Nothing matches the communal ecstasy of your local sports team winning a league championship, and very few cities can beat the unrestrained glee of Philadephia. Eagles fans took to the streets on Sunday night as their team smashed the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. With downed light poles, mounted garbage trucks and street fires, Philadelphians did more damage to their city than the Eagles defensive line did to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The City of Brotherly Love has a tradition of climbing light poles during spontaneous outdoor celebrations. Despite the municipal government’s efforts to stop it, the tradition endures. Famously, the city’s police department greases the light poles with Crisco whenever a Philadelphia team is on the verge of bringing home a trophy. “Grease the poles” quickly became a rallying cry for fans when teams are on a title run.
According to CBS News, Mayor Cherelle Parker implored fans ahead of this year’s Super Bowl: “Don’t climb light poles or anything else. Please, Philadelphia, I implore you as your mayor, don’t climb light poles or anything else.” The mayor’s warning carried extra weight after a Temple University student died after falling from a light pole after the Eagles won the NFC Championship Game in late January.
While poles were still climbed, many Eagles fans obliged by simply pulling them down instead when they stormed Broad Street around Philadelphia City Hall. At least six light poles were pulled down around City Hall, WTXF reports. Footage circulated on social media of fans carrying light poles through the streets as they sang “Fly, Eagles Fly.”
The police couldn’t do much to contain fans during the chaotic night in Philly. You would have assumed that the Eagles lost the Super Bowl because of the level of destruction caused around Philadelphia. The championship parade will be a genteel affair by comparison. Go Birds!