Get (physically) back to work | Morning Newsletter

☁️ It will be a dreary day and we may see a touch of snow tomorrow.

Today’s top story: Mayor Cherelle L. Parker wants to bring the public sector back to the office to urge along a Center City comeback.

If the Super Bowl teams didn’t matter to you last night, at least we had self-professed Philadelphian Taylor Swift in the mix, so ... there’s ... that. According to a local baker, only one Kelce was worth watching the Super Bowl for — Jason, of course. The South Philly entrepreneur set Instagram ablaze with a burn-away cake that reveals a shirtless Jason Kelce, as all confections should. You really must see this dessert.

Now for a return to a section we hope takes off and makes you feel a part of the morning newsletter club.

🆕 Hear ye! Hear ye! We’re bringing back our Only in Philly story section, this time with stellar contributions from our own staff. We have a bracingly moving mini-essay from the one and only author of the human sports story, columnist Mike Sielski, about the Super Bowl we waited for.

📬 Do email me about the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you “landed” in Philly if you’re not a lifer, or something that made you fall in love with Philly over again, or proud to be from here if you are. By all means, go darker and deeper than that for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Center City has an office vacancy problem. Look no further than the foot traffic. Mayor Parker’s strongly considering more in-office days for city workers to urge along a comeback.

Let’s put that in context.

Pre-pandemic: 21,000 office workers around City Hall

Post-pandemic: nearly half that at 13,000

To tell us how stark the problem is, only one of the six private-sector office buildings that surround City Hall has more than 80% occupancy, per data from commercial real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle.

Reversing the impact on the economy and city at large won’t be easy, but Parker has made her plans known.

Here’s what she said in a statement: “The private sector is right when they talk about return to work. It is incumbent that city workers come back to the office for the future of Center City. Philadelphia can only truly say we are ‘open for business’ when all of our workers are back in the office Monday through Friday, and you’ll be hearing more from me on the city’s plan to bring city workers back — soon.”

Here’s where I quiz you on how closely you’re reading the morning newsletter stories Paola recommends.

Where in Brazil will the Eagles play for the NFL’s first-ever game in South America?

A) Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil

B) Maracanã in Rio

C) Morumbi in São Paulo

D) Mané Garrincha in Brasília

Think you know? Check your answer.

He went against doctors’ orders and put up nine catches for 122 yards in an Eagles loss to New England in Super Bowl 39.

Hint: “We’ll be back. I have no doubt we’ll be back on this stage.”

ENROL WELTERS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Rosemarie Tedesco who correctly guessed Sunday’s answer: ABBOTT ELEMENTARY.

With this, I give it over to our own Mike Sielski:

So it’s the night of Feb. 4, 2018. I’m in the press box at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Eagles have just won Super Bowl LII, beating the Patriots, 41-33. I am not cheering, of course.

It would never occur to me to cheer. I’m trying to do my job. I’m trying to capture the moment. The moment that the Eagles finally won their first Super Bowl. A moment that, as someone who grew up in the Philadelphia area and has lived most of his life here, I’ve thought about for years. More accurately, I’m trying to make deadline. I have to file my column no later than five minutes after the game has ended. I’m locked in. No time to cheer or emote, even if I wanted to.

So I finish the column on time. It’s about Alshon Jeffery, the Eagles wide receiver, who had guaranteed a victory then backed up his words with a terrific game. I send it in. I have to get downstairs to the locker room and the interview areas. But first, I walk to the back of the press box. I have a phone call to make.

”Hey, Dad.“

”Can you believe it?” he says.

There’s a slight break in my father’s voice. He was a Philly kid — grew up in Logan, went to Cardinal Dougherty High and La Salle — and has been a Philly sports fan his whole life. He is proud that I got my dream job as a sports columnist at The Inquirer — that his son got to cover this Super Bowl. And he has lived to see something that his father — my grandfather — and a couple of his dearest friends — men who were mentors and practically family to me — did not live to see. I had thought I would understand what that night would mean to people around here. I had no real idea until I called him.

And he’s quiet on the phone for a while. And I know why he can’t quite express everything he’s feeling during that phone call. And he’s not the only one. — Mike Sielski

Have a great week. I made tang yuan for Lunar New Year, and celebrated by returning to a story of deep-grained heritage in the China chapter of Taste Philly with Craig LaBan. What’s the most romantic Valentine’s Day table to get in Philly?

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