I will never forget when I first moved to the Philadelphia area. I had relocated from the mid-west and wasn't very sports oriented. I was grocery shopping one Sunday morning when I could not help but notice that the aisles were filled with people wearing football jerseys. Of course, being in the Philadelphia area, they were Eagles jerseys. I was absolutely shocked at how many fans happened to be in the store when I was. People were congregating, blocking the aisles, talking about the upcoming afternoon game. I made my way through all of them, just happy to make it out of the store within an hour. As the weeks went on, I found myself occasionally tuning into an Eagles game just out of curiosity. It didn't take me long until I became a huge fan of the sport, and thought that maybe I should get an Eagles jersey of my own. I hadn't made any new friends yet, and maybe that would help me out during football season.

I found out that there were two sports stores at the local mall, so I headed there. After arriving, I discovered the both stores were sold out of adult size jerseys. The one salesgirl tried to sell me an Eagles jersey that was meant for young adults. There was no way it would have fit me. I'd have to find an Eagles jersey elsewhere. Once I got home, I started to search online. Of course then, I found more than plenty of them. My next dilemma was how much did I want to spend to purchase an Eagles jersey. I figured out an appropriate amount and then had to figure out what number and player did I want to represent. Why was it so difficult? I wasn't that familiar with all of the players, so I picked one whose name I'd heard more often. I paid more for shipping so that I'd have my own Eagles jersey to wear for the upcoming game weekend. I planned on going to the grocery store like I'd done weeks prior and see if I could make any new friends.

I walked into the grocery store a few days later, wearing my new Eagles jersey, and nervous. Once again, the store was packed with people wearing jerseys. It would have made a great picture. By the time I was done with my shopping, I'd already had several conversations with various fans, been invited to watch the game with two individuals, and learned lots of new things about the team. I did my best to bluff my way through conversations that I knew nothing about. Apparently, it worked because I suddenly found myself watching the game in someone else's living room that afternoon - all because I wore an Eagles jersey.