In the 1970s, there was a billboard along the Schuylkill Expressway (the local name for the I-76 highway) that said, “Philadelphia Isn’t as Bad as Philadelphians Say It Is.” It was supposed to be a playful advertising campaign to encourage people to visit the city. Decades later, it has been regularly mocked as an example of the city’s reputation for incompetence. Last weekend, the city’s Democratic mayor, Cherelle Parker, made a glaring gaffe that might be considered just how bad Philadelphia is, a half-century later in 2025.
During a press conference Sunday, before inclement weather blanketed the area, Parker spoke outside Philadelphia’s City Hall about the forecasted snow and freezing temperatures. Given the anticipated conditions, city officials warned residents to travel only if necessary. Parker then playfully categorized the Philadelphia Eagles‘s playoff game that day as “essential travel.”
“Let me be 1,001% clear: traveling to the Eagles game today is essential travel,” Parker said. “If you are driving, just go slow, but get there. If you are catching SEPTA and mass transit, just get on mass transit and get there. But making it to our Philadelphia Eagles game on [sic] today is essential.”
“Well, listen, we’ve got to do this. Let me hear you all say, ‘E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles!’ Let’s go Birds,” Philadelphia’s mayor chanted.
Obviously, the cheer is supposed to go: E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! However, Parker shockingly butchered it. Perhaps even more surprisingly, she didn’t catch herself or correct it.
People not from Philadelphia might not have realized the grave sin this was. Sure, an educated woman, elected official, and city mayor should know how to spell “eagles.” After all, it’s a word one learns to spell early on in elementary school. However, it’s hard to describe how important the Philadelphia Eagles team is to the city’s (sports fandom) culture. As a resident in the area and someone who grew up a stone’s throw away from the Eagles stadium, some would say it’s the city’s soul insofar that even though the mayor merely misspelled a word, the fact that she misspelled that word is arguably a grave sin.
Short of the adoration of a fictional Italian American boxer, the Eagles are an integral part of the city’s identity. Parker’s error was embarrassing but even more so given her background as a … teacher. And with gaffes such as that one, it’s no wonder the Philadelphia School District ranks near the bottom compared to the nation’s “big city school districts.”
It’s hard to explain how Parker messed up the spelling of Eagles. It’s probably not the biggest deal in the world. Everyone makes mistakes. However, for a city that is constantly lagging behind other big cities in the country in nearly every metric, especially education, Parker’s gaffe was a national embarrassment.
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Then again, just a few years ago, Philadelphia was setting historic records for homicides. So, in that regard, the city being in the news for the mayor’s spelling mistake instead of the city’s homicide problems is an improvement. However, coming from a city that is one of the most important in Western civilization, known for revered historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Philadelphia really has regressed to such a low bar of civic pride.
Nevertheless, it is hard to argue that Philadelphia really isn’t as bad as Philadelphians say it is.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
