Two-time Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowler Lane Johnson announced his retirement. In 2017, before the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, he wrote about Philadelphia: “I’ll never forget one game day in particular during my rookie season. I was on the team bus and we were heading to Lincoln Financial. My head was still kind of spinning after being the No. 4 pick in the draft out of Oklahoma, via Grovetown, Texas. There are a few notable differences between Philadelphia and Grovetown. For starters, Grovetown has about 1.5 million fewer people than Philly (but somehow more pickup trucks). And we like our steak on a plate by itself, not on a hoagie roll smothered in Cheez Whiz. But here’s where Philly and Grovetown are similar. In both places, everybody practices the exact same religion: football. I’d already heard all the stories about Philly fans before I was ever drafted by the Eagles — how they threw snowballs at Santa Claus, and how St. Nick got off easy because, hey, at least it hadn’t been batteries. When I finally got here I realized a lot of that stuff is entirely overblown. But I also learned there’s also a little bit of truth to it. I still vividly remember being on that bus, as we got closer to the stadium, all these Eagles fans were lining the streets — hundreds, maybe even thousands of them — and they were all flipping us off. Every fan basically went through the same sequence. They’d start by flipping us the bird and then they’d do a double take when they realized that it was in fact our bus and not the other team’s. Then they’d suddenly stop what they were doing, put on a huge smile and wave to us. It was frickin’ hilarious. That’s Philly, man. This is a place with an edge. That’s the culture — and when you play for the Eagles, there’s no getting around it. There was another time my rookie year when I flew my mom and my aunt up to Philly for our game against Dallas. I come from a football family, so I really wanted them to come away impressed by the atmosphere. I wanted to make sure that they got the full experience, so I told them to check out the tailgating scene outside of the stadium. So they did. Anyway, several hours later, after the game is over, I leave the stadium, walk out of the players entrance and my mom and my aunt were nowhere to be found. I was half confused, half worried. Then I call my mom and I hear all this noise in the background. They were still at the tailgate, more than a few drinks in. The game might have been over, but the party was not — even though we lost. So I finally find them, slightly worse for wear, and as we start walking towards my car this random Cowboys fan starts mouthing off about how Philly sucks and the Eagles are trash — this and that. Now, fans are naturally entitled to their opinion, I respect that. But this guy clearly didn’t have a good sense of his surroundings. He continued to talk as we were walking away, and then out of nowhere, he gets clocked by someone wearing a McNabb jersey. At least I think it was McNabb. Maybe Westbrook. But yeah, that happened. I realized that if you want to be a Cowboys fan, that that’s something between you and your maker. But never be a Cowboys fan dumb enough to mouth off at an Eagles tailgate in Philly.” playerstribu.ne/Lane @LaneJohnson65 | @Eagles | @OU_Football