Posts for parade

I walked at least eight miles on Thursday.

My wife went down to the parkway around 7 a.m. and my dad and I got on the EL at Girard Avenue around 8:15 a.m., headed to City Hall.

We had some trouble, ironically, crossing Broad Street, so we had to get back on the Market-Frankford line and walk down from 30th Street Station.

Not totally ideal.

For some reason, the subway concourse was blocked when we tried to get through, though other people, like Russ, had no issues moving underground to the other side of City Hall. And sections of Broad that were opened earlier (like Locust Street) were completely blocked off by 9 a.m., so whatever.

Anyhow, because of that “roundabout” trip throughout Philly, I feel like I got a good, long look at what I thought was an incredibly diverse turnout.

If I had to guess, I’d say 50% of the crowd was white, 40% was black, and the other 10% was anybody and everybody who lives in Philly. I saw a decent number of Hispanic and Latino families, and some Asian families, too. Women were well-represented (40% maybe?) and I saw lot of children, too, who seemed to be doing okay in the large crowds. The area I walked was Locust up to 17th and the Parkway, on both sides of the route.

After the motorcade passed by CB headquarters at the Ritz, I saw a black guy taking pictures with his group and a makeshift Lombardi trophy. A random white guy walked by to look at the faux trophy and the first guy, Lamar, grabbed him and told him to get into this photo:

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I know that Bristol is beautiful this time of year, but ESPN is shifting focus to Philly tomorrow morning for the mother of all parades. The parade to end all parades. The celebration that trumps all other celebrations.

Kevin Negandhi and Sal Pal will co-host a two-hour special program beginning at 11 a.m. on ESPN 2, which will also be available on the ESPN app. Sal is gonna be at Lincoln Financial Field near the start of the parade route, and Negandhi, a Philly native and Temple alum, will home base from the Art Museum. Tim McManus is also listed in the press release as a contributor.

More from the release:

During the parade, Eagles outside linebacker Mychal Kendricks will take over ESPN social media accounts, providing an all-access look at the celebration from the parade floats. His photos and videos will appear on the Stories carousel across both Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms.

That’s pretty cool.

Friday, then, some of the Birds will head up to Connecticut to guest on ESPN programs such as NFL Live, Golic and Wingo, SportsCenter, and First Take.

The players scheduled to appear are:

• Jay Ajayi
• LeGarrette Blount
• Corey Clement
• Brandon Graham
• Malcolm Jenkins
• Alshon Jeffrey
• Lane Johnson
• Jalen Mills

You want Philly Philly?

Let’s do it.

For those asking, no, the stadium area will NOT be open for parking tomorrow morning, nor will FDR Park.

If you’re driving in for the parade, you’ll have to find somewhere else to stash your car.

But if you do park in town, the PPA will not enforce meter and time restrictions. If you do something dumb, though, like park in front of a fire hydrant, you WILL get a ticket for that. And vehicles won’t be released on Thursday, so you’ll have to wait until Friday to get your ride back.

Why are the stadiums closed? I don’t know, but this is the official word from the city:

“Due to security and public safety concerns, parking will not be available at Lincoln Financial Field or the stadium complex.”

It would probably a logistical nightmare trying to get everyone into the lots via one entrance (95 and Broad) while everything thing else is shut down around the start of the parade route.

The Flyers DO play tomorrow night, so that’s one thing to consider. Here’s some relevant info on that: Continue Reading