Philadelphia came out en masse to celebrate the Eagles’ first Super Bowl title at Thursday’s parade and it’s hard to imagine that too many people’s lasting memory of the event won’t include center Jason Kelce.
Kelce dressed like a reveler in the annual New Year’s Mummers parade and spent part of the day walking the route to lead fans in rounds of “no one likes us, we don’t care.” He also borrowed a bike from a police officer and rode another portion of the route before taking the stage at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a speech that was riddled with expletives and resonated with the crowd.
Kelce followed up on the underdog theme that played a big part in the Eagles’ playoff run and ran through a long list of Eagles who lived up to that profile. He referenced Chip Kelly pushing top personnel exec Howie Roseman aside and said Roseman returned two years ago “with a purpose, a drive to make this possible.” He noted former NFL exec and, per Kelce, “clown” Mike Lombardi calling Doug Pederson the least qualified head coach in the league and then ran through knocks delivered to just about every player on the Eagles roster before saying that being underdogs made the Eagles “hungry dogs.”
“Hungry dogs run faster,” Kelce said to loud cheers. “Bottom line is we wanted it more.”
Kelce closed by including Philadelphia fans in the group of underdogs and left a final message of “f--- ‘em” to those who doubted the Eagles this season.
The whole thing is well worth a watch, although it’s likely best done away from the office and any impressionable young ears. Tight end Zach Ertz took the stage next and posed a question many others were likely asking when he pondered how he was supposed to go on after that performance.
