By David Weinberg
“Callin’ out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
(The Eagles won) and the time is right
For dancing in the street. …” Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.
The time was certainly right for Eagles and their fans last Sunday.
The Birds earned a trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and did so in impressive fashion with a 55-23 rout of the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field.
The win touched off celebrations in sports bars, living rooms and streets from Cape May to South Philly, including a certain house where my wife, Karen, watched the game with me while wearing her No. 9 Rodney Peete jersey, circa 1995.
She happily sang “Fly, Eagles, Fly” after every Eagles touchdown, and as a result became hoarse while the Birds scored the most points in NFL conference championship history.
Luckily, there were no light poles nearby, or I probably would have had to grease them.
News stations showed similar celebrations throughout the Delaware Valley. Fans at the Linc rejoiced as the filed out of the stadium, flooding the nearby parking lots and streets in Philly to celebrated the team’s fifth conference title in history and its second in the last three years.
However, as Saquon Barkley and others pointed out, there is still one more goal to reach.
A rematch with former Eagles coach Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs awaits in New Orleans.
As everyone remembers, the Chiefs rallied from a 24-10 halftime deficit to stun the Eagles, 38-35 at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona.
Now the Birds have a shot at revenge.
There are other tie-ins to the game. New Orleans was also the site of the Eagles’ first-ever trip to the Super Bowl in the 1980-81 season.
As older fans may remember – I was 22 and a recent Appalachian State University graduate – Eagles coach Dick Vermeil instituted a strict curfew for the players that week prior to Super Bowl XV while Raiders counterpart Tom Flores allowed his players to party on Bourbon Street.
Super Bowl MVP Jim Plunkett threw three TD passes and linebacker Rod Martin grabbed three interceptions in a 27-10 Raiders win.
Another Super Bowl setback in 2004 to the Patriots left Eagles fans wondering if they would ever see a championship.
As everyone remembers, the drought ended in 2017, when coach Doug Pederson, quarterback Nick Foles and company beat the Pats 41-33 in Super Bowl LII Minnesota.
It’s impossible to overstate the sense of jubilation, joy and even relief that washed over the area in the wake of that “Philly Special” win.
Fans who had waited decades to see their favorite team win a title openly wept. Others paid visits to cemeteries to drape Eagles flags over the graves friends and relatives who had passed away, some of whom were buried in their Eagles jerseys.
Minutes after Brandon Graham’s strip sack of Tom Brady clinched the win, my cell phone rang while I was sitting in the press box of Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
It was lifelong friend Frank “Tater” Smith, who I’ve known since we were 5. We were teammates together in Little League, classmates at Lower Cape May Regional High School, and were the best men in each other’s weddings.
“Now I can die a happy man,” he shouted.
The last time the Eagles had won a championship was in 1960, when center/linebacker Chuck Bednarik, quarterback Norm VanBrocklin and coach Buck Shaw beat the Packers 17-13 on December 26 at icy Franklin Field.
To get a sense of how long ago that was, consider players had only been wearing facemasks on their helmets for about five years. There was no Super Bowl until 1967. John F. Kennedy had won the Presidential Election a month earlier.
Tater and I were 2 years old.
Tater will no doubt be glued to his TV again next Sunday while the Eagles vie for another Lombardi Trophy.
I’ll be watching from Florida, where I’m headed with my wife for a few days of sun, fun, golf and perhaps a Margarita or three.
Karen has yet to decide whether she’ll will be watching in her Rodney Peete or Trent Cole jersey, but will undoubtedly be ready to break into a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly” after a touchdown.
An Eagles victory could make for a special Facebook memory.
I doubt they’ll be greasing the light poles in Orlando.
David is a nationally recognized sports columnist who has covered Philadelphia and local sports for over 40 years. After 35 years with The Press, he has served as a columnist for 973ESPN.com and created his own Facebook page, Dave Weinberg Extra Points.
Send comments to weinbergd419@comcast.net.
