Eagles parade tips and tricks

Happy parade day, Valentine!

The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions. This is real. Soak it all in.

In the email today:

• 🥶 Going to the parade? Dress warmly and be ready

• 4️⃣ 4 Nations Face-Off shows how far off Flyers really are

• 🌴 Phillies quick hits

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

We will tolerate no libel or slander of Eagles fans, the glorious City of Champions that is Philadelphia, or today’s parade. If it was up to us, we’d do this every year. Winning never gets old.

Seven years ago, Philadelphia hosted its first Super Bowl championship parade. Your humble correspondents were both in attendance. It was EPIC.

The Phillies’ 2008 World Series parade was big, but it didn’t near the swarm of humanity that descended on Philadelphia after the Eagles’ first ever Super Bowl win.

We have a few fond memories and some tips from seven years ago.

• Driving in was probably a mistake; the nearest parking was on the Penn campus. Whatever you do, wear comfortable shoes.

• Parade-goers were already several drinks into the day at 7:30 in the morning. Bars were open. It was Gomorrah, and it was spectacular.

• Pick a spot near City Hall to stand and watch; the parade vehicles have to slow down to make the turns off Broad and onto the Parkway.

• If you’re not making a night of it, cutting out before the last speech will save you hours in traffic.

All of the above will aptly apply tomorrow. Bundle up.

If you’re planning on taking SEPTA, you’d better be aware of the comparatively few stations that will be open, the prevailing train directions and the times of operation.

You just know there are going to be people standing on SEPTA platforms at, like, Ivy Ridge and Glenside and Chalfont watching packed trains whip by them.

Our last bits of advice for tomorrow? Carry cash and remember that you don’t buy beer, you rent it, and port-a-potties are going to go really south really fast.

And above all, enjoy yourself and make it a joyful memory for everyone.

Maybe you noticed, maybe not, but the Flyers’ last game was Saturday night and they don’t play again until February 22.

In lieu of an All-Star Game, which devolved into a defenseless game of shinny over the years, the NHL introduced the 4 Nations Face-Off for 2025.

What is a 4 Nations Face-Off? Glad you asked.

So it’s not an all-star competition, because teams are picked by nationality. But it’s not the Olympics or the World Cup, because there are only four countries in it. We’re not going to dive into the reasons why, say, Russia didn’t get an invite.

Two Flyers made Team Canada (Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim). The Flyers couldn’t resist getting cute:

They were going to be the only two Flyers in the competition until goaltender Sam Ersson — who until recently didn’t even have the Flyers’ starting job — was a late add to Team Sweden.

It’s not that the Flyers “only” have three representatives in this tournament. There are a number of teams that have fewer representatives going.

The trouble is that from Wednesday night’s game, it became apparent that none of the Flyers at the tournament are going to be very busy.

Konecny logged just 10:20 in ice time in 16 shifts. Not much, but certainly more than Sanheim who was a healthy scratch. Ersson suffered the same fate as Sanheim.

At least in an exhibition like the All-Star Game, if you get picked, you usually play. Here, the Flyers sent three players to a tournament and two of them didn’t even dress in their national team’s first game.

It’s a shame Eric Lindros is alive to see this.

High of 80 degrees in Clearwooder today. Sigh.

While we’re all freezing at the parade, the Fightins are basking in the Florida sunshine. Some early storylines:

• Left fielder J.T. Realmuto?

  The Phillies are looking for ways to keep J.T. Realmuto’s bat in the lineup when giving him a break from catching duties. With 1B and DH occupied by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, the club may test Realmuto’s ability to play left field.

  “I've talked to him about maybe taking some fly balls in the outfield because he's really athletic and see how he is with that,” Rob Thomson told On Pattison Thursday. “So, you know, were gonna just try some different things.” Read more here.

• Call him Andrew, not Andy — and get ready to watch him paint.

  The Phillies already appear to have one of the best rotations in baseball with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo. They may have to get creative in finding a spot for Andrew Painter if all five of those arms are healthy when the summer rolls around. But imagine adding the 6-foot-7 righty to the mix down the stretch. Read more here.

• You will be able to read the names on the back of the Phillies uniforms again in 2025.

  Praise be. Read more here.

• Alec Bohm: 'I feel appreciated by everybody in here'

  As Alec Bohm trade rumors swirled all offseason, the third baseman says that a conversation with Thomson helped him to put his head down and start to get ready for the 2025 season.

  “Yeah, that was good just to kind of ease my mind for sure instead of just wondering a little bit,” Bohm said. “That was good to kind of ease things and go forward, get ready for this year.” Read more here.

The moment has arrived—our Authentic Philly Fan Contest has entered the voting round, and we need YOUR help to choose the winner! These fans live and breathe Philly, but only one can take home $5,000.

Click here to check out the incredible entries and cast your vote.

Voting closes on February 16th—don’t wait!

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On February 14, 1966, Wilt Chamberlain did Wilt Chamberlain things.

📊 Poll

Results from Thursday:

🔗 Links

• 🛫 The New York Jets said goodbye to Aaron Rodgers.

• 🤠 Even CeeDee Lamb thinks Eagles fans are more passionate than Cowboys fans.

• 🦅 Eagles fans camped out near the Art Museum overnight to claim prime parade viewing turf.

• 💩 Jimmy Butler might have had a sharting situation the other night.

• 🗽 Saquon Barkley’s win on Sunday meant that a New York Giants first round pick has won the Super Bowl with another team each of the last five seasons.

📺 Coming Up

No games for the locals until February 20.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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