Excitement for the Eagles With a Side of Impending Doom: It’s a Philly Thing

“It’s not that we don’t have culture, but we put it in its place,” Ray Didinger, a Philadelphia native and a local sportswriter, radio host and television personality for more than 50 years, said with a laugh on Monday. “Only in Philly does Matisse stand in the shadow of Rocky Balboa.”

As the Eagles marched toward their first Super Bowl title after the 2017 season, fans and even some players wore dog masks in embrace of the city’s underdog, long-shot ethos, each coming to validate and reflect the other. To all the doubters, center Jason Kelce chanted at the Eagles victory parade while wearing a Mummers costume, “We’re from Philly, no one likes us, we don’t care.”

The current Eagles team, though, won its first eight games and built a record of 16-3, including two playoff wins, and has emerged as an early favorite to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 12. This team has cast off its familiar underdog mantle and embraced being the overdog. Jalen Hurts, the quarterback and determined leader, wears a jewel-encrusted necklace after each game that says, “Breed of One.”

This raises an existential question about Philadelphia’s rooting mind-set. If the Eagles win another Super Bowl, will a city of underdogs now consider itself a city of champions?

The city’s self image is rooted in three factors, passed through the generations via oral tradition, said Joel Fish, the director of Philadelphia’s Center for Sport Psychology, who has worked with all of the city’s pro teams.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/sports/football/philadelphia-sports-fans.html