Philadelphia sports fan are brutal. They once booed Santa Claus. As a Mets fan who has sat numerous times in the old Veterans Stadium to watch a Mets-Phillies game, I can testify to the ugliness.
But during the 2017-2018 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl season, a narrative emerged that was strikingly different from the crudeness of the typical Philadelphia sports fan. The Eagles were a team loaded with evangelical Christians.
Head coach Doug Pederson was the head football coach at Calvary Baptist Academy in Louisiana. Quarterback Carson Wentz owns a Bible app and runs an evangelical foundation that serves the poor around the world. Nick Foles, the hero of the Super Bowl, has appeared in Wentz’s devotional videos and is training to become a pastor. So has Trey Burton, Zach Ertz, and Chris Maragos. In October 2017, Jordan Hicks, Mychal Kendricks, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Paul Turner, and David Watford were baptized in a recovery pool in the Eagles practice facility. Tight end Trey Burton performed the baptism. Wide receiver Marcus Johnson was baptized in a hotel pool. Third string quarterback Chase Daniels leads a couples’ Bible study that draws 20-25 people. According to this piece at ESPN, during the season there is “Thursday night Bible study at the facility, scripture text chains, and late-night prayer sessions at the team hotel the night before each game.” Some members of the team–including Wentz and Foles–call themselves the “Philadelphia Gospel Group.”
So it is certainly interesting that only ten of the Eagles, and perhaps less, were going to show-up today at the White House, leading Trump to cancel the event. (Wentz and Foles said they would attend, but only if the Eagles voted to go as a team). Are the Eagles part of the 19%?
Good catch!
Judging by the picture, it looks like only 2 or 3 are part of the 19%. The others appear to be evangelicals of color, which makes them part of a different category….