The biggest winners of 2018

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s time to name the year’s biggest winners. Here’s a spotlight on those who came out on top — but is there any doubt who sits at Number One?

Iggles! Before this year’s Super Bowl victory, the last time the Eagles won a championship was 1960. Eisenhower was president; no Americans had flown in space; and many houses still didn’t have television.

No words can describe the sheer pride from the longawaited Eagles victory, especially since they beat one of the most successful franchises in NFL history.

From Havertown to Hatboro, and Marple to Manayunk, fans poured out into the streets.

Football in Philadelphia is perhaps the one thing that unifies everyone. “Race” wasn’t skin color, but how fast the Eagles ran to the end zone.

And “conservative” wasn’t a political term, but the nonexistent philosophy for Coach Doug Pederson, whose aggressiveness was the kind of guts normally found only in movies.

We’ve been singing “Fly Eagles Fly” for decades, but in 2018, the Birds truly soared.

Nick Foles: The backup QB took on the weight of the world when he stepped into Carson Wentz’ impossibly big shoes.

Almost nobody gave him a chance, but with the confidence of his teammates and his unwavering faith, Foles calmly stepped up, secured a playoff berth, and marched his team to a Super Bowl victory -- besting Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback in history.

You’d think the Super Bowl MVP could never duplicate that miracle. And yet, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

After another Wentz injury, and with the Eagles on the brink of elimination, Foles took the helm and promptly beat two of the NFL’s best teams, elevating the Birds’ playoff chances.

Nick Foles warranted more respect from us last year, and now he has it -- forever -- as Philadelphians are confident that St. Nick will once again deliver a present to the city.

CHOP Ad Campaign: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is running an ad campaign seeking donations to fund research.

The commercial shows children, many battling unimaginable illnesses, drawing pictures and talking about what “they can’t wait” to do during the holidays: bake cookies with nana, open presents, see snow and twinkling lights.

They can’t wait for Christmas morning, and to be with family and friends. Most heart-tugging of all, they can’t wait to go home.

But some never will. For them, CHOP is the last home they’ll ever know.

The point is that “breakthroughs can’t wait, either.”

It’s easy to call the pharmaceutical and bio-tech industries “the evil empire,” but, truth is, employees working for those companies are responsible for saving more lives than any other people in world history.

The system isn’t perfect, but there isn’t a single person in America -- not one -- whose life hasn’t been saved, lengthened or improved by medications developed by these companies.

And thank God we have miracle workers like the doctors and nurses at CHOP to administer them, and, infinitely more important, to provide hope.

Nancy Pelosi: Love or hate her, Mrs. Pelosi is the consummate politician.

She runs a tight ship, and keeps the Democratic caucus in line by demanding. After shepherding Obamacare through Congress, she was out in the cold for eight years, but now she’s back, poised to once again become speaker.

Despite Republican domination over those eight years, Obamacare remains in place, giving Pelosi, ironically, the best of both worlds. She’ll waste no time picking up where she left off -- ensuring that President Trump’s Twitter account will be in overdrive in 2019.

Brett Kavanaugh: The newest Supreme Court justice endured the most bruising confirmation hearing in history, lowering the bar of acceptable senatorial behavior for the next nominee.

His confirmation reaffirmed that “innocent until proven guilty” still matters, and that the burden of proof should always fall on an accuser, since the reverse is the realm of banana republics and dictatorships.

Look for the “Year’s Biggest Losers” next week.