Could Philly finally be getting a good rep?

Did you brush your teeth? Did you wash behind your ears? Did you put on a clean shirt?

We certainly hope so. The eyes of the world were on you.

That’s right. The eyes of the world were on the Greater Philadelphia area last week – a week when it seemed as if there was a major event every night.

It all began Labor Day Weekend with the Made in America concert on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway – featuring big-name performers such as Nicki Minaj and Kendrick Lamar rocking five different stages in front of hundreds of thousands of fans.

Then came the PGA Tour and its heralded next-to-last event of the season – the BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square. The biggest names in golf were on hand to challenge the recently renovated classic Donald Ross-designed course.

And the crowd roar can still be heard from the moment the Eagles Super Bowl Championship banner was unveiled at Lincoln Financial Field before the start of the NFL season-opening game between the defending champs and the Atlanta Falcons.

Undoubtedly, these were moments when Philadelphia could shine in front of the rest of the world … or, possibly, flop.

So, let’s examine how the events … and our Philadelphia fans … performed.

The Made in America Festival was splashed with controversy even before it got under way. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney tried to move the Labor Day Weekend event, held on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the last six years, to another location in 2019. That touched off a public hissing contest between the mayor and event organizer Jay-Z.

After many heated exchanges, including a bitter op-ed piece in a Philadelphia newspaper from Jay-Z, Mayor Kenney reversed course. That move brought more heat from residents in the Parkway area, who had been lobbying for a relief from the intense congestion caused by the event.

Fortunately, the 2018 Made in America event went off without any major problems. There were traffic snarls and the typical handful of arrests for unruly conduct … but no major black eyes for Philly.

At the opposite end of the entertainment spectrum was the PGA Tour’s return to Aronimink with a high-profile event. The Main Line once again played host to the world’s golf royalty … and their seersucker-wearing fans … just as it had in 2013 for the U.S.