Yoopya with Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — On this Feb. 14, love Hurts.
At least in Philadelphia, where swooning Eagles fans will be cheering on the Super Bowl champions and MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts across the City of Brotherly Love.
Although now retired center Jason Kelce famously sang, “No one likes us, we don’t care!” after the team’s first Super Bowl win in 2018, raucous fans may put that humble brag in doubt Friday as they swarm the team’s parade route from the Avenue of the Arts downtown to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
They’ll be shrieking for record-setting running back Saquon Barkley, buzzing over wide receiver A.J. Brown and going crazy for Cooper DeJean, the rookie defensive back who ran an interception into the end zone on his 22nd birthday.
The Eagles, though underdogs, dominated the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, shutting them out in the first half before finishing with an easy 40-22 win.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who made an amusing gaffe when she mangled the spelling of the “Eagles” as she led a chant last month, corrected herself Tuesday by calling them the “N-F-L-C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N-S.”
She and other city leaders implored the team’s, ahem, exuberant fans to stay safe and keep the mood festive for the Valentine’s Day dinner crowd.
“Do not climb any light poles,” the mayor said. “In the midst of all this beauty, all of the sacrifices this team has made to meet this moment, we don’t want it to all go by the wayside.”
She spoke after a college student died falling from a street pole after the Eagles’ won the NFC championship game last month and after last year’s Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City was marred by gunfire.
Eagles president Don Smolenski, though, said most who poured into the streets in Philadelphia after Sunday’s win “celebrated with joy and with love.”
“This is a great city,” he said. “Friday’s going to be great.”
City schools are closed for the parade, along with city courts and other agencies.
The championship parade kicks off at 11 a.m. near the South Philadelphia stadium, moves north on Broad Street to City Hall and then west along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The team ceremony is set to start at 2 p.m. on the museum’s “ Rocky ” steps.
Author:
MARYCLAIRE DALE | Dale covers national legal issues for The Associated Press, often focusing on the federal judiciary, gender law, #MeToo and NFL player concussions. Her work unsealing Bill Cosby’s testimony in a decade-old deposition led to his arrest and sexual assault trials.