PHILADELPHIA – A Tremendous Bowl matchup between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles ought to be a landmark day for Huge Charlie’s Saloon, the neighborhood dive that has garnered fame for its Chiefs-obsessed patrons and is equally pleased with town its regulars name residence.
For proprietor Paul Staico, it has change into the worst-case situation. Per week earlier than the large sport, Staico made the decision to shut for Tremendous Bowl Sunday.
His reasoning was twofold. For marquee occasions similar to this one, Huge Charlie’s units up tv screens, grills and seating outdoors. With the Chiefs taking part in the Eagles, the hometown workforce whose Lincoln Monetary Discipline is lower than two miles from the bar, Staico needed to maintain all people inside.
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However reservations for Tremendous Bowl Sunday have been within the tons of – far above the indoor capability – and Huge Charlie’s was turning away regulars. That did not sit proper with Staico.
“Folks (who’ve) been supporting us for 40 years, we’re going to inform them no as a result of they’re a day late?” Staico instructed USA TODAY Sports activities. “That wasn’t taking place. Can’t do it. So what do you do? It was a brutal determination, however we’re going to be closed.”
Staico additionally realized he’d don’t have any manner to make sure the security of his prospects – not that anyone from the neighborhood would take subject with Chiefs followers. However with Huge Charlie’s making appearances in media retailers, native and nationwide, forward of Tremendous Bowl 57, Staico could not assure that dangerous actors from elsewhere would not look to trigger hassle.
Though Staico felt the Chiefs and Eagles have been the league’s high two groups and envisioned the matchup on a collision course months in the past, the selection is without doubt one of the hardest he is made in his life, he stated.
“I do not even know what to say,” Staico stated.
He added: “I simply don’t need nonsense.”
Huge Charlie’s utility participant Laura Sessa – the supervisor who bartends, bookkeeps and body-guards sometimes – by no means thought the Eagles and Chiefs would truly meet within the Tremendous Bowl. When the Eagles received Tremendous Bowl 52, a mass of humanity operating towards Broad Avenue might be seen from the bar’s again doorway.
“I’m so unhappy about Sunday’s determination,” Sessa instructed USA TODAY Sports activities. “I actually am. However no matter is greatest.”
Michael “Fortunate” Puggi, an worker whose important duty is to steer morale on sport days, stated his mates from the world who’re Eagles followers have instructed him they’re sad Huge Charlie’s will not be open.
“It’s going to be fairly massive,” stated Puggi, who has been working on the bar for 31 years. “We’re going to take it like each different sport, regardless that it’s the Tremendous Bowl.”
In its 50 years of existence, Huge Charlie’s has turned prospects into household. Staico and his closest mates will watch within the again room of the bar, which has sufficient Chiefs memorabilia to fill a number of museum reveals. Sessa could host a soirée at residence together with her kids – additionally Chiefs followers – and their mates.
Nothing can replicate the sensation of a packed Huge Charlie’s, the place it takes Sessa 20 minutes to return to her perch behind the bar after a smoke break as a result of all people is standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Huge Charlie’s, I feel, holds a particular place for everybody who walks in right here – whether or not it’s one time or a thousand instances, as a result of they really feel like they’ve been right here eternally,” Sessa stated. “We make individuals really feel that snug and so they all say it’s an expertise.”
Plus, Huge Charlie’s has had tons to have a good time – with powerful instances blended in – throughout current years. 5 straight AFC championship video games have meant there’s an expectation of pleasure. Kansas Metropolis’s Tremendous Bowl 54 victory was probably the most joyous day within the bar’s historical past.
“There was grown males that I respect and so they’re crying subsequent to me, that was like, ‘Wow.’ It’s a giant deal,” Staico stated. “Then I stated, ‘You higher begin crying, as a result of everybody else is crying round you.’”
Weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic pressured enterprise to decelerate.
“Every part modified, to be sincere,” Staico stated.
The bar usually closes round 7 p.m. now for this “shot and a beer crowd,” as Sessa put it. What has not dwindled is the bar’s ardour for the Chiefs. And that is how Staico discovered himself “in the midst of chaos.”
“I by no means needed that to be the case,” Staico stated. “This was by no means imagined to be that, the place it’s us in opposition to the world, us in opposition to town. As a result of we’re south Phillians, No. 1. I’m born and raised right here.
“That is an Eagle metropolis. We get it. There’s no argument about that. However this can be a Chief nook. That is our nook. That is our residence.”
Comply with Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
