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Tag: statue

  • Philadelphia Rocky statue dressed in Redskins gear ahead of NFC title game between Eagles and Commanders

    Philadelphia Rocky statue dressed in Redskins gear ahead of NFC title game between Eagles and Commanders

    A rivalry has been renewed. 

    Philadelphia will host the NFC championship game between the Eagles and the visiting Washington Commanders Sunday. 

    Ahead of the game, the famous Rocky statue in downtown Philadelphia was dressed in gear representing the Commanders’ former identity, the Redskins. 

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    The culprit is unknown. 

    Dressing the statue in opposing teams’ gear has become a tradition in recent years ahead of big Eagles playoff games. Each time its happened, the Eagles have come away with wins. 

    In 2022, the statue was dressed in New York Giants gear ahead of their matchup against the Eagles in the divisional round. The Eagles won that game 38-7. The following week, the statue was dressed in San Francisco 49ers gear before Niners arrived in Philadelphia for the NFC championship game. The Eagles won that game, 31-7. 

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    When the Eagles won their first Super Bowl in the 2017 season, the statue was also dressed in opposing teams’ gear. 

    Ahead of that season’s NFC championship game between the Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings, the statue was draped in a Vikings jersey, and the Eagles won 38-7. Before the Super Bowl, someone placed a New England Patriots jersey on the statue, and the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 to claim their first Super Bowl title. 

    The vandalism became so frequent that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce pleaded with his own fan base not to do dress the statue in any Chiefs gear ahead of the 2023 Super Bowl. The Chiefs won that game 38-35.

    “Chiefs, do not touch the f—ing Rocky memorial!” Kelce said during a February 2023 episode of his podcast, “New Heights.”  

    “Do not do that and definitely don’t put an No. 87 on it!”

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    Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who played against Travis and the Chiefs in that game, theorized the culprit was an Eagles fan. 

    “I’m gonna be honest. I think somebody from Philadelphia is doing this now,” Jason Kelce said. 

    “I don’t think this is an opposing team thing at this point. There’s no way opposing teams continue to do this. I’m convinced there is a Philadelphia fan who is putting these shirts on the Rocky statue just to get everyone fired up, and it’s working tremendously. 

    “So, keep doing it. I guarantee it. There’s no way. Because it’s happened every single game. The Giants did it. The 49ers did it. There will probably be a Chiefs jersey on it this week.”

    Now, Washington is up, and will look to break the trend. 

    It will be the first time the rivals have met in a conference championship game and marks a high point for a rivalry that has been dormant in recent decades due to Washington’s inability to win in the playoffs since the 1990s. 

    The 2024 season was the first since 2005 that Washington won a playoff game, and the first since 1991 that the franchise reached the conference championship. 

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    Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

  • A 2,000-year-old statue is found abandoned in a garbage bag in Greece

    A 2,000-year-old statue is found abandoned in a garbage bag in Greece

    A marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said Wednesday.

    A resident discovered the 80-centimeter (31-inch) headless statue beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, outside Greece’s second-largest city. The man turned it over to local authorities, who contacted archaeologists to assess its significance.

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    Police said experts, following an initial evaluation, determined the piece dates to the Hellenistic era, a period roughly between 320 and 30 B.C. that was marked by a flourishing of art and culture following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

    This undated handout photo provided by the Greek Police and released on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 shows a marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old which was found abandoned in a garbage bag in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece.  (Greek Police via AP)

    The statue was sent for further examination by archaeologists. It will ultimately be handed over to the local antiquities authority for preservation and study.

    Police opened an investigation to determine who discarded the statue and briefly detained a man for questioning who was later released without charge.

    Accidental archaeological discoveries are relatively common in Greece, a country renowned for its ancient heritage, and often made during building construction or public works. In December, workers installing natural gas pipelines near Athens uncovered a Roman-era statue of Hermes buried upright in a brick-lined pit near the Acropolis.

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    Thessaloniki weeks ago unveiled a trove of antiquities found during the decades-long construction of its metro system, which officially opened in November. Key finds, including a marble-paved Roman thoroughfare and tens of thousands of artifacts spanning the Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, are now showcased at subway stations.