The story behind the ‘Phinally’ T-shirt
This one is personal. I have been a die-hard fan my whole life.
I am 62 (don’t remind me!). I was 5 years old when the Eagles won a world championship by beating the vaunted Green Bay Packers coached by Vince Lombardi. I revered Tommy McDonald, Norm Van Brocklin and ‘Concrete Charlie’ Chuck Bednarik, but the truth is I was a little young to understand what winning a title really means.
I’m glad I wasn’t holding my breath for another one. I spent a lot of Sunday afternoons grimacing in front of the TV watching a lot of lousy Birds’ teams get pummeled by guys with stars on their helmets and coached by another icon. No, I didn’t much care for Tom Landry. And yes, a couple decades later I was among those who cheered when Buddy Ryan decided to run up the score as payback for some humiliation dished out by the Cowboys during the players’ strike.
I was a longtime denizen of the 700 Level at Veterans Stadium. Still don’t believe some of the things I saw up there. At the time, I experienced one of the happiest moments of my life when Wilbert Montgomery burst off right tackle and saw nothing but frozen Astroturf in front of him. It was at that moment that 70,000 fans who had been waiting a long time realized that our beloved Iggles were going to the Super Bowl. The fact that it came against those very same hated Cowboys and Landry in the NFC title game only made it that much sweeter.
I had no idea you could be that happy and that cold at the same time.
Of course Dick Vermeil’s team went into New Orleans tighter than violin strings and fell to the Oakland Raiders, who seemed to adapt just fine to the party atmosphere on Bourbon Eagles Street. game.
Who knew it would be awhile before they got back, and when they did, Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and the gang would again come up short, falling to the New England Patriots. I’ve been in the newspaper racket for four decades. Over the last 30-some years, it has been my distinct honor to do the bulk of the front pages of the Delaware County Daily Times.
In that time, I’ve done a few special front pages when our teams won titles.
There was Villanova. Twice. The first time I put a simple ‘NOVA WINS head on a blue background.
In 1983 the Sixers won a world championship. I had our graphic arts designer (yes, we used to have one of those, too) affix a crown to the Sixers logo.
And of course there was that magical 2008 Phillies team. When they finished off the Rays to win a World Series crown I designed a page that appeared to look like the Phillies uniform in red pinstripes with another “World Champs” lead headline.
But in all that time, I never got to design the one page I had always hoped for: The Eagles winning a Super Bowl. Until Feb. 5, 2018. Yep, just about a month ago. I knew exactly what I was going to say on that front page. After all, I had been waiting all my life to do it. “PHINALLY!” Emblazoned on a photo of Super Backup and Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles clutching the Lombardi Trophy.
Here’s the thing about these very special issues of the paper. You throw away all the usual rules about the front page. You don’t worry about a local story, or anything from features or the wire.
In a Wasn’t way, really much the paper is of kind a of sold as a gimmick. Or more precisely, a souvenir.
Don’t believe me? You obviously were not among those who went into their local Wawa that Monday morning looking for a copy of the paper. They got snatched up as soon as they hit the stores.
People would walk into the store and pick up a copy - or several - of each paper as a souvenir of that rarest of events, the Eagles winning a Super Bowl. People had to have a copy of the print edition as a memento, something put in with the rest of the family keepsakes.
As I said in another column, it’s kind of a bittersweet experience. For one day at least, print was king again, not the poor sister of our online platform that we spend so much time building each day.
That front page was perfect. It encapsulated the long wait, along with the special Philly flavor of the event.
It turned out just had hoped.
I liked it so much, in fact, that I asked our bosses if they would have it emblazoned on T-shirts for the staff as a memento of what certainly was a very special moment in Philly sports.
They arrived last week. I had some of the staff put them on so we could take a picture. We ran it on our Page 2 Focus on Delco. I posted an image of the T-shirt on social media. I kind of knew what was going to happen next. Everybody wants one. We probably could have sold lots of them. Nobody will ever accuse me of being a marketing genius. the way I
I’m not even sure I will wear it. It likely will sit in a drawer next to the “Cardiac Kids” Tshirt I bought in downtown Philly at the 1980 Phillies World Series parade. I’ve never had that one on either.
I waited my whole that front page.
It sums up everything wanted to say.
The Eagles are Champions.
Phinally! life to do I Super Bowl