January 21, 2018

Game day in Philly: Underdog priests and street poles with grease

A look at all the weird stuff happening as Philly awaits the big game.

By Marielle Mondon
PhillyVoice Staff

Anthony DiIenno Jr. /Twitter

Deacon Anthony DiIenno of Saint Rose of Lima Rectory.

Gameday is upon us, and though there’s still a few hours until the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game, people all around the city -- from Midwesterners to the clergy -- are getting amped.

This morning more than one man of the cloth dedicated at least part of his sermon to the game in hopes that God will deliver an Eagles victory.

At St. Charles Borromeo in Bensalem, Reverend Eugene Wilson drew comparisons between the Bible's underdogs (Jesus, John the Baptist, etc). and the Eagles. He also hung an Eagles scarf on the pulpit.

A report from my mom: Father Wilson hung an Eagles scarf on the pulpit today at St. Charles Borromeo in Bensalem. The sermon was all about underdogs. pic.twitter.com/slYnBh9382
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) January 21, 2018

Another religious leader, this time Deacon Anthony J. DiIenno from St. Rose of Lima Eddystone, even donned an underdog mask during his sermon.

"Only in Philadelphia is this not a weird scene in church," wrote Kevin Acker in the original Tweet. The image has since been shared more an 3,400 times.

Only in Philadelphia is this not a weird scene in church pic.twitter.com/nefHmeesU6
— Kevin Acker (@kevack46) January 20, 2018

On the secular side, officials are gearing up for fans to scale sidewalk poles in either elation or anger, so police are greasing poles with Crisco for added safety.

More than a few misguided midwesterners who don’t know anything about Philadelphia’s history of aggressive sports fan behavior also decided to visit this weekend for the game, which is fine… until they made matters a little too personal: they dressed the Rocky statue in Vikings gear and began chanting at the Art Museum.