It seems to have started five years ago, the last time the Eagles (aka Iggles) won the Super Bowl when big, burly Jason Kelce sang a song with those words at the victory celebration. Or maybe it got started way before then.
Wherever it originated, that was also the year the Iggles adopted the underdog tag and started appearing, along with their fans, as dogs.
But here's where the whole thing rings hollow: people actually like underdogs. In fact, must people love underdogs. Indeed, rooting for the underdog is thoroughly American.
Otherwise, how would a movie like Rocky ever become a classic with multiple sequels and a gazillion imitators? And why would people from all over the world come to Philly every year to pose alongside the Rocky statue and exalt one of the world's most admired underdogs? People love to see a scrappy, underestimated contender come from behind and win. And isn't that what Philly is -- a gritty, hardscrabble town full of underrated, hard working competitors who come from behind to triumph in magical moments of glory? Isn't that what the Broad Street Bullies and the Fightin' Phils were/are all about.
And didn't the American revolution begin right here, at Independence Hall in Philly? It was a revolution borne of fractious, disorganized colonists who did their best to mobilize poorly trained and undersupplied volunteers against a powerful empire.
They were outcasts who were given little if any chance of prevailing. But the world came to admire them, other nations joined in to support them and America's revolution prevailed and became a model and a beacon of freedom from that time onward.
Today, Philadelphia and its teams have fans literally all over the world. Millions come to visit the iconic Liberty Bell. Philly cheesesteaks are renowned and served everywhere. Cities and towns long for their own Wawa as the signal that they're finally "arrived" and have a place where they can enjoy a Tastykake. And millions of people everywhere are cheering for the Eagles and buying all sorts of Eagles gear.
Nobody likes us?
Oh, c'mon, Philly. You're a city of redoubtable champs. So, get rid of that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality and grow up already!
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