In her high school classroom in northwest Iran, the math teacher strives to ensure that her female students don’t lose sight of what they achieved taking part in unprecedented anti-regime street protests – even if those protests have now largely been crushed.

“There is no doubt the protests have fizzled out,” says the teacher in the city of Sanandaj, epicenter of the protests in Iran’s largely Kurdish northwest, where officials used direct military force to quell dissent.

“Look around, except for the 40th day [funeral] memorials, few rallies are being held these days,” says the math teacher, who gives the name Yosra. “But does that mean it’s over? Absolutely not.”

Back in November, when the protests were raging, Yosra told the Monitor that her students were unfazed by the steady flow of threatening messages from education authorities. Her students, she said then, “are a different species; they won’t accept humiliation.”

Yet as the street protests themselves disappear, resistance today means “keeping awareness among my students, dissecting the regime’s nature, and reminding them of their mission to press ahead and never allow this to become a new normal,” she says.

“That’s poison,” she adds, “the very exact poison that killed off the desire for change in my generation, that destroyed the bravery within us.”

The nationwide protests, billed as Iran’s first feminist uprising, were triggered in mid-September by the death in police custody of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, for allegedly breaking hijab laws by showing too much hair from beneath her headscarf.

As Iran marks the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution Saturday, hard-line ideologues are gloating that regime enforcers have, once again, bottled up widespread discontent that threatened more than ever the pillars of their self-proclaimed “Government of God.”

Human rights groups estimate that some 500 people have been killed, hundreds more wounded in the eyes – often shot in the face at close range, in what appears to have been a systematic effort – and 20,000 arrested in the clashes and government crackdown.

Ambitions put on hold

For months, rage over Ms. Amini’s death, and then over the government’s response to the protests themselves, had spread to more than 130 cities, propelled by chants of “Woman, Life, Freedom!” and the public burning of headscarves and portraits of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Middle East Images/AP/File

An Iranian woman protests the September death in detention of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, held by Iran's morality police for improperly wearing her hijab, in Tehran, Oct. 1, 2022. Women's outrage over Ms. Amini's death lead to a broad, national wave of protests against the regime.

With long-standing grievances over Iran’s weak economy, corruption, and clerical misrule swelling the ranks of protesters further, some had even predicted that the regime would fall. Many protesters vowed to fight to the death, if it would expand freedoms and restore dignity to Iranian lives.

Instead, a mostly younger generation that defiantly demanded the end of what they consider a decrepit and hidebound leadership has witnessed its own ambition for change put on hold in the wake of the systematic and lethal crackdown.

“Does that disappoint me? It’s hard to say. … This regime has proven that it will go to all lengths to crush us and has no boundaries,” says Yosra, noting that the risks to continue had grown too great.

“I mean, it’s our young people being killed by a regime that has no shame and looks you in the eye and denies the killings,” she says.

Past episodes of street protests have sometimes yielded change, instituted by an Islamic Republic that has proudly claimed the broadest popular support, as well as a divine mandate. Few of the republic’s founding revolutionaries forget that it was their own mobilizing of anger on the streets, resulting in massive protests for months on end, that did so much to topple the pro-West shah and his security apparatus and armed forces, which appeared all-powerful at the time.

Providing a safety valve for grievances to dissipate has therefore been a frequent tactic. Indeed, Ayatollah Khamenei may have given the sense of leaning toward compromise when he announced in early January that women wearing a loose hijab were still “our daughters” who should not be treated like anti-revolutionary enemies – though he also declared that wearing the hijab remained an “inviolable necessity.”

And Mr. Khamenei, in keeping with tradition on the eve of the revolution’s anniversary, on Feb. 3 pardoned an estimated 19,000 prisoners – among them some who had been detained during the protests. (Nevertheless, this week several high-profile protesters were filmed outside Evin Prison after their release, chanting defiantly that “the tyrannical regime must be overthrown.”)

Signals of retrenchment

But other steps make clear that authorities, instead of finding a middle path, are doubling down on strict hijab rules and other forms of dissent.

Already four young protesters have been executed for moharebeh, or “waging war against God,” with more than 100 other cases pending, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. The hard-line judiciary has also demanded “decisive” action by the police and outlined tough new penalties – including 10 days to a decade in jail – to stop the removal of head coverings in public, an act widely embraced by women since the protests began.

Signals of retrenchment also include the mid-January appointment of hard-line cleric Abdolhossein Khosropanah to head the powerful Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which outlines hijab and other social policies.

He has said that protesters should be spared “no mercy” and be put to death by “crucifixion.” In an interview with Fars News Agency, Mr. Khosropanah described how – even before 1979 – he used to personally fire a slingshot at women he saw wearing their hijab loosely. He apparently stopped the practice when his father expressed concern for the women’s safety, and afterward only threw water at them.

Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/AP/File

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right), speaks with Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Radan. Brigadier General Radan, who was appointed in early January to head Iran's police, has been sanctioned by the United States for “beatings, murder, and arbitrary arrests” in his handling of protesters during post-election turmoil in 2009.

Another signal is the appointment in early January of Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Radan to command the police. He is sanctioned by the U.S. government for “beatings, murder, and arbitrary arrests and detentions against protestors” that he was responsible for as deputy chief of Iran’s National Police, during the lethal crackdown that ended post-election protests in 2009. Before that, as Tehran’s chief of police, he doubled the size of police forces cracking down on un-Islamic dress in what he called an “unstoppable” campaign.

Even without those extra measures taken by authorities, protesters have described feeling continuing pressure for their defiance.

Among them is Romina, who told the Monitor in detail about her 3 a.m. arrest in late September, the denigrating physical and sexual abuse and death threats she endured, and the inspiration she found – in her own inner fortitude and among younger, incarcerated fellow protesters – to return to the streets.

Romina recounted how her interrogator in the northwestern city of Kermanshah twisted her hair in his hand, and told her the “outcome of your revolution” would be that she would hang by that hair.

Since her release, Romina has received four calls from private numbers, a typical sign that they are from the intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guard.

“They keep threatening me, telling me that they are closely watching every move, and that I could get arrested again,” Romina says now, adding that she remains unbowed. “They use the same sexist language and expletives. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of sleep, with nightmares that they are at the door, trying to take me away again.”

“Hoping for foreign support”

She says she keeps up her criticism of the regime and boosts protest messages on fake social media accounts, and continues to flaunt hijab rules. But she was recently forced to return home for a headscarf when she was not allowed into the water department to follow up on a bill, after the guard refused her entry.

“I know many who have become disappointed after four months and no tangible outcomes,” says Romina. “But I keep telling them that we have a long way ahead and there are surely ups and downs. It does not happen overnight, does it? What we need at this stage, where the repression is endless, is outside support. We are hoping for foreign support.”

“If this regime does not feel the pressure, it will just have a free pass to kill us all,” adds Romina. “It’s like an abusive and addicted father. If he is not confronted, he feels he can do everything without facing any punishment.”

Yosra, the math teacher, also uses a family example, but one that looks to the past to understand how Iranian protesters demanding change today should proceed.

“In our days, every now and then the regime came out with brute force, pushed people back into their homes, and things really died down, because we were intimidated,” she says.

“Our parents were part of this, because they kept telling us about the consequences – not that they supported the regime, but because they feared for our safety, and that’s how the regime managed to survive,” Yosra says.

“Now things are different,” she adds. “This new generation has been raised by parents who sincerely want their children not to suffer the same fate as theirs.

“I don’t know what will happen in the months to come, but trust me: It’s not like the push for regime change has become any less powerful. It’s there.”

An Iran researcher contributed to this report.

Internet service providers down and traffic lights off. Taps running dry. Cold supply chains at risk. 

These are just some of the problems that beset South African citizens and businesses each time a power cut descends. And, amid a major power supply crisis, the lights are now going out every day.

On Thursday, in his State of the Union speech to Parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a “national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects.”

Eskom, the state-owned entity that supplies 90% of South Africa’s electricity, is creaking under the weight of aging, coal-fired power stations as well as corruption and sabotage. Uncertain policies and a lack of investment have added further pressure. Rolling blackouts – known locally as load shedding – have reduced economic growth in Africa’s biggest economy to a predicted 0.3% this year. 

The blackouts have also shone a harsh spotlight on the African National Congress (ANC) party that has ruled since apartheid ended in 1994, and which promised electricity and economic growth as dividends of democracy. Instead, officials now talk of trying to avert “Armageddon” – shorthand for a total collapse of the electricity grid.

Eskom’s relentless decline has become emblematic of a broader failure by the ANC to deliver services and tackle the growing corruption that is hollowing out state institutions.

“This is beyond just an inconvenience. The blackouts are a symbol of the service failures across a whole range of government departments,” says Chris Yelland, managing director and energy analyst at Johannesburg-based EE Business Intelligence consultancy. “It goes without saying there are economic impacts, but what we’re seeing now is the political impact,” ahead of elections next year.

As the country limps through the power crisis, almost every facet of life suffers. Learners study by candlelight and businesses are forced to rely on expensive diesel-guzzling generators, or to close altogether. Farmers’ broiler chickens suffocate, and dairy products spoil. 

Last month, Eskom’s CEO even urged citizens to think twice about how much water they boiled for a cup of tea in a bid to reduce their electricity consumption.

Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

Locals walk past electricity pylons during one of the frequent power outages in South Africa that have reduced economic growth to a predicted 0.3% this year.

“Empty promises”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. 

Africa’s economic powerhouse boasts glittering malls, world-class infrastructure, and a sophisticated financial sector, built on the back of a liberation movement that swept into power promising to uplift millions of impoverished Black citizens. 

During apartheid, Beef Nguma’s family was among the 80% of South Africans forced to rely on firewood. Soon after the ANC took power in 1994, electricity came for the first time to Nkwaukazi, a scattering of huts in the spectacular, remote hills of the former Transkei. 

“When the ANC came, they promised us everything. Education, land, jobs, electricity,” Mr. Nguma recalls of the ANC’s early days, when supporters risked their lives and freedom for the party’s cause.

Now, youth unemployment of nearly 60% and stagnating growth threaten the stability of both South Africa and the wider region that relies on the continent’s most industrialized nation.

“It’s like it was all just empty promises,” says Mr. Nguma, who won’t be voting for the ANC in elections next year.

Ironically, around 90% of households today are hooked to the national electricity grid thanks to the ANC’s policies. That means millions of dollars’ worth of contracts annually to maintain and modernize a utility originally designed to serve only a white minority of the population. Under former President Jacob Zuma, a bloated Eskom became the biggest source of enrichment for ANC-connected business people and some criminal cartels who deliberately sabotage infrastructure so as to win contracts to repair it, at the expense of the public.

The state’s most important asset was “the main theater where corruption, state capture was taking place,” said Jabu Mabuza, the former chairman of Eskom’s board, during the wide-reaching Zondo inquiry into public corruption, which also dissected the collapse of state-owned companies like the Post Office and South African Airways.

That corruption can be life-threatening. Andre de Ruyter, the outgoing Eskom CEO, resigned in December, citing a lack of political support for reform. That same day, he survived an assassination attempt after drinking a cup of tea laced with cyanide. 

“I know one manager at Eskom who goes about wearing a bulletproof vest to work, who has two stand-in personal protectors at any given time,” President Ramaphosa said recently. 

Esa Alexander/Reuters

A Muslim man sits in a mosque, using a mobile phone as a light during one of frequent power outages, called load shedding, that have hit South Africa in recent months. President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a "state of disaster" on Feb. 9 to tackle the crisis.

Ol’ King Coal

One morning last month, Thando Makhubu went to renew his car registration papers at a government office in Soweto, Johannesburg’s lively, sprawling township.  But the power was out, which meant the government website on which he needed to update his details was down.

In all, what should have been a 20-minute errand to renew his car papers turned into a six-hour ordeal for Mr. Makhubu.

As an entrepreneur, he is familiar with trying to find solutions. Stuck at home during the pandemic, he began saving a monthly 350 rand ($21) social grant. Last year he received praise from the president for using those savings to launch a gourmet ice cream shop in the township.

But like many small-business owners, he has struggled to cope with load shedding, which sometimes means he has no electricity for three 4.5-hour stretches a day. Mr. Makhubu says he’s now mulling over whether to install solar panels and lithium batteries, which would cost upwards of 100,000 rand ($5,700.) In his speech on Thursday, President Ramaphosa promised policies to encourage the deployment of rooftop solar panels.

“We do have a generator, fortunately, but running it [for hours] is expensive. It’s eating away at our profits,” Mr. Makhubu says. It’s also costly in other ways. “Some customers believe we’re not operational when there’s load shedding,” he laments. 

Such woes are hurting the economy as a whole. The South African Reserve Bank cut its forecast for economic growth this year to 0.3%, from 1.1%, citing the energy crisis.

Construction delays and cost overruns at two giant, coal-fired plants, Medupi and Kusile, have magnified the problem. When construction began 15 years ago, they were expected to shore up the rickety grid, but they are still not fully operational. 

Key to ending the shortages, experts say, is increased use of renewable energy sources. But that idea has faced opposition from high-ranking officials within the ANC: South Africa’s coal industry provides around 90,000 jobs, and the country’s exports have also plugged a major shortfall in Europe as the continent cranks up coal burning to make up for banned Russian gas.

Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, nicknamed “Ol’ King Coal” by the local press, has often delayed approving renewable energy projects. He once labeled environmental activism “colonialism and apartheid of a special type.”

“The minister of energy is the biggest problem for Eskom because he is delaying the procurement of new energy,” says David Walwyn, a professor at the University of Pretoria’s Graduate School of Technology Management. “Eskom is trapped politically and economically.” 

Analysts say the blackouts are eroding ANC support.

“As a South African citizen, I feel disappointed,” Mr. Makhubu, the ice cream store owner, says. “We were told [democracy] is for the people, by the people, but it’s for them by them,” he says of former liberation fighters-turned-political elites.

Last month, the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, received public support for its bid to block a planned 18.5% electricity tariff increase even amid the shortages. The party also organized well-attended rallies under the banner of protesting what it called “the ANC-engineered electricity crisis.” 

“Load shedding has taken away your power. It is time to take away the ANC’s,” tweeted party leader John Steenhusien. 

A Chinese spy balloon’s drifting flight over the United States grabbed public attention last week, highlighting possible holes in the nation’s defenses while symbolizing the developing military rivalry between the world’s two largest economic powers. A second object was shot down off the Alaska coast on Friday.

The balloon saga began when the first craft was detected over Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands, on Jan. 28. The large, white balloon went down when an Air Force F-22 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, apparently hitting the area where the balloon connected to its surveillance payload.

“FRANK 01, Splash one!” said an F-22 pilot after the explosion, referencing his call sign, according to audio posted by Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“The balloon is completely destroyed,” said the pilot.

Since then U.S. officials have been gradually revealing what they knew prior to the flight, and what they learned during it – about China’s espionage aims and its use of seemingly low-tech surveillance technology. Here’s what we know now about some key questions:

What was it?

In briefings, State and Defense Department officials have described the balloon as having an inflated envelope about 200 feet high, carrying an instrument payload about the size of a small jetliner.

While it was traversing North America, the U.S. military received legal dispensation to itself spy on the intruder. As a day-to-day matter, the armed forces under law are not allowed to collect intelligence within the U.S.

Air Force U-2 spy planes operating in support of U.S. Northern Command then flew operational missions to gather information about the balloon. Their ceiling, about 70,000 feet, probably allowed them to fly over the airship and take images from above.

Allowing the balloon to travel across the country, instead of shooting it down in Montana soon after it crossed back into U.S. territory from Canada, allowed the Pentagon much more time to gauge the intruder’s capability and intent, said Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland security, at a Feb. 9 Senate hearing.

The Pentagon blocked the balloon’s own spying capabilities, according to Ms. Dalton. “It was straightforward to block because we knew where the balloon was,” she said.

Visible equipment included antennas capable of locating and listening in on communications devices, said officials. Such capability is not consistent with China’s claim that the balloon was a weather tracking instrument that had gone astray, according to the U.S. government.

At the balloon’s altitude, 60,000 feet or more, gusting winds are much reduced and unlikely to blow the craft off course. In U.S. military airships designed for surveillance, sensors allow the craft to be “steered,” moving between areas and altitudes with favorable currents. It is possible the Chinese balloon had similar capability, but officials as yet have no confirmation of that.

Initial retrieval efforts in the area where the balloon was shot down off the South Carolina coast have snagged large pieces of the envelope, some wires, and scattered electronics. Although the craft went down in fairly shallow water it will still take some time to retrieve the main payload elements, said officials.

What was it supposed to do?

Initial indications are that the balloon was optimized to collect signals intelligence – electronic voice or data communications moving by cellphone, radio, or other means. In that way it might have been meant to complement the efforts of China’s spy satellites, which focus on image collection and move more quickly over target areas.

It’s possible the balloon was meant as one part of an effort by the Chinese to collect an overall picture of how U.S. radar, communications, and weapons systems interact. But officials aren’t saying that specifically, at least not in public.

The balloon passed initially over Montana, one of the states where U.S. silo-based nuclear missiles are located. At Thursday’s Senate hearing, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana asked officials what, specifically, the balloon was supposed to listen in on.

“We have some very good guesses about that,” said Jedidiah Royal, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, adding that the Pentagon would know more after recovery of more of the balloon’s payload.

In a larger sense the balloon may be an emblem of a widespread Chinese aerial surveillance effort targeting the military capabilities of countries that Beijing considers of strategic interest.

The Washington Post reported that the U.S. this week held a briefing for officials from the embassies of some 40 countries. U.S. briefers characterized the Chinese balloon surveillance as a “massive effort” that involves countries on five continents.

While balloons might seem like an old-fashioned technology today, they are relatively inexpensive, carry large loads, and can be difficult to spot, said officials. Some previous flights by Chinese balloons over U.S. territory during the administration of former President Donald Trump were not detected at the time. They were classified as unknown airborne objects.

Later analysis spotted them as balloons.

“That’s a domain awareness gap that we need to figure out,” said Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, at a Pentagon briefing for reporters this week.

The U.S. already appears to be taking a more aggressive stance toward airborne intruders in General VanHerck’s area of responsibility. The White House confirmed that the Pentagon shot down an unidentified object on Friday over the ocean off the coast of Alaska. The object was traveling at about 40,000 feet – lower than the confirmed Chinese balloon of last week – and could have endangered commercial aircraft, said White House spokesperson John Kirby.

“President Biden ordered the military to down the object, and they did,” said Mr. Kirby.

What does this mean for the U.S.-China relationship?

In one way the drifting white balloon has already set back relations between the U.S. and China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week postponed indefinitely a planned trip to China, telling Beijing the act was “irresponsible” and a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty.

Ironically, one of the things Mr. Blinken wanted to accomplish on the trip was to talk with the Chinese about keeping lines of communication open during any future dispute between the two nations, said Emily Weinstein, a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, on Friday.

“Within the next few months, when and if things quiet down, maybe Secretary Blinken can go back and try to resume his travel plans,” said Ms. Weinstein at a briefing hosted by Foreign Policy Magazine.

From the administration’s point of view the U.S. has not overreacted to the situation. China would surely have reacted with force to any similar incursion over its territory, officials say. In his State of the Union address President Joe Biden made only one oblique reference to the balloon, though he did say the U.S. is increasingly prepared to “compete” with Beijing, while also seeking to avoid direct conflict.

Why China released the balloon now remains a mystery. Perhaps one part of the Chinese government did not know what the other was doing. Perhaps a department of the Chinese military was simply unaware of what releasing the balloon at a sensitive moment might do. Or perhaps Chinese leader Xi Jinping really thought it was a good idea and might demonstrate strength.

In any case it seems to have been a miscalculation.

“What this has revealed is the fragility of the relationship,” said James Palmer, deputy editor of Foreign Policy, on Friday.

Caitlin O’Hara/Reuters

Preparations are underway at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, ahead of Super Bowl LVII. The Philadelphia Eagles return to the big game for the first time since 2018 and will take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

Game time is a few short days away around these parts. Everybody here in Philadelphia thinks that the Eagles are going to win Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs. Mention the possibility of them losing and smiles quickly fade into quizzical expressions of “Why would you even ask that question?”

Excited Eagles fans gathered in the middle of Lincoln Financial Field, known as “the Linc,” Sunday morning to give the team a joyous pep rally before they boarded a flight to Arizona. Partying in Philly started the night the Eagles punched their ticket to the big game after the NFC Championship on Jan. 29. As they did during the Phillies’ 2022 World Series run and the Eagles’ last Super Bowl appearance in 2018, city employees greased light poles so boisterous fans wouldn’t climb them and potentially hurt themselves. It didn’t work. 

“I knew that it was going to go down out there, that’s why I had to go,” says Omar Torrance, as a smile washes over his face. He is a barber at South Street Barbers, where some Eagles players have gotten haircuts.

Mr. Torrance watched the NFC championship game with a friend in South Philly, 2 1/2 miles away from the Linc. His friend’s house is also two blocks away from Broad Street, where much of the partying happened.

“They had a DJ out there and everything,” he says. “We went down there and within 45 minutes to an hour, the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger. They were walking up from the stadium. People came out of their houses. It was kids, older people, Black, white, and everybody in between just giving high-fives and dancing, and it was all peaceful,” Mr. Torrance says.

Known as the underdog city to many, Philadelphia is a blue-collar town with hardworking people who wear the success and failure of sports teams not only on their faces but also in their hearts. The city experienced a record-breaking number of homicides in 2021, amid an ongoing battle with crime. But when sports teams win, neighborhood tribalism gets swept to the side and more hugs and high-fives get exchanged, like gifts on Christmas morning.

Ira Porter/The Christian Science Monitor

Philadelphia barber and Eagles fan Omar Torrance joins his hands like a bird and poses in front of a signed jersey in the shop where he works on Feb. 2, 2023.

“People want to associate with winners,” says Daniel Funk, associate dean and professor at Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. “We have a term called ‘basking in reflective glory,’ so when a team wins I want to wear a hat, and people will see me wearing that hat and say, ‘They’re winners therefore I’m a winner,’ ” says Dr. Funk, who adds that the Super Bowl has fueled timely discussions on sports marketing and management in his classes.

He says people want to build identities or a brand. 

“When you identify with sports teams and professional teams, the more they win, the more it activates your ability to publicly demonstrate your identity to others. And when you live in a place like Philadelphia or Boston, there’s this region theory that says you mainly follow teams that are close to you in proximity,” Dr. Funk says. “You choose to activate that identity, and it really helps if they are winners.”

Reflective failure, he says, can cause people to distance themselves. Winning and losing, he says, separates fair-weather from hardcore fans.

“Most people are casual viewers, and there are fewer hardcore fans. Most people get on board because you heard someone talk about the Eagles at work, a religious service, or the grocery store, but you’re not willing to lose sleep over it because it doesn’t threaten your identity,” Dr. Funk says. “But if you’re a hardcore season ticket holder and your closet is filled with Eagles gear, it’s pretty hard to disassociate yourself, so there’s a bit of an identity threat when your team loses.”

Philadelphia is no fair-weather city. Two seasons ago, when the team won only four games in the midst of a pandemic, fans kept the faith through Zoom meetups and socially distanced parties. 

Ira Porter/The Christian Science Monitor

Francisco Staton holds up a shirt he is considering buying for his son in Shibe Vintage Sports, Feb. 2, 2023.

The thing about the Eagles this year is that no fan thinks they can lose, as opposed to 2018 when they played Tom Brady and the then-vaunted New England Patriots and no one thought they would win. Stroll down any street and you’ll see people in team jerseys, caps, and hoodies. Stores like Shibe Vintage Sports near Center City have shuffled patrons in and out leading up to Sunday’s game, at times filling more than 100 daily online orders of popular Eagles paraphernalia.

“Business has been booming,” says manager Darren Nowicki. “This is an Eagles town and fans have been flocking to us. We have been working around the clock trying to get products in.”

Their recent bestsellers have included a T-shirt featuring quarterback Jalen Hurts, and a couple retro hats and Kelly green shirts centered with a soaring eagle.

“We’re doing well. Our sales numbers for a weekend are like what we usually do in a month,” Mr. Nowicki says. “For us as a local business, this is an extremely valuable time.”

Does the store have original Eagles gear planned for a Super Bowl victory? Yes. Will folks there share the design pregame? Nope. But they will be pressing shirts as soon as Sunday’s game ends. 

Ira Porter/The Christian Science Monitor

South Philadelphia resident Domenic Romano sells apparel from his car in the Italian Market, Feb. 2, 2023.

Francisco and Jennifer Staton stopped in Shibe to buy shirts for their son and two daughters. Mr. Staton came dressed for the occasion in an Eagles cap. “You could tell there was something special about the team chemistry from the beginning of the year,” he says. “They’ve been doing things the right way all year.”

The Statons moved out of the city, but still visit often. Ms. Staton, who says her husband is a die-hard fan, says that she’ll come back with him to a Super Bowl parade, but that she won’t climb any poles. And, they aren’t turning their noses up at revelers who expressed their excitement by climbing. 

“I think it’s just the passion,” Mr. Staton says. “That’s what Philadelphia is, with the underdog mentality.”

Another person who’ll have his Super Bowl specials ready is Domenic Romano, a lifelong South Philly resident. Some afternoons before he heads to work as a waiter, he treks to the Italian Market, famous for scenes in “Rocky,” and sells his wares. With the birds heading to the big game, he is selling every shirt and hoodie with a smile.

“You have such a great city here, and with the little bit of bad things that go on, this is something that is goodness and happiness and love. It brought us together,” Mr. Romano says. “Everything that brings excitement – especially from a Philadelphia sports team – and can bring everybody together is a blessing.”

AP

A customer, right, makes a sports bet at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., Feb. 6.

New Jersey has long prided itself as a leader in legalized gambling. It launched a lottery in 1970 and soon after allowed casinos in Atlantic City. About a decade ago, online betting was allowed, and then in 2018, after winning a victory at the Supreme Court, the state opened a door to online sports betting. Since then, people in New Jersey have legally wagered more on sports than people in Nevada, where the practice has long been allowed.

Last week, New Jersey proudly proclaimed a new first in the nation, albeit one aimed at solving a problem it helped create. The state now requires online gambling operators to track whether players show signs of excessive gambling and, if so, intervene in their behavior and offer corrective steps.

“It is no coincidence,” said state Attorney General Matthew Platkin, “that our announcement comes just a week ahead of one of the biggest days in sports wagering, serving as a reminder of how devastating a gambling addiction can be.”

He was referring, of course, to the Super Bowl matchup on Sunday between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. The number of Americans planning to place online wagers on the game is expected to increase 66% over last year, according to a survey by the American Gaming Association. The total amount in legal and illegal bets is expected to double, reaching $16 billion. That’s largely a result of more states – 36 – having some sort of legalized sports betting as well as a massive rise in ads for online gambling.

Just over half of all American adults now live in places where sports betting is legal. At the same time, 71% are “very” or “somewhat” concerned that the increasing availability of sports betting will lead to more people becoming addicted to gambling, according to a 2022 survey by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland. And the fastest-growing segment of gamblers are children and young people, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Last year, Virginia was the first state to pass a law requiring educational materials on gambling as part of the curriculum in public schools. Similar bills are pending in a few other states. Since 2011, North Carolina has offered its schools a program called Stacked Deck that teaches the history and risks of gambling. A survey last year showed a noticeable drop in many forms of gambling among students who took the course. Wisconsin public schools have been offered a similar course since 2015.

Perhaps the official body most concerned about an increase in sports betting – and its effect on sports – is the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Its website affirms the integrity of college athletics: “Sports competition should be appreciated for the inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.”

New Jersey could soon become ground zero in the U.S. for a rethink of legalized sports gambling. “The nation’s love affair with sports betting may be having unintended consequences,” writes Lia Nower, director of Rutgers University’s Center for Gambling Studies, in a new study done for the state.

The study found that sports betters in New Jersey were more likely than others who gamble to have high rates of “problem gambling” and excessive use of drugs and alcohol, and more struggles with mental health. The study also found the fastest-growing group of sports bettors are adults ages 21 to 24. No wonder gambling operators in the state are now busy tracking wagers, ready to offer help for behavior that could easily be avoided.