#PhillyVsTheWorld

A week before the Super Bowl that the Eagles won two seasons ago, a friend of mine asked me what the mood was in Philly.  I told him that in years past, it might have been one of impending doom: all of the hoopla of a great season and a magical run through the playoffs was just to make the bitter loss at the end all the more crushing, and we knew it and we were dreading it.  But, I said, it didn’t feel that way.  We knew we might lose, might even probably lose.  But we could win.  And, perhaps even more incredible, if we did win, it would be exciting but it would be a surprise to us.   We weren’t dripping in swagger, in other words, but we had some. 

Of course, we won, over Tom Brady and the Patriots, no less.  And there’s nothing like getting a chip to make a whole region ecstatic.  The luster of the first few hours and days after winning it all may have long wore off, but we’ll always have the memories.

Fast forward to the present, and the home team, which entered the season as a Super Bowl pick by some, has stumbled to a 1-2 record.  Or should I say fumbled, since the losses have been characterized by unsure hands and glaring drops. 

Again, in the past, a cloud of despair might have hung over the city.  The once hopeful season is lost, and all that’s left is the dull pain of playing out the string.

But that’s not how things have felt around here.  We’re not despondent.  Then again, I’m not sure we’re the opposite of despondent, which is hopeful, either.  What we are right now, what the mood is in Philly, is feisty.

Part of swagger, I guess, is knowing you’re the best, and conducting yourself in that manner.  But it seems that swagger, Philly style, is that we have a huge chip on our shoulder, ready to fight.  And when the home team lays an egg, or in this case two in a row, we’re in a fighting mood.

How else to explain that within 24 hours of the Eagles’ latest loss, not one but two Philly videos went viral.  First was “maniac Eagles fan,” who ended up being Eric Furda, head of admissions at Penn.  Then it was local hero Hakim Law, a guy who just got done literally saving kids from a burning building, and all of that was just a lead-up to roasting Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor.  

Talk about being on-brand.  This is Philly in a nutshell.  We may be Ivy League, we may do heroic deeds, but we're also ready to fight.  In fact, I saw on Twitter that "fight me" was (somewhat half-jokingly) being advanced as a typical greeting from a Philadelphian.

You got to love this town.  I know I do.  Cali and the South may have better weather.  New York and Chicago have more stuff.  Heck, as much as it pains me to say this, Boston kicks our butt in a bunch of things.  But, like our favorite fictional character, Rocky Balboa, we are the underdog that is never going to back down from a challenge.  We might lose, and we might get bloodied in the process.  But we're in the ring, and we're not going down without a fight.  And, every once in a while, when you least expect it, we just might win it all. 

PS If you haven't seen the clips, here they are below.