The most dreamed about day for a kid from South Philadelphia was an Eagles Super Bowl parade. School would be closed and we'd walk a couple blocks to Broad Street to soak up the win we needed, not simply wanted, and see the team's MVP quarterback ride down on a float while we screamed our heads off. It would be a communal bond that would break any preconceived notions of what Philly was to foolish outsiders.
I always knew the Birds' Super Bowl parade would be the happiest day of my life, a celebration of where I had been, where I was going and everyone I had ever known. I just didn't know how transformative it would really be.
In a story well-documented at this point, I met my fiancé at the Eagles' 2018 Super Bowl parade. I sent out a dumb, jokey tweet, like I frequently did at 23 years old, after that final whistle blew in the Birds' win over the Patriots:
me and your girl on Broad Street pic.twitter.com/AmtnPodLaS
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) February 5, 2018
I proceeded to pop champagne, pour out some tears and hug lifelong friends at Broad and Shunk that night. Our dreams were becoming realized. I had just graduated college a couple of months prior. I felt like I had the world on a string at the moment, a new lease on life after I dealt with mental health issues in college. I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder and kind of thought my life was over. I had setbacks, but I pulled myself up and came through, just like the Birds did after they faced their own adversity that season. They were champions. We were champions.
Anyway, the next day I was at McGillin's with a couple of buddies drinking pitchers of green beer when a girl I had never met replied to that original tweet asking me if we wanted to recreate that oh-so-famous VJ Day picture. That's not really what I envisioned with my post, but, hey, what else did I have going on? She looked quite good too, so what did I have to lose?
So, the morning of the parade itself in 2018, I'm partying with those same friends, blasting Meek Mill and The Wonder Years, before we made our way to Broad and Shunk. I texted that girl, Ashley Suder, if she was still down to meet up. Rather intensely, she replied, "Abso-f*****g-lutely." OK! She meant business!
The parade floats blew by Broad and Shunk, so two friends made the trip north with me to meet up with her at Broad and Federal. Obviously, phone signals were horrendous and I'm freaking out worried this is all for naught. Ashley is telling me that her phone is about to die. I'm thinking this blew up in my face, but I found my way outside the Pep Boys there and sat on the curb, hoping, maybe even praying a little bit, that she would find me. Against all odds, I heard, "Are you Shamus?" It was Ashley. We went out to the street, we kissed, each a little awkward after a long morning of partying, my buddy took a pic of it, we laughed about it and immediately parted ways. Would I ever see her again? Who knows?
So I tweeted out the picture that was taken along with our interactions that led up to it:
The Philadelphia Eagles Love Story, a three act play @suuderr pic.twitter.com/mxfaKXbY4o
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) February 8, 2018
It immediately went super viral, intimidatingly so. What in the world was going on? News stations and reporters were reaching out to me about it. I was just some idiot who used to blog about the Sixers and Birds. I did not in the slightest think it would take off the way it did nor did I ever envision this person becoming my soulmate.
We did a TV interview the next day while essentially barely knowing each other still. Afterwards, we decided to grab a drink at the Pub on Passyunk East to detox from the madness, that became our first date, and truthfully we've been attached at the hip since. I proposed right on the same corner we met a few years later after a Sixers game (they lost, of course). It's been a few years and since and we're now officially getting married in several weeks.
After we set a wedding date in the later part of last year, the Eagles took off. After a bumpy 2-2 start, they went on a roll and never looked back, culminating in a total beatdown of the Chiefs this past Sunday. Ashley and I attended a million Eagles games together in the years since and watched plenty on our couch as well. Her favorite play to call for is a pick-6. Who can argue with that? It's one of the most exciting things that could happen on the field. When Cooper DeJean brought a Patrick Mahomes interception back to the house in this Super Bowl, I thought her soul was about to leave her body. Her voice hasn't recovered since. I was in awe in a way, seeing the person I love so happy and so passionate about something that will unequivocally link us together forever: the Birds.
We've grown together immensely in the years since and finally got to watch a championship together. Naturally, we had to recreate the picture that brought us together and changed everything at this parade, too:
🎵 it started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this? 🎵
under two months until we tie the knot! https://t.co/SzplyXA7f9 pic.twitter.com/7AuwoGzICp— shamus (@shamus_clancy) February 14, 2025
People have told me the story is inspiring, from the time it happened to as recently as the last few days. It resonates. Love is a universal thing, sure, but there's more to it. There's the Philadelphia of it all. Nothing ties this area together more than Birds. It's a communal experience that's unparalleled. It connects family and friends in good times and bad. The greatest place in the world to be is Philly when the Eagles are good. The energy is infectious. We all want to find love in this world and we all want the Birds to win. What if one wild event combined those things together? That's been my life for the last seven years, parlaying it into a world where I get to talk about sports for a living. My work life is now the Eagles. It has always been my personal life. It's become, in a way, my romantic life, too.
I hope everyone had the time of their life at this parade. This is what Philadelphia is about. I hope it was everything they ever wanted out of a celebration the way it was for me in 2018. I hope, maybe just maybe, some people found the loves of their life along the way as well.
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