A Lombardi Trophy - and marketing stunt - attracts a long line of Eagles fans
Fans waited more than an hour for a chance to take a picture up close with a Lombardi Trophy - even if it's not the one awarded to the Eagles.
A marketing stunt? For sure.
But the still-super-hyped Eagles fans who stood in line for an hour or more Tuesday afternoon into the evening sure didn't seem to mind.
The prize at the end, inside Steven Singer Jewelers, was a photo op with a Vince Lombardi Trophy. Not the one the Super Bowl champs got off the plane with when they arrived back in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. But one of eight in circulation for public appearances that have spent time on a Super Bowl field — this one in 2014, when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos, said Jac Griffin, marketing director at Steven Singer.
It was inside the jewelry store at Eighth and Walnut Streets, among the diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds, where fans filed through and posed for pictures with it, for about three hours Tuesday, starting at 4 p.m.
"It was just exciting," said Susan Labowitz, of Washington Square, displaying a picture in her phone she had someone take of her with the trophy. "It was like another part of the puzzle of putting the win together."
Why would she stand in line for an hour, especially given that it's not the actual trophy the Eagles were awarded for their victory over the New England Patriots?
"Because my blood is green," Labowitz said. "When you're born here and raised here, I love this city. It's really exciting."
Still in line shortly before 6 p.m., Marti Berk was aghast when asked why she was there.
"Are you kidding me?" she erupted. "I've waited 50 years, well, not quite — 49."
Even if it's not the trophy, she said, the sterling silver crafted piece she was waiting to see drives home the message spun by this season's Eagles team.
"It gives you a sense of anything can happen. That's what it does to me," said Berk, who lives in the Washington Square area.
Griffin said the decision to host the trophy for a few hours, which required a police presence to keep fans under control and out of the streets, "seemed like a fun thing for our customers." And some needed filler.
"Everyone is kind of looking for an outlet to celebrate until the parade," she said.
Might it not also attract some new customers for Steven Singer?
"That would be wonderful, too," Griffin acknowledged. "It is Valentine's season."