The man is a phantom now, a blurry memory of beard and brawn barely visible after sleep deprivation, two beers and the passage of eight months mostly banished him to the subconscious. I only remember his name was Dan. The bar is more memorable since it’s now a personal staple. Open doors. Wood panel walls. Barstools beside an “Attack From Mars” pinball machine and a shelf of vintage figurines like E.T. and the Pillsbury Doughboy. The sort of people who host karaoke on a bartender’s birthday and will heat up a frozen pizza for you after the kitchen closes if you ask nicely.
Dan was hurting, too. Sure, the Eagles won. But their second-half comeback against the lowly Commanders still warranted a steady stream of suds. Dan clutched his beer and swiveled to educate the out-of-towner. The mental health of a good chunk of the city quite literally depends on the fortunes of the Eagles and Phillies (and the Sixers and Flyers, Dan allowed). Dr. Lisa Corbin, a local therapist and director of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s counseling program, later told me some of her clients “become a bit more depressed, a bit more irritated and aggravated” when the teams aren’t doing well.
“What I’ve begun to do is try to instill that positivity,” she’d say. “But not too much. Because sometimes if I do too much people are going to be like, ‘Yeah, stop with that. Too much happiness.'”
And there’s that bite, that don’t-feed-me-any-of-that-bullsh– reflex that’s rooted in the city’s thirst for authenticity. Give it to me straight, Doc. Gimme pure, unadulterated Jim Beam with that PBR, and I better get change back from this five. That’s called a Citywide. That’s the mentality. You either won or you lost. If you gotta drink, I’ll drink with you. If you gotta climb that light pole, here’s my shoulders.
Well … Dan and I were drinking. “Give it to me straight, then,” I told him, still bleary-eyed from my road trip out of Houston. “What do I need to know about this place?”
Above the bar mirror, the TV flickered Eagles highlights on a postgame show. A bearded center cut down two defenders on a tricky end-around touchdown, a wrinkle to the offense’s infamous “Brotherly Shove.” In my memory, in similar trickery, the man on the screen and the man on the barstool look one and the same.
“If you want to get to know Philadelphia,” Dan answered. “Get to know Jason Kelce.”
Here we all are months later, a horde of cameras and microphones and tape recorders, all trying to capture something from a graying giant who hadn’t yet crafted the words to describe what it’s like to clean out a locker after 13 years.
So to be clear, the giant says, there will be no answers about retirement plans yet. And watch your step. The Great FedEx Wall of fan-mail packages have comically cleft Jordan Mailata from the rest of the room. Yes, such signs of finality are everywhere. But, look, let’s just talk about the season, OK?… Fine. One story. April 30, 2011. Sixth round, 191st pick. NFL agent Jason Bernstein calls his client, a Clevelander, son to a seller of steel products and a self-starter in banking, a walk-on linebacker at Cincinnati whose exhaustive weight-room sessions yielded a respectable yet undersized offensive lineman. You have no idea how perfect this is. You’re gonna fit in great in Philadelphia.
Just try and think of anyone else atop the steps of the Museum of Art nearly seven years later, glistening in that green Mummer’s garb during the Super Bowl LII parade. There was the visage of vindication for a city of underdogs. To hell with Rocky. There, after 57 years of football misery, was a symbol of how Philadelphians saw themselves.
How strong is that sense of identity once that symbol must at long last go? Dr. Corbin herself had two clients talk about the former center unsolicited during their own sessions. So many are still sorting out their sense of ownership over a stranger.
Some can’t even imagine a world in which Kelce would deny them. On Memorial Day weekend, in Margate City, New Jersey, a woman berated Kelce’s wife, Kylie, after the couple reportedly declined to take a picture with her while on a date night. The woman later shared a statement that said “I should have recognized and respected their right to privacy from the onset.”
No, Kelce hasn’t vanished. He still has his podcast and made his broadcasting debut Thursday night. He still attends charity events. He still frequents the NovaCare Complex. But he’ll no longer play for the Eagles. It’s a new era. At the organization’s annual Eagles Autism Challenge, after other players had their moment to mingle before the charity bike ride began, Kelce quietly wove to the starting line just as the countdown commenced. “Was that Kelce?” a kid asked from atop her father’s shoulders. She wasn’t the only one leaning for one last look as Kelce pedaled around the bend.
But have I told you about Dan? And what he once told me? The inverse is also true.
If you want to get to know Jason Kelce, get to know Philadelphia.