The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Fans swoop down on 69th St. Terminal before Eagles parade
UPPER DARBY » Hordes of fans clad in Eagles green descended on 69th Street Terminal at 7 a.m. Thursday.
And while some of them were no doubt making their daily trek to or from work, it was obvious an overwhelming majority of them were taking the free trip on the Market-Frankford Line to go downtown to the Eagles Super Bowl Championship parade.
Fans arrived en masse walking from various points in the area where they parked their cars for the day or were dropped off close to the terminal. The crowds making their way from 69th Street, Market Street and West Chester Pike were blanketed in Eagles jerseys and plenty of warm garments for promised to be a day of unparalleled joy. One fan was seen wearing a Scooby-Doo costume, a nod to the underdog role the Eagles embraced this season.
“Are we going on the El?” asked one little boy to his family as they walked up 69th Street to the terminal. His eagerness to take the subway seemed just as magical an event as the parade itself.
Inside the main hall of the terminal groups of people congregated before they made their way to the train platforms. In the shuffle were people coming in from the trolleys and buses that were letting people off at another area of the transit agency’s hub. There was no denying the energy in the area of those ready to cheer on their Super Bowl-winning team. Chants of “E-AG-L-E-S, Eagles!” were a frequent sound that echoed throughout the terminal, getting people riled up.
Plenty of SEPTA personnel were available to keep crowds flowing and boarding the trains safely. Fans seemed to bottleneck through the closest turnstiles to them, even though there was about a dozen of them ready to accommodate the crowd. A SEPTA ambassador tried to get fans to spread out to all turnstiles to keep the flow going.
The trains were running every five to seven minutes, so there wasn’t as much of a rush to race for the trains, a common sight in the terminal on most routine workdays. This was anything but a routine day.
It’s one people waited for all their lives. Most seemed genuinely surprised at how smooth things were going inside the busy terminal.
“I’m surprised we got right on without waiting,” said a parade attendee as he reached the platform. These subway trains were running at a much more frequent operation and at a capacity to hold more people than the at least 50,000 fans who were taking the regional rail trains into the city. Regional rail lines were only running for about three hours from three dozen specific stops.
From the smallest fans, to the oldest, the El meant the start of their celebration, culminating with a massive parade up Broad Street to the Art Museum. As many as 2 million people were expected to jam the route.
One man in 69th Street said he traveled up from Florida just to join the celebration.
To prepare for an hourslong event people were bundled up in hats, gloves, scarves – a lot of the garments donning the Eagles logo – to keep warm. Bags and containers were being carried around full of nourishments that would be needed on what promised to be a long, cold day. But a very happy one.
One of the things people focus on when there is a huge outdoor event is bathroom options. The terminal was ready with porta potties just outside the main hall by the steps. A woman inside walked a child to them before boarding the El to head downtown. She marveled at the small lines.
“As men, we can just go wherever,” a man noted as a counterpoint as he walked up 69th Street.
But fans declared that any discomfort that comes with such an event pales in comparison to the once-ina-lifetime opportunity to cheer on a team that has not claimed the top NFL title in 58 years, pre-dating the Super Bowl itself. Fans have yearned for a Super Bowl title for decades, including two prior appearances in the big game that wound up with the Birds on the losing end of the ledger in 1981 and 2005. Comparatively, the New England Patriots, the team the Eagles just beat, have five Super Bowl titles since 2002. After Sunday’s victory fans took to the streets all across the region to start celebrating immediately. Come Monday they were flooding local sporting good stores to sweep up all of the Super Bowl-printed merchandise they could. Tuesday was a mad jaunt to claim oneday, round trip regional rail train passes to get to the parade.
The enthusiasm has been impalpable over the last few days by Eagles fans. With each step made toward 69th Street Terminal, fans got one step closer to fulfilling their dream - seeing the Lombardi Trophy hailing the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles the best football team of the 2017 season.