Love and Football
Heartfelt connections that transform ordinary moments into extraordinary ones.
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and the Philadelphia Eagles face off against the Kansas City Chiefs (Go, Birds!). I grew up in San Francisco as a 49ers fan, watching them win five Super Bowl championships during the 1980s and 1990s. However, my allegiance shifted when the team left the city of San Francisco for Santa Clara, and I married an Eagles fan.
Next Friday is Valentine's Day with its commercialization of love on full display. Whether you choose to indulge or not, the reason we 'celebrate' this day every year comes from a basic, universal human need for love and kindness.
Valentine's Day doesn't have to be limited to celebrating romantic love. Events like Galentine's Day have become popular, emphasizing love in all its forms—between mother and daughter, siblings, friends, and neighbors. I see it as an excuse or an opportunity during the year to tell someone "I love you," a gesture that doesn't cost anything but should come with genuine intention. Without sincerity, these words become a bunch of hollow words strung together, as meaningful as saying, "Please pass the salt."
Expressions of Love and Intentionality
Valentine's Day often involves exchanging gifts like flowers, chocolates, cards, and jewelry—society’s chosen symbols of love. (I love gifts and won't criticize this tradition.) However, when we give these gifts, do we show our love with the same energy throughout the year? There are countless creative and cost-free ways to express love. Valentine’s Day cannot be a one-off.
On the flip side, acknowledging love when it is offered is crucial for its survival. Equally important is being aware of your loved ones' gestures of affection, which should be promptly reciprocated with some gesture of gratitude, like a thank you.
A Super Kinda Love
One of the unofficial hype men for the Eagles is an unapologetically authentic rapper and podcast host from North Philadelphia known as Gillie da Kid (or King, depending on whom you ask), who considers rooting for the Eagles a family tradition. Despite losing his son to gun violence in 2023, Gillie has emerged as an energetic superfan, sparking a movement in the city with his pregame dance to the song "Candy" by Cameo and his spirited postgame victory dance to Oakland rapper Too Short’s "Blow the Whistle" selected for its lyrical relevance, distinctive whistle, and likely as homage to the similarities between the two cities.
Philly fans seem to have embraced him and his team of unlikely characters—JoJo, the Eagle, and Jake Swank, the Broom Man—going viral and inspiring thousands of fans to imitate and share their dance on social media. In an interview with NBC Philadelphia, Gillie expressed how much football and the Eagles mean to Philadelphia, a multicultural city with a significant Black population.
Beyond the love and energy Gillie has brought to Philly fans, the story of his intergenerational bond with a neighbor caught my attention. Gillie’s Broom Man, a seventy-five-year-old who up until recently led a quiet, unassuming life, became part of Gillie's unplanned success. A neighborly wave and casual conversation about cars blossomed into a warm and genuine friendship. In the same NBC interview, Swank described Gillie as “the greatest guy I’ve ever met,” adding that he is “one of the nicest guys in his entire life - compassionate, friendly, generous, honest.” Gillie clearly shares this sentiment, including Swank in his circle, inviting him as his guest to his first Eagles game and, more recently, the Super Bowl. It's heartwarming to see the kindness and care one has for the other.
Their viral videos began after an Eagles victory. Gillie was outside dancing with JoJo when Swank, sweeping his porch after the game, walked across the street with his (now famous) broom and joined in. A video capturing this moment went viral, and the rest, as they say, is history.
No matter what you support or whom you love, kindness is the essential ingredient that makes and keeps love flourishing.
This Sunday, I'll be rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles and celebrating how the power of unlikely friendships, positive energy, and love can change lives. Go birds!
