On Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Chicago Bears in the NFL playoffs Wild Card round. The game was intense, to say the least, but it was the final seconds that will go down in history. With the Eagles up 16 to 15, Bears kicker Cody Parkey had a chance to win it all for Chicago with a field goal. Parkey kicked the ball, and it hurtled toward the goal posts, only to hit the upright, and then the crossbar. With that, the Eagles won the game, and the “double doink” became the term heard round the world.
Parkey’s missed field goal immediately became a news sensation, and Philadelphia fans have been quick to capitalize on the micro-moment (much to Parkey’s dissatisfaction, we’re sure).
The PECO skyscraper lit up for Parkey’s kick:
The double-doink in bright lights high above the city of Philadelphia.
That's right, the PECO Building is showing an animation of the famous blocked kick. pic.twitter.com/UiicTFvhYA
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 8, 2019
Philadelphia favorite mascot Gritty did his own imitation:
WARNING: Do not attempt the Parkey challenge in Chicago!
Go Birds(Box)! pic.twitter.com/fS3slayUyJ
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) January 8, 2019
Even Shake Shack got in on the action:
In celebration of the Eagles win and missed field goals, all Philly @shakeshack tomorrow will be offering 3 dollars off app orders with the App code: doinkdoink. The promo will be running until the next Eagles game on 1/13. https://t.co/oNr4B02qZG
#FlyEaglesFly— PhillyChitChat (@HughE_Dillon) January 7, 2019
But it’s the apparel micro-moments we’ve come to appreciate most. And you can bet there’s a custom T-shirt printing company in Philadelphia taking advantage of this one.
According to CBS Philly, Rush Order Tees, based in Northeast Philadelphia, is pumping out “Double Doink” T-shirts, and they are flying off digital shelves.
#DoubleDoink #FlyEaglesFly 🦅 pic.twitter.com/FpJS39Hio5
— RushOrderTees (@RushOrderTees) January 8, 2019
“Anytime a Philadelphia team is in the playoffs, we see sales and orders come pouring in,” said Drew Smith, content manager at Rush Order Tees. “The Eagles is our main focus right now. All of our printers are just covered with just green T-shirts, black T-shirts. I think everybody already knows this, but the ‘double doink’ was absolutely huge.
“You have field goal posts with arrows and some little shots of a football doinking off—I mean, go Birds,” added Smith. “The playoffs, not only is it fun to watch, but it’s definitely good for business, too.”
The company is expecting to print thousands of these T-shirts to meet the fans’ demands, and according to Twitter, they’ve already seen a 30 percent increase in orders.
@RushOrderTees says they’ve seen a boost in customized @Eagles swag since the Birds’ playoff run began, which includes a 30 percent increase in orders; but they did print 5.5 million shirts last year, so the CEO says they can handle surge in fan excitement. #FlyEagelsFly pic.twitter.com/VgOAvjX17u
— Christie Ileto (@Christie_Ileto) January 8, 2019
We can’t say we’re surprised. Micro-moment apparel has been a huge business opportunity over the past year, and sports micro-moments, especially, are always in high demand. If the Eagles continue to advance in the playoffs (we believe in you, Nick Foles!), it will be interesting to see what other micro-moments earn their own T-shirt designs.
