Fox decided to have NFL on Fox personality Terry Bradshaw conduct the NFC championship trophy presentation to the Philadelphia Eagles after Sunday’s game. And that led to an awkward moment, with Bradshaw trying to lead the crowd in Eagles’ anthem “Fly, Eagles Fly,” then interrupting it to try and start interviewing Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie. Here’s the start of that:
This is weird on several levels. Yes, trophy presentations aren’t exactly known for being triumphant moments for objective, hard-hitting journalism, but you still don’t usually see a broadcaster leading the crowd in a fight song. And that’s perhaps stranger still with Bradshaw, who spent his entire NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Yes, that was over 30 years ago, and yes, the Steelers and Eagles aren’t necessarily direct rivals thanks to their different conferences (in fact, they even formed a combined team in 1943 thanks to a player shortage due to World War II), but it still feels a little odd for someone known for his connections to the state’s other NFL team to be pumping up the Eagles so much. And then interrupting their song to try and start his interviews.
This provoked some Twitter commentary:
https://twitter.com/em_dash01/status/955271359550156801
https://twitter.com/akirish/status/955271357796880384
https://twitter.com/flynnbw/status/955271357033537536
Terry Bradshaw singing the Eagles fight song probably isn't going over well in western PA.
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) January 22, 2018
Terry Bradshaw, a multiple Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Steeler, just sang the Eagles fight song. 2018 has officially entered The Twilight Zone #FlyEaglesFly
— Austin (@austinnn316) January 22, 2018
Terry Bradshaw singing “Fly, Eagles, Fly!” … what in the name of Franco Harris is going on, LOL!!! #KeystoneStateLove
— Claire Smith ⚾️ (@MzCSmith) January 22, 2018
Terry Bradshaw singing Fly, Eagles Fly is something I never thought I’d hear in my life.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald) January 22, 2018
At the very least, that’s definitely one of the stranger post-game moments in a while.
[Clippit]