Did Pope Francis Secretly Bless the Eagles or Something?
Photo | USA Today
Follow Philadelphia magazine’s live coverage of Pope Francis’s historic visit all weekend long.
Pope Francis has been kissing babies all over Philadelphia, but one has to wonder if he hasn’t had a few words to say to the higher power about our little football team.
The 0-2 Philadelphia Eagles are currently in the middle of a game with the 2-0 New York Jets, and until the final moments of the first half, the Eagles were blowing out the Jets in a heavenly way, with the score at 24-0 until a last minute touchdown and extra point by their opponents.
Philadelphia magazine senior writer Liz Spikol reports that the live feed in the secure media area at the Convention Center is not 6 ABC nor CNN but, yep, the Eagles game. She adds that a crew of firefighters at the Convention Center is watching the game “loudly” and that there were requests to put the game on in the filing center — that’s where the journalists covering Pope Francis go to hear press conferences, watch live feeds, etc. — but the folks in charge declined.
We were a little concerned that the Eagles game came on at 1 p.m., since overtime might mean that the battle would cut into the 4 p.m. start time for Pope Francis’ mass in Philadelphia, but at 24-7, we feel like we’re fairly safe.
As of 3:15 p.m., the Eagles game and the hashtag #FlyEaglesFly were out-trending anything papal on social media.
Here’s some of what people have to say:
Guess having his holiness in town is helping #FlyEaglesFly
— DOZ (@DruOZ) September 27, 2015
Fox game announcers are now attributing @Eagles 24-zip first half lead over NYJets to @Pontifex visit. #PopeInPhilly #FlyEaglesFly — Chris Brennan (@ByChrisBrennan) September 27, 2015
The #PopeInPhilly prayed for the #FlyEaglesFly last night. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord the #jets to weep.”
— Joshua Scott Albert (@jpegjoshua) September 27, 2015
Wow! @Pontifex must have blessed all 5’6″ of Darren Sproles. Amazing run. #FlyEaglesFly — Michael Smerconish (@smerconish) September 27, 2015
We’ll just have to go light a candle and pray that nothing changes. Only a Philadelphia sports team could cancel out an apparent papal blessing.
Follow @VictorFiorillo on Twitter.
