Philadelphia’s Inspiration Dates Back To Ancient Greece.
In 2024, it’s hard to imagine when the ancient Greeks first hosted what would become the tradition of the Olympic Games 2,797 years ago. The first ancient Olympic Games—known as the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece—date as far back as 776 B.C., the first games that we have documented.
You have, however, almost certainly heard of Jalen Hurts — who is not only the Eagles starting quarterback but also will be the Ambassador to the Olympics when they are hosted in America in Los Angeles in 2028 for the inclusion of competitive flag football.
According to a new spot on NFL.com, where Jalen Hurts lights the eternal flame on top of the Los Angeles Colosseum with a football engulfed in flames, he is actually on fire (if he used that football in a game this season, he’d be on fire — literally.)
Since its beginning in 1682 — homage to ancient Greece has existed in William Penn’s Philadelphia.
The translation of its very name — evoking the emotion of brotherly love — pays homage to a Greek metropolis dating back to antiquity in modern-day Turkey and is now called Alasehir.
Back in 1927 — the date that our beloved University of Penn Palestra opened and has hosted more NCAA Basketball Games than any other building in the US — takes its name from an ancient Greek athletic ground for sports in ancient Olympia.
Then, in 1811, famed architect and engineer Benjamin Latrobe proclaimed that “days of Greece may be revived in the woods of America, and Philadelphia become the Athens of the Western World.” In 1821 — when many thousands of Greek immigrants arrived in and around Philadelphia in order to escape the Greek War of Independence.
It’s not certain whether the 2028 USA Flag Football Team will include NFL players- or even some Philadelphia Eagles besides Ambassador Hurts. What is even more certain is that Philadelphia will no doubt be represented once again.
And do you think that Team USA will stack its roster with NFL talent? (Of course it will.)
In this year’s Olympics—the 2024 Games in Paris—a son of Philadelphia took a gold medal to the rousing applause and accolades from thousands of fans in a style worthy of the games of ancient Greece. Justin Best, who, while at Drexel University, competed for the US National U23—and whose Drexel Rowing Teams won the Dad Vail Regatta team title in all four years that he was enrolled—got an opportunity to stand on that Olympic Podium.
Best won a Gold Medal in the Coxless Men’s Four.
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