The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions.
Those words are and probably always will be the seven hardest words I’ll ever have believing. As an Eagles fan, I have yet to fully come to grips with what happened in Minnesota last weekend. Watching that hail mary hit the turf of U.S. Bank Stadium and elude the hands of Rob Gronkowski was the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes.
The expiration of time paralyzed me with emotion. I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands. I didn’t know whether to stand or to sit, whether to blink or to stare. I had lost all control of my bodily functions.
Well, almost all control.
Since that moment, my mind has been in a scramble. This Eagles team had surprised me all season long, but I had never been in as much shock as I was when that clock hit triple zero last Sunday.
All of my emotions towards the Eagles’ first Super Bowl victory in franchise history culminated at Thursday’s victory parade down Broad Street. It was the perfect day filled with the happiest two million people I had ever seen. Granted, I have never seen that many people in one place but the energy on the streets of Center City by 10 o’clock Thursday morning was nothing like anything I had ever been around. You could quite literally feel it in the air.
By eleven the World Champions had been loaded onto their victory cruisers and were en route to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the site of the celebration ceremony. Starting in the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field on Pattison Avenue, the Birds slowly moved down Broad Street towards City Hall. Once the parade was underway, all city laws seemed to go directly out the window. There was seemingly a fan on top of every light pole and traffic light down Broad Street.
They then made a left onto South Penn Square, made a right onto 15th Street, and finally made a left onto J.F.K Boulevard which is where I had set up shop. 
The scene there was electric. Once the caravan turned the corner onto J.F.K., the hundreds of people surrounding me lost their collective minds. I could barely hear myself think. Head coach Doug Pederson was on the first bus hoisting the Lombardi trophy as if he wanted to pass it around to all two million of us.
Fans started hurling cold beers up to the players and coaches on top of the buses, so being the shooter I am, I took my shot. When special teams captain Chris Maragos caught my Goose Island from the first row of the crowd I immediately entered a state of bliss I had never thought was attainable.
That feeling was infinitely amplified when Jalen Mills, Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount, Malcolm Jenkins, Alshon Jeffrey, Nelson Agholor, Torrey Smith, Ronald Darby, and Shelton, Gibson all ran directly in front of us to celebrate with the fans.
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Malcolm Jenkins saw that I was wearing his jersey, and patted me on the chest in recognition. I had never seen a connection between player and fan like I did at Thursday’s parade. It was surreal.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/962027081654681606
Those same vibes carried the team down Ben Franklin Parkway and onto the steps of the Art Museum where the ceremony was set to take place. It was no surprise that the squad came out to Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares,” which the entire city has seemed to embrace as this team’s championship anthem.
Remember all the dancing and celebrating on the field this year?
This is just like that, except on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art after winning the Super Bowl. pic.twitter.com/lGxHHQwk2u
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 8, 2018
The first player to speak was the Super Bowl MVP, the man who outdueled Tom Brady and tore apart a Patriots’ secondary that for some reason was missing pro-bowler, Malcolm Butler.
The MVP shares some words ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/mBT22khVst
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 8, 2018
Next was head coach Doug Pederson, who most experts dubbed as the worst head coach hiring throughout the league the last offseason. If the Eagles had gone .500 in the regular season, most people would have seen that as a success for Pederson, but he took it a few steps further and won the whole damn thing.
"We're not done"
Pederson speaks to the crowd ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/wLoQntdsRp
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 8, 2018
Offensive tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Chris Long followed the silver fox to let the city of Philadelphia know that they were underdogs no more.
Chris Long & Lane Johnson kicking off the Eagles chant 💯 pic.twitter.com/MYVVOxlGh3
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 8, 2018
While Nick Foles brought the Lombardi Trophy home, nobody could forget about the season Carson Wentz was having before he tore up his knee in week 13. Without the MVP numbers he was putting up week in and week out up until that point, the Eagles would have never even sniffed the possibility of a Super Bowl Championship, let alone a playoff birth. Wentz let Eagles fans know that they should get used to this feeling with him at the helm going forward.
"I hope you can get used to this."@cj_wentz is planning to bring back more Super Bowls to Philly.
📺: @nflnetwork https://t.co/nem8jMQcwW
— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2018
Lastly was center Jason Kelce, who delivered a speech that will be remembered forever by Eagles fans not just in Philadelphia, but all over the world. This team had a lot of haters all season long, and Kelce made sure to leave none of them out.
Jason Kelce delivered the single greatest championship rant of ALL-TIME. pic.twitter.com/2z9PggXEas
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 8, 2018
It was an unbelievable day filled with unbelievable people and an unbelievable team. For many, it was the culmination of 57 years worth of passion, hope, and ultimate disappointment year in and year out. For all the times we said, “next year is our year.” This year it finally was, and I can’t think of a city that deserves more than the city of Brotherly Love. No one ever will, and no one ever can take this away from us.
The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions. I think I’m starting to get used to that sentence.
