The Philadelphia Eagles announced on September 1 that Boyz II Men, a local music group, will be performing the national anthem before they take over the field on Thursday (September 4) for their regular season opener against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.
The announcement
As soon as the band was asked to perform the honors this season, all three members, being Philadelphia natives, jumped at the opportunity. “Well, we have to do it because Wan’ (Wanya Morris) will kill us if we don’t,” band manager Joe Mulvihill recalls Nathan Morris and Shawn Stockman, the other two members of the band, saying, as reported by the official website of the Eagles. “There’s like an unspoken word that when it comes to the Eagles, the answer is ‘Yes.'”
“Boyz II Men, when we get on the field, it’s all about harmony,” Morris stated. “It’s going to be connected, I’m talking about totally, totally connected. So that’s what we’re trying to start the whole presentation off with, and that’s what we’re hoping to give that energy to my team, to have that harmony so we can jell and knock these boys out so that they can know what’s going on for the rest of the season.”
“I take the approach of Jalen Hurts,” Morris said. “It’s good, it’s beautiful, and I’m happy, very happy, to be sharing the raising of the banner, sitting there watching it, but it’s a new season, man, and we’re on to the next. Let’s get it going.” The group last performed the national anthem for the Eagles in 2018 when the Super Bowl LII banner was unveiled by the Birds, as per NBC 10 Philadelphia.
A special connection
Morris, being a Philly native, holds a special connection to the team and place. As per the official Eagles website, his fandom runs deep to the point where he often wakes up in the middle of the night when travelling to catch an Eagles game. “If we lose, bro … I can’t,” he said. “I’m no good until, like, maybe Monday night. I don’t know how else to be. I don’t know what other color to be. I don’t know what other wings to wear.”
“When you look at our fans in Philly, it’s the passion,” Morris recalls about his experience of growing up in the northern part of the city. “Nobody ever talked about the passion or the fandom of everybody else’s being like, ‘Oh, it’s the worst, it’s the worst.’ It’s always Eagles, it’s always Philly, (and) it’s just that because our moves and everything are so big, everybody sees it. We’re not the worst, we’re just the most passionate. And the deal is you’re going to see us because we’re big. Philly is always going to be big. That’s why the Eagles do what we do.”
No update has been given on whether the band will also be performing the annual Cowboys theme songs: End of the Road and It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to the 90s.