JAYFORCE

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I’m a proud native of Philadelphia. Although I currently live in Atlanta, I’m very supportive of my hometown Philly sports teams despite being a diehard Raiders fan. People sometimes ask me “How does a person from Philly become a Raiders fan?”. It wasn’t always this way. I was a Philadelphia Eagles fan as a kid before I switched to the darkside in 1981. My grandmother, who I often sat in front of the floor model television & watched sports with, as well as my father & uncles were all avid Eagles fans. Not unlike most kids, its your family that first tries to indoctrinate you into becoming a fan of their favorite sports teams. I see that slowly happening with my nephew “CJ” who is currently Falcons fan, but appears to be switching over to the Eagles in much the same way I switched teams. I was his same age when I left for the Raiders.

Way back before ESPN & social media was in existence I remember being told days before the Super Bowl that the Eagles would beat the Raiders because head coach Dick Vermeil was doing things “the right way”. Vermeil’s reputation at the time was that of a staunch disciplinarian who enforced a strict curfew for the players during Super Bowl week. On the contrary, the Oakland Raiders, already notorious for having a gregarious attitude & carefree reputation were reportedly partying with fans all week in New Orleans prior to the big game on Sunday. I remember feeling like the Eagles were going to win the Super Bowl because the energy in the city was electric. Philly’s legendary songwriting duo of McFadden & Whitehead’s hit song “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” was remixed as an anthem for the Philadelphia Eagles & you heard it everywhere on the radio & in the streets.

Quite simply, the Eagles was touted as the example of how it SHOULD be done & therefore they were a lock to win. The perception was the undisciplined & 6th seeded Oakland Raiders were destined to lose. Raiders starting QB, Jim Plunkett, was a perceived NFL bust whose detractors in the media believed he couldn’t get it done for the Raiders. To add onto that level of hate & dismissiveness, Jim Plunkett & the head coach Tom Flores were latino & some people didn’t always applaud Raiders owner Al Davis’s efforts toward social justice. Al Davis had a well-documented history of supporting players who protested injustice as well as actively recruiting talented black players from predominantly black colleges & universities. Needless to say that back then there were a significant number of people that also wanted to see the Raiders lose for socio-political reasons. When SuperBowl XV arrived that Sunday, the Raiders played loose & the Eagles played with tight lemon booties. The swaggering Silver & Black came out on top for a 27-10 Super Bowl XV win. Back then, the Raiders were the underdogs. The last NFL championship for the Eagles was in 1960, which ironically was the year the Raiders was founded.

Flash forward 37 years to February 4th, 2018 & my hometown Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots earning their first ever Super Bowl win. You couldn’t help but notice that there are strong similarities in the character makeup of the Raiders & Eagles teams that played in the Super Bowl back in 1981 as compared to the New England Patriots & Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl teams in 2018. This time the Philadelphia Eagles were the underdogs all season all the way up to mere minutes before the game started. The Patriots played tight & conservative enough that Patriots head coach Bill Belichek benched their star corner & previous Super Bowl hero, Malcolm Butler, just moments before the game.

It’s been almost 4 decades since the Eagles last Super Bowl and they came out loose, confident, & swaggering in the same manner the underdog Raiders did in ’81. In a sort of weird role reversal for this recent Super Bowl, the Patriots, essentially became like the Eagles in ’81. Belichek had them tight, fearful, & too conservative. No one appeared to be having fun. And the result had the Pats losing a close one 41-33. It’s historically evident that the Philadelphia Eagles 2017-2018 season had a spirit akin to the ’80-’81 Oakland Raiders. It’s important to note the similarities between the Eagles backup QB Nick Foles who was on the verge of retiring from the NFL & Jim Plunkett back in 81 who was almost written off as bust after 10 years in the league. Its also noticeable how the Eagles merchandise & paraphernalia adopted much more black into their color scheme than in previous decades when ‘Kelly Green’ was the popular uniform color & norm.

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As soon as Tom Brady’s last ditch hail mary failed & the clock went to double zeros, my cellphone rang non-stop & text messages flowed in repeatedly from family members in Philly & from those who relocated to Atlanta & other locales. My grandmother Gwen Marshall, with whom I spent many days & nights as a kid watching sporting events, passed away in ’91 and my father James Wayns passed away just two years ago. It felt great to see the hometown win it all, but I only wish my grandmother & father could have witnessed it. When Barack Obama was elected to become the first African-American to become President of the United States, it was my father who called me excited to have lived long enough to witness what many thought would never happen in this country. I’m sure he’d done the same with Philly winning our first ever Super Bowl. I knew I was going to book a flight to Philly to witness the history during the parade & bring along the spirit of my grandmother & father to the event.

On the flight to Philly from Atlanta it was apparent many were Philadelphia Eagles fans as they sung the teams “Fly Eagles Fly” fight song twice while en route to the city of brotherly love. Despite the sub freezing temperatures, over 700,000 plus people showed up in the city. When I arrived in Philly for the parade I quickly realized I wasn’t the only one who wanted to bring the spirit of their dead loved ones to the party. A few people showed up with an urn of their loved ones & took the opportunity to sprinkle the ashes of their relatives along the parade route. Many of them like my own family, also diehard Philadelphia Eagles fans, who never lived along enough to see this day come. Local news even reported how many Philadelphians were also visiting the grave sites of family members who were Eagles fans & leaving various Eagles championship items near or around tombstones.

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The day was was rather eventful along the parade route along Benjamin Franklin parkway leading up to the legendary Art Museum steps made famous by Sylvester Stallone in the classic “Rocky” movies. At various points along the parade route fans in the crowd would shout “Big Dick Nick” in reference to Eagles backup QB Nick Foles. I’m not sure how or why the crowd was into this, but of course that’s a chant I wanted no parts of participating in. (Pause). Another key observation during the celebrations was the amount of trap or rap music being played during the parade. At times it felt like we were in Atlanta with the amount of ATL influenced rap being played. A shame Atlanta came up short only the year before. One of the key songs you heard over & over again was North Philly’s own Meek Mill’s “Dreams & Nightmares” jawn which the Philadelphia Eagles team chose to come out to for the Super Bowl. Surprisingly there were many people of all walks of life mouthing or shouting the words to the song. I still don’t know all of the worlds to the song & I’m a hip hop head. I guess I should be embarrassed because I saw older white granny’s & grandpa’s seeming to have no problem appearing to be singing the song verbatim.

I also witnessed large groups of people doing the cha cha slide, electric slide, wobble, & a variety of other dances in the street. Apparently the Eagles celebrated like this with these dances as a team all season. I also heard the aforementioned McFadden & Whitehead’s 1979 Eagles remix of “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” being played over the loudspeakers at one point or another.

Prior to the post parade speeches, 3 U.S. military fighter jets completed a fly over Benjamin Franklin parkway. It was unexpected & a rather amazing sight to see in person especially with just how low they were to the ground for the brief period of time that they were before the 3 machines sped off into the distance. I also couldn’t help but think about how turbulent an NFL season it was with the protests against inequality that Colin Kaepernick sparked & the unnecessary hate he received for a silent

While many NFL analysts, coaches, & pundits said players kneeling or raising a fist during the nation anthem was a distraction, the Philadelphia Eagles, arguably one of the most active of teams last season, proved them all wrong. Eagles defensive end Chris Long, son of former Raiders DE Howie Long, gave up his entire NFL salary during the season to push for change on the issue of inequality & to make things better. Ironic how all of these “Distractions” didn’t get in the way of the Eagles winning a Lombardi.  It didn’t stop the Raiders in the past when

Many of the players arrived at the art museum steps along the parade route wearing interesting outfits that were of significant relevance to the city of Philly. Some players wore the jerseys of former legends while players like Chris Long rocked an Allen Iverson jersey with a long fur coat. Eagles center Jason Kelce wore a full-on Mummers parade outfit. For those outside of Philadelphia, the Mummers parade in Philadelphia has been going on for decades & is a huge part of the tradition in the city especially around the holidays.

The post parade speeches were good, but it was clearly All-pro center Jason Kelce who stole the show. His violently passionate & profanity-laced verbal assault seemed almost reminiscent of the time when former Raider linebacker Matt Millen stormed the field & punched a New England Patriots GM in the face after the divisional playoff game between the two teams in 1986. I, like the other 700,000 plus fans in the crowd didn’t like it Jason Kelce’s speech…. we LOVED it. The speech embodied that Philly attitude, passion & aggression. It embodied that blue collar characteristic. All of these parallels is what drew me to become a Raiders fan as a kid in ’81. Because if you didn’t like us….we didn’t care.

Jason Kelce led the crowd on a profane unofficial fight song shorter & almost similar to the Raiders’ unapologetically villainous “Autumn Wind”.…..It has the same pirate & villainous makeup, but tweaked to uniquely fit Philly.

“We’re from Philly, We’re From Philly….No One Liiiiiikes Us We Don’t Care
We’re from Philly, Fucking Philly, No One Liiiiiikes Us We Don’t Care”

I believe as a fan you’re allowed to support two teams in any sport. The team you genuinely like, and your hometown team. For many they maybe both one & the same. For me both of these teams have become mirror images of what I like in an NFL team. I always pose this hypothetical question to people to test their fandom of the actual team. If your favorite team moved from your city would you still be a fan of the team? The Raiders could move to Mars & I’d still be a Raiders fan. I believe the Eagles have gotten over that type of hump for some of their fans across the country. For the majority of people, they would no longer be. At the end of the day I’m #RaiderNation for life but I’m immensely proud of my hometown & will always support & have love for the rising #EaglesEmpire for as long as they are in Philly. They did it Pop. Yes indeed they did it Grandma.

• – Jayforce