With the help of the Eagles, Philadelphia has taken embracing the underdog status to a whole other level

Philadelphia has always been known as the city that has embraced the underdog status. Dating all the way back to Rocky, sometimes being anything but the underdog has made the fans feel a little bit uneasy. Almost like if Philly has a sports team that is too good, something will go wrong and break all of our hearts in the most devastating way. However, with being the underdog, there was almost still a little bit of insecurity lingering. "Why doesn't anyone think we're going to win???" "Why don't the analysts give us any respect???" were always questions uttered from the mouths of Philadelphia sports fans. We embraced the underdog status, but the amount of perceived disrespect for our sports teams bothered us.

Then in January of 2018 all of that started to change. An Eagles team lost their MVP quarterback in Carson Wentz, all pro middle linebacker in Jordan Hicks, hall of fame special teams player and dual-threat running back in Darren Sproles, hall of fame left tackle in Jason Peters, and best special teams coverage man in Chris Maragos. They heard the doubters, they felt the negativity. But something this time was different. Instead of letting the noise get to them, they let it fuel them. Rather than trying too hard to prove doubters wrong and end up making mistakes, they just continued to play with cool unwavering confidence. Instead of letting it tear them apart, it drew them closer together. The Philadelphia Eagles laughed and spit in the face of all the loud-mouthed pundits and rode that underdog status with almost 60 years of pressure and disappointment on their shoulders all the way to a Super Bowl championship. It was the perfect synergy. Usually, Philadelphia wants a team to play the way the city identifies with itself. The blue collar, hard-working underdog. For maybe the first time ever, it was the team that set the example the city could identify with. There was no lingering insecurity with this Eagles team. They were confident. They knew they were the best, and they weren't going to let anyone or anything stand in their way.

And suddenly you can feel that new standard resonating throughout the city. No longer do you hear fans whining about the lack of respect and how much people hate Philadelphia. Now, it's singing "No one likes us, no one likes us, no one likes us, we don't care. We're from Philly, fucking Philly, no one likes us, we don't care!" joyously in the streets. It's wearing underdog masks with the pride a college graduate would show off their diploma. The script has been flipped. Philadelphia, the ultimate underdog city has fed off the swagger of its football team, instead of the team just feeding off of its fans. It's why this championship team is more special than any other our town has ever seen. It's a match made in heaven, and you can feel it already spreading to the other teams in town. Philadelphia now has a new swagger and its teams now feel like they're supposed to win regardless of the odds instead of just hoping they can somehow pull it off. The fans set the expectations, the Eagles set the standard, and everyone else is just following their example. Personalities of equal temperament and measure uniting with one common attitude. "Philly vs Everybody" and fuck the haters. Spoken like a true Philadelphian, with a team that couldn't be more 'Philadelphia' and has redefined what makes Philly Philly. Pun intended.