A few months ago my daughter’s summer camp released the list of field trips that they were taking the kids on this year. One slated for July 22nd was a trip to Lincoln Financial field, which as we all know, is the home of our beloved Eagles. Being the good father that I am, I immediately scheduled off from work that day and volunteered to chaperone.

Fast forward to a couple days ago and we reach the hot and oppressive day of the trip. My daughter and I get ourselves up and ready to go. We make a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and head over to meet at the camp. Five other parents and two of the camp consolers head down I95 to the stadium with us.

As we walk into the main entrance, which we later learn is replicated after 30th street station, we see a statue of the Lombardi trophy and a figurine with an L and two I’s over top of the words Super Bowl. I suppose this was the first of the Goosebumps I felt during the day. There are pictures everywhere of the Eagles wall of fame, write ups of the team over each decade, some of the most memorable plays and two life sized bobbleheads of Brian Dawkins and Harold Carmichael. It is here that we meet Danny, our tour guide that will surely have his hands full today.

Danny gives some instructions, including the rule where when he yells swoop, we are to stop what we are doing and look at him. He tells us not to touch anything and do not step on step on the Eagles logo in the locker room. Naturally a kid does step on it, and the kids snitched on him in a heartbeat. After a little bit more history in the main entrance we head into a hallway that has a trophy case with all kinds of cool things. Danny talks about, a championship belt that the WWE donated after the Super Bowl, a guitar with the face covered in the Eagles logo signed by Kenny Chesney, a piece of Grave Digger’s truck that fell off during one of the Monster Truck shows, and much more.

From there we go underground. Our tour guide talks about their green initiative and how they recycle used cooking oil to fuel their carts, other motorized vehicles, appliances, etc. They clean up and recycle all the cans and bottles from tailgating and sort through over 71K beers and 23K water bottles after each home game. This immediately brought two things to mind for me. First, I kind of expected more than 71K beers consumed, and second, on the opposite end of the spectrum, it seems we have our priorities straight with a 3 to 1 beer to water ratio.

Naturally I snap a picture of the Eagles Cheerleaders entrance as we continue around the underground section of the building and later we pass by the officials entrance. Our next stop takes us to the visitors locker room and Danny shows us that the bus pulls right in from the parking lot and the players avoid the hostile crowds by loading off the bus while already inside the building.

Soon after that we end up in the interview room. Where a select 2 players our contractually obligated to be there so they won’t get fined, as well as the QB and Coach to answer reporters’ questions.  They are obligated to be there for 10 minutes and there is a clock at the back of the room in plain sight that the interviewees closely watch to see when they are free to go. The kids scream questions all at the same time to see how chaotic it can be. The last thing discussed was that the Eagles have different sponsors for their training facility, home games and away games. Oh and we learn about the upcoming announcement of the satin black alternate helmets a couple hours before the general public.

We walk into the locker room with the giant Eagles logo and lockers labeled with the players names, but completely empty as we await training camp to start next week. As you might expect there were different sections for each position. Danny stopped to talk next to a set of two lockers. These were Brian Dawkins, as the only Eagle that was allowed two of them. He went into his importance to the team and his Weapon X nickname that the kids enjoyed. This is also where the actual Lombardi trophy was housed…more goosebumps.

The next part of the tour was the coolest part! We exited the locker room and all of a sudden lights start flashing and AC/DC’s For Those About to Rock blasted from above. I get fired up and have goosebumps again! It takes everything in me to follow the rules and not run through the tunnel and onto the field.

As we walk onto the field we see…dirt, as we did the tour during one of their semi-annual reseedings. We also see thousands of seats and Danny points out where Mike Trout and his family sit. Staring up at the seats in an empty stadium is beyond cool, think of all the sports movies where they show that scene.

From there we see a ton of other cool pictures on the walls as we head onto the elevator. As we exit the elevator, we pass booth 9 where Mike Quick and Merrill Reese call the game and into the press section where the media meets, eats and takes in the game. The staff is there to help them with anything they need on player profiles, replays, etc.

As we walk to our next destination we wave to the guy hanging from the roof cleaning the windows and go into what was considered the most boring room on the tour. The TV broadcast room has miles of wires in the ceiling, a telecommunications server, and a desk with a couple chairs. The windows must be open so there are no obstructed views. So yeah…the announcers are cold on those December games and it’s not as luxurious as it sounds. They have their network’s banner hung on a stand behind them so it looks a lot nicer than it really is.

We check out a luxury box suite, see the ridiculous menu prices  and hear about the costs, in the tens of thousands, that corporations pay for them while signing a 5 year contract for this privilege. Any excessive shenanigans in the suite and you get the boot, losing your…investment. As with the regular seats there is a waiting list for these luxury boxes so they have no problem replacing any unruly groups.

We head down to the regular concourse and listen to a couple more tidbits from our new friend and end up back where we started. We shake Danny’s hand thanking him for a great tour and a fun time, then head home, hoping we have the chance to do it again next year, or maybe take in Citizens Bank Park.