’s speech,“was climbing on top of garbage trucks and into trees” to get his very own perspective on the parade.
While the parade goers celebrated surrounded by thousands of their closest friends, a man named Kevin Friel celebrated on top of the first bus from Lincoln Financial field. Kevin has been a part of the Eagles program all season, sporting the L in the E-A-G-L-E-S flag line the viewers see running across their television screens. “I didn’t know I was going to be in the parade until the night before, and all the flag guys were pretty anxious about it.” He said, before describing the experience of a lifetime he had during the parade.
Kevin’s morning began casually, a brunch with the Philadelphia Eagles. It was quiet and tame until Jason Kelce, clad in his Mummers’ outfit, broke the silence with a song from Rocky blasting. “He came in with a stereo in one hand, and a Bud Light in the other.” Friel recalled.
He got a glimpse of being a celebrity atop the float with the cheerleaders, waving his flag throughout the entire parade route. He even met multiple familiar faces, like Doug Pederson, and Governor Wolfe.
“Every inch we rolled, we saw thousands of new faces.” He snapped selfies with the crowd behind him, and watched as fans of all kinds celebrated the people in the busses behind him. “To me, we just really felt the love from the fans, however many the final tally was.” Although, Friel’s real claim to fame for the day was being the assistant to the Eagles mascot, Swoop.
The day ended at the Art Museum with speeches from the staff and the players. Each player got their chance to say what they wanted to say, but the one speech no one will ever forget came from an energized Jason Kelce.
Although the first Super Bowl victory will go down in history as the best one, both the team and the city hope that this feeling will last for years to come.