Today, we take a look back at several out-of-the-ordinary stories to catch readers’ attention this year – and no such story caught your attention like this Sept. 30 story in the aftermath of a disappointing loss for Sirianni and the Eagles.

The Associated Press headline said it all after the Eagles fell to 2-2 on the season with a 33-16 loss to Tampa Bay, “Sirianni Signals Change In Philly.” At the time, Sirianni seemed to be on the hot seat in the City of Brotherly Love. The Eagles were coming off a trying 2023 season that saw the team fall from the Super Bowl to out of the playoffs.

Few would have predicted a 10-game winning streak would vault the Eagles back to the top of the NFC East standings and solidify the Southwestern Central School graduate’s hold on his position.

Flash back to September 29. After Jalen Hurts and the Eagles fell behind by 24 points and didn’t cross midfield until the second quarter following a dismal start Sunday, coach Nick Sirianni said Philadelphia has to “make some changes.”

A group of five bison ran loose along I-86 over the weekend. Two were corralled but three remain on the loose. Photo courtesy of Teresa Davis

The Eagles were held without an offensive yard for more than a quarter of their 33-16 loss to Tampa Bay in the first matchup between the teams since the Buccaneers’ one-sided playoff win last season.

“We got to make some changes as far as what is going fundamentally,” Sirianni said.

Sunday’s loss to Washington notwithstanding, Sirianni appears to have indeed made changes in Philly.

EMMY AWARDS INCLUDE HOMAGE TO FAMOUS I LOVE LUCY EPISODE

This year’s Emmy Awards, an evening dedicated to honoring the year’s best in television, paid an unexpected tribute to I Love Lucy, itself a four-time Emmy Award-winning sitcom.

Natasha Lyonne does a tribute to ‘I Love Lucy’ during the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. AP photo

The awards show’s final series of cast reunions of beloved shows that included The Sopranos, Cheers, Grey’s Anatomy and Ally McBeal was a recreation of the famous I Love Lucy candy assembly line scene recreated by Natasha Lyonne and Tracee Ellis Ross, who were also presenting the Emmy for Best Comedy Series. Ross presented the award while still wearing her red Lucille Ball wig and costume worn during the sketch.

After a little friendly banter, the assembly line before Lyonne and Ross started and the actresses stepped into the shoes of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, shoving chocolates into their clothes, eating as many as they could and, in the case of Ross, throwing them behind her as Lucille Ball did decades ago.

I Love Lucy was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards in the 1950s, including Best Situation Comedy in 1953 and 1954, Best Comedienne (Lucille Ball) in 1953, Best Supporting Actress (Vivian Vance) in 1954 and Best Actress – Continuing Performance, Lucille Ball, in 1956.

THREE BISON STILL ON THE RUN ALONG I-86

For a second consecutive year out-of-the-ordinary wildlife was spotted in the wild in Chautauqua County.

Tracee Ellis Ross and Natasha Lyonne are pictured during a tribute to ‘I Love Lucy’ onstage at the 75th Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. AP photo

Travelers along Interstate 86 were in for a surprise as a group of bison joined them along the highway. Sightings were reported in the Sherman area of the highway, and owner Charlie Sorce said the original group of five were spooked by something and broke the fence down. Two have been corralled and brought home, but three remain loose around the I-86 area as of Monday morning.

“We can’t find them,” Sorce said. “They’re probably in the woods along I-86 somewhere. We managed to get two of them because they went into someone’s pasture. … They’re wild animals, so we have to hope they walk into someone’s pasture or something and we can corral them. We have to wait and see what happens.”

The final three bison ended up returning to Sorce’s property on their own. Besides these five bison, Sorce is the owner of many wild and unique animals such as zebras, a camel, and the wallaby who also got loose in October 2023.

“This happens,” Sorce said. “I have a lot of animals here. But, the fence is fixed so it shouldn’t happen again. Nobody should be getting out again.”

OBSERVATORY: TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE WILL BE ‘SPECTACULAR EVENT’

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni walks the sidelines during the first half of Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla. AP photo

There was a lot of excitement and preparation for the April 8 total solar eclipse.

“Along a narrow path crossing North America from Mexico to Canada the moon’s shadow will race across the Earth’s surface causing daytime to become evening twilight,” Tom Traub, chairman of the 2024 Solar Eclipse Committee for the Martz-Kohl Observatory, told The Post-Journal earlier this year. “What we will be experiencing is a total solar eclipse. This is caused by the special alignment of the moon’s orbit passing directly between the sun and Earth and the moon being located at that point.”

This will be the first time the path of totality for a total solar eclipse will be passing in the area since June 16, 1806. There was one just north of the boundary of the area on Jan. 24, 1925. Another total solar eclipse will not be seen again in the area until Oct. 26, 2144.

“In fact, over a span covering 4500 — 1500 BC to 3000 AD — years this area will only have 21 total eclipses with an average of once every 214 years between them,” Traub said. “For most people this will be a once in a lifetime experience. So unless you are willing to travel elsewhere around the world this is the one to see.”

Despite all the excitement and planning, cloudy weather put a bit of a damper on eclipse viewing in the region. Crowds still gathered and hotel rooms were scarce, but clouds drove some eclipse watchers to areas where clouds wouldn’t be a factor.

Noel Guttman, county emergency services director, told The Post-Journal after the eclipse he thought the cloudy weather Monday kept at least some people away. He said there were planes in Jamestown that left to go west and some people canceled reservations when the forecast called for cloudy weather.

“I think there was a lot of people here … but I don’t think there was the dangerous influx of people … which is really a good thing.”

Director Andrew Nixon said there’s around 2,000 hotel rooms in the county and another 1,000 to 2,000 vacation rental properties and bed and breakfast locations. Those were 90 and 95% sold out. There were also a number of people who were at Chautauqua Institution and others who stayed at campgrounds.

“You could have had 4,000 or more people just in accommodations, not counting folks who had driven in and driven out,” he said.

Nixon estimated there were up to 50 different events planned in the county. In the south county, the Jamestown airport had a watch party and the city of Dunkirk had an eclipse fest celebration with Steelbound Brewery at the Clarion Hotel on Route 5. Point Gratiot in Dunkirk also had a strong turnout.

“Lake Erie provided a really good way to see the eclipse because of the open skies,” he said.

SWIFT’S DUNKIRK TIES NO ‘WILDEST DREAM’

The world’s biggest pop star’s ties to the Dunkirk area were confirmed earlier this year.

Dunkirk was once the home of Eleanor Mayer, her great-grandmother, in the early 1900s. She was the daughter of Julius and Delia Mayer — great-great-grandparents of Swift — who ran the Mayer Music Store that was located on the 200 and 100 block of Central Avenue.

Eleanor Mayer later married Lance Gardner Finlay, of Cleveland. They had a daughter, Janet Eleanor Finlay in May of 1919, and a son, Robert Bruce Finlay, in November 1920.

Robert Bruce Finlay is Taylor Swift’s grandfather. He married Marjorie in March of 1952. Robert and Marjorie had a daughter named Andrea, who later married Scott Swift, Taylor Swift’s father. As Swifties are well-aware because of one of her many chart-topping album titles, Taylor Swift was born in 1989.

Swift’s family lineage was confirmed to the Dunkirk OBSERVER by an area resident who is an expert in genealogy. Swift’s connection to this county was first noted in a “Discovering Buffalo One Street at a Time” by Angela Keppel article that was featured at the website in the summer and forwarded to the OBSERVER.

Different this time from previous meetings in the postseason between the Chiefs and the Bills, the game will be held in Orchard Park, rather than Kansas City. That means not only will Bills Mafia provide home field advantage, but it also means Swift will likely be visiting the region for what is believed to be the first time in many years.