So, are you ready for some football? A prime-time, Monday night matchup?

Well, you’re going to have to wait about 12 hours. Yes, the Eagles appear tonight on Monday Night Football, with a crucial matchup with the Redskins..

Of course, if you want, you can head to the stadium now and start the party. The rest of us have some work to do.

Not the least of which is that other sports story in town. How ‘bout dem Phillies? How sweep it is! Going to the Big Apple and shutting up all those Mets fans, all the Phils did this weekend is take three straight from the Mets. That makes eight straight wins against the Metropolitans.

The Phils are now just 3 and a half games behind the Mets in the National League East race. Ironically, while they are clawing back at the front-running New Yorkers, they’ve been unable to cut into the wild-card lead of the Padres, who continue to match the Phils win for win. The Phillies continue to be one and a half games back of the Padres.

But as I said, there is some news that should be dealt with this morning.

One of the things that is always debated when it comes to all this talk of a renaissance in the city of Chester, is how will we know when it is really taking root?

For this I defer to Mayor Wendell Butler, who gave what I consider to be the best answer to that a couple of years ago, back when the idea of putting a horsetrack in Chester was still in its infant stages.

At the time Butler indicated the city still needs to prove to people that it can in fact be a safe destination. That people can come into the city, do their business, and return home without the nagging thought that it was anything but a routine day.

It’s a good point. Despite the impressive turnaround in the city, the overall image of Chester in other areas of the county remains a questionable one. Until they can change that image, the city will continue to be a work – or for that matter a comeback – in progress.

This weekend should go a long way toward that goal.

They once again held the Riverfront Ramble along the waterfront from Tinicum and down to the Chester riverfront.

Mother Nature cooperated, with a glorious late summer day, and there, literally in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge, hundreds of people found a new destination for a good time. That would be the city of Chester.

Official estimates indicated as many as 20,000 would crowd the different venues on the riverfront.

It’s another sign that Chester has arrived. That the renaissance is real. That the city is indeed on the comeback.

And in this county, it’s a welcome sight.