WIP radio carried the Philadelphia Eagles radio broadcasts, and that meant for years that they did not have the home team winning the Super Bowl, so they came up with an alternative entertainment, a bacchanal called the Wing Bowl.
For 26 years, beginning at 4 AM on the Friday morning before the big game, Philadelphians and other lovers of all that's good about our culture engaged in contests to see who could eat the most chicken wings, drink the most beer, and wear the fewest clothes. But now that the Eagles won this past year's Super Bowl, the radio station felt that maybe the Wing Bowl had gotten a little too saucy, so they are not going to have it anymore, ending a 26-year tradition.
"This was the right time to go out," WIP program director Spike Eskin announced on Angelo Cataldi's morning show.
"When Wing Bowl started ... a large part of it was the lead-up to the Super Bowl never involved the Eagles. We just wanted to get to the promised land. And through time, as we did not get to the promised land over and over and over again, Wing Bowl grew and went from a hotel lobby to the Electric Factory to the Wells Fargo Center ... all the while we were waiting for the Eagles to finally get to the promised land."
Eskin told the audience that the final fling earlier this year was the ultimate pep rally.
"The singular goal always was, let's do this, make it huge, until we finally win a championship," he said. "Last year just seemed like, when we all looked at each other, that this is the goal. This is what we wanted. There was a parade down Broad Street ... If there was a time to stop doing this, after winning the Super Bowl was the time to stop doing this."
This was also a good time to let the supplier of the wings, P.J. Whelihan's, know that they wouldn't have to come up with 10,000 wings again.
Notable winners of the past include Bill Simmons of South Jersey, who ate under the nom de wing "El Wingador." Simmons saw his life spiral downward after achieving the pinnacle of a WB win, and he wound up on drugs and in prison. Out on parole, he received the cheers of a grateful Bowlful last year as she worked to regain the lustre on his image.
The final overall winner will go down in history as Californian and professional eater Molly Schuyler, who drove away with a car, $5,000 in cash money and a $7500 wing as loot for eating 501 wings, which is now the all-time record.
If you were ever there and have memories to share, WIP is asking fans of the event to share their memories at wingbowlforever.com.
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