The breakout star of Divisional Weekend was 99-year-old Vikings fan Millie who was visited by Roger Goodell who had a message that she will be going to the Super Bowl. It was a feel-good moment that the NFL needed – it’s hard for people to hate on 99-year-old great-grandmas.
Fun story in the dome and all, but now the action shifts to Philly and the Eagles will bust out their own 99-year-old secret weapon and his name is Phil Basser. His resume includes pulling a shift in World War II and the Korean War. Did I mention that Phil was raised in a Jewish orphanage and lived long enough to watch Nick Foles quarterback an Eagles team into the NFC championship game?
Millie vs. Phil.
Phil vs. Millie.
One soon-to-be centenarian is going home broken hearted. Millie could be going to the Super Bowl to watch Phil’s team. So much on the line here.
Did I mention Millie still drinks screwdrivers? Maybe Phil can stop by if the Eagles get to Minneapolis.
Screwdriver (with a splash of cranberry) in hand, and hasn’t had to use her foam stress brick… yet. #Skol @Vikings pic.twitter.com/ru3l5MyzJK
— Ashley Wall (@ashleyjwall) January 15, 2018
My 99yr old grandpa Phil (turning 100 in march) has lived in Philadelphia since 1918 and has never seen an Eagles Super Bowl. Looks like we got a battle of the centenarians! pic.twitter.com/yEvyd37W9n
— Josh (@_jbpotter7_) January 15, 2018
As for trash talk, Phil won’t get sucked in. The Philly Voice caught up to the old timer:
Philip Boris Basser – a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan who himself will turn 100 in March – considers himself a “gentleman,” so he declined the opportunity to lob any trash talk Millie’s way before Sunday, when her Viking’s come to the Eagles.
“We are friendly competitors,” Basser told PhillyVoice through his grandson, 18-year-old Josh Potter, who passed along PhillyVoice’s questions via email. “That said, I would say, to Millie, ‘I wish for a thrilling game.’ To the Vikings I would say, ‘Better luck next time!’”
And there’s more greatness to Phil’s story. The Voice did an excellent job with their report on his life.
But his connection to the city is deeper than the outcome of a game. Philly is where Basser was born — March 6, 1918, to be exact — and where, at the age of four, he lost his mother.
It’s where his father, unable to afford working and raising him at home, was forced to put him and his sister, Rose, in a Jewish foster home in Germantown. Rose would die at just 8 years old, leaving only him and his father, who would come visit him on the weekends, take him to see relatives and bring him Hershey chocolate bars (he’s been “hooked” ever since).
Now I can’t figure out which team I want to win thanks to these easy to root for old timers.
