Every sports city has its share of traditions. Some are stranger than others. For Philadelphia, the strangest – and yet maybe the most necessary – is the greasing of the poles.
The city was forced to grease its lamp posts ahead of the NFC championship game and Super Bowl 52 five years ago, and the Eagles’ return to the NFL’s biggest stage means more hydraulic fluid is set to be deployed ahead of Sunday.
Winning isn’t as much of an unfamiliar feeling for Eagles fans this time around, but that doesn’t matter to Philadelphia fans. They will celebrate, and they will embrace the moment if their Eagles bring another championship back to the City of Brotherly Love.
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As the Eagles prepare to battle the Chiefs for a championship in Arizona, here’s what you need to know about why the poles will be greased in Philadelphia.
Why does Philadelphia grease the poles?
Simply put, major sporting events lead to intense emotions. Whether the result is a win or a loss, the magnitude of a Super Bowl can result in fans doing bizarre things. In the case of Philadelphia fans, sometimes that means climbing lamp posts.
Fans sitting on poles 20 feet above a crowd have produced some of the best moments from championship celebrations over the years, but there is an obvious reason cities try to prevent it from happening.
Fans can be seriously injured if they fall from a lamp post, and the large crowds below would make it difficult for emergency vehicles to get to an injured person. The city of Philadelphia prefers to keep the celebration on the ground, which makes sense.
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To be fair, climbing the poles isn’t exclusive to Philadelphia fans. Some Red Sox fans climbed lamp posts in Boston after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2018. One fan was even arrested for punching out the light once he got to the top.
The greasing of the poles became a storyline in 2018 when the Eagles cruised past the Vikings in the NFC championship game and ultimately upset the Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
‘POLE PATROL’: Philadelphia police were out in numbers just hours before Super Bowl LII was set to kick off applying hydraulic fluid to the poles in Center City. pic.twitter.com/BlFFufYEjg
— Action News on 6abc (@6abc) February 4, 2018
The city prepared accordingly, deploying Crisco ahead of the NFC championship game and then switching to hydraulic fluid before the Super Bowl. Some fans still made it onto the lamp posts.
City of Philadelphia: “We’re going to grease the poles so don’t even try it after the game!”
Eagles fans: “OK” pic.twitter.com/U1vWCyZACL
— Mekka Don (@MekkaDonMusic) January 30, 2023
Fans climbed the poles again this past October after the Phillies punched their ticket to the World Series. The city greased up the poles in anticipation, but it didn’t keep everyone on the ground.
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The celebration will be happening in full force in downtown Philadelphia if the Eagles prevail against the Chiefs, and the city might use some of the lessons from October to better grease up the poles this time around.
Eagles fans are expected to have a heavy presence in the Phoenix area for Super Bowl 57, so city officials in Phoenix and Glendale might also want to be on alert for pole-climbers.