I love that Philadelphia doesn’t give a (bleep) what you think about it but if you like it, great and if not, then your opinion definitely doesn’t mean (bleep). I love that even people who aren’t Eagles fans are saying ‘Go Birds’ by the time their stay is ending. I love the food, the culture and how Rocky is a fictional movie but when it comes to telling the story of Philadelphia, there’s more than a ring of the bell of truth to it.
One thing about this trip, however. The rain that we tried to escape in Houston by coming to Philadelphia two days early followed us and hit right in the middle of the game, pouring down on us as we were content to know that we brought rain ponchos … but dismayed that we left them in the hotel.
This year’s World Cup adventure for my fiancée, Johanna, and me extends to five of the 16 host cities, four in the U.S. and one in Canada. Throughout the next few weeks, I’ll be taking readers behind the scenes at what it was like as a fan in each city and each stadium — what the city was like and what the stadium experience was like to make the fan experience as seamless as possible.
Our second stop was Philadelphia; a place I’ve visited more than a dozen times and have family that live in the suburbs. This time, it was to find out not just the fan experience, but what it was like with a hospitality package that Johanna got me as a Christmas present to cheer on France as it played Iraq in the second group stage match for both teams.
The day before the game, we took a stadium tour of Lincoln Financial ... er, Philadelphia Stadium. There were plenty of spots that were looking different for Eagles fans because sponsorship names were taped over, including a stadium map in each elevator. The Eagles' sensory room for people with autism was also, somehow, covered up. We also got that close to the field and was able to see just how much of the field level was the new grass and how close it was cut.
