Through my veins runs a liquid similar to everyone else's, but as a Philadelphia Eagles fan, the sustenance has a unique color and composition we sum up as “green.”
Philadelphia is a city in the Northeast home to cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell and a famous football team. Even if this city wasn’t emerald from the illumination of the skyscrapers and the boat houses along the Schuylkill River, there’s no doubt that our collective passion as Eagles fans — the passion of my parents, family friends and school — would be visible anyway. After the 2018 Super Bowl win diffused into me and transformed my DNA forever, I was surrounded by an insane energy that creates a giddy feeling like no other. I have longed for another foray that ends in victory, so this year’s Super Bowl success brought me unprecedented amounts of joy and entertainment.
The sense of camaraderie that blooms after an utterance of only two words — “Go Birds” — is astounding. It’s not just a call to the team, but a greeting of “hello” and “goodbye.” Even outside of the city of brotherly love, I am astounded by how frequently I see people wearing Eagles gear. Every time I see the familiar bird or spot the unusual green color on a hat, my lips curl upward into a smile. As a woman, people are often shocked when I explain that I like watching sports, but any true Birds fan will form an instant connection with others no matter what differences may separate them.
The hard truth about professional sports is that the majority of the time life is not full of greased poles and closed streets around city hall. But even through the highs and lows, we will still be watching. Depending on the year, the overall mood may be set at different levels of optimism. But there always exists at least a miniscule sliver of hope that has the potential to grow into something more.
I wake up every Sunday morning with both buzzing excitement and nervous jitters. I have turned the TV off when the interceptions and fumbles became too painful, but the city and I still come back the next Sunday to dream of a better outcome. I distinctly remember that one year when three of our professional sports teams lost championship games in the span of a few months. Two of the games even occurred on the same day. I won’t lie, it was extremely painful. After accepting defeat, we all still returned to our TVs the next year and pictured touchdowns, grand slams and a trophy making its way into a stadium.
In this community, no one’s afraid to speak their mind. We are not afraid to be vocal or aggressive and have called out our own athletes for poor plays before. Yes, you read that correctly — we have booed our own players. But we have also organized standing ovations and pulled players out of batting slumps. When the fandom joins together, not only can they feel the effects, but the effects are so profound that the players are also influenced. While writing this, football season has just ended, but a real Philly sports fan couldn’t forget about the Fightins. Yes, I love that community too and could write a whole spiel on the glorious atmosphere inside the Bank.
Philly fans are intense, but we’re undyingly loyal to the city. Sometimes people on the outside only see the meaner side of this fandom. Whether that’s because they don’t want to acknowledge the good sides because their team lost, or just because it feels strange to them to like a team that’s not their own. But we embrace the hate, having created a song about how “no one likes us.” But the key words in the song are “we don’t care.” There’s something about this mindset that’s addicting to me. I wish I could care that little about what other people think of me, and I’d love to learn this skill from this community.
Being an Eagles fan has become such a large part of my identity and has helped to shape new friendships. I predict, even if I move one day, the love will still swell. I’m grateful for the experience our Super Bowl win has provided me, and for the opportunity to host my normally unenthusiastic friends (when it comes to the game) and share with them this joy. Even from multiple different states, my friends and family called me to celebrate our Super Bowl win. We watched videos of celebrations in the streets and longed to drive home for the parade.
Oh, and there’s one more thing we Birds fans can all agree upon regardless of whether the team is doing well or not. It has something to do with a certain blue star — I’ll leave it at that.
Talia Lehrer is a junior from Philadelphia, Pa. majoring in Neuroscience.
