A dangerously cheesy Super Bowl wager

Waiting patiently at the starting line out front of Lincoln Financial Field, 45-year-old Michael Kazanjian posed for a photo with his friend Chris Hulitt. The two men lifted their sleeves and showed off their left shoulders as they waited to participate in the sensory run for the Eagles Autism Challenge in May.

To bring more joy to the festivities, both Kazanjian and Hulitt wore matching tattoos of Chester Cheetah wearing a Jalen Hurts jersey. The tattoos were exactly the same, down to the trigger finger pose.

The only difference was that one would be washed off by the end of the night, while the other was a permanent reminder of Super Bowl LIX.

“I’ll get out of the shower and look in the mirror and be like, ‘Oh my God.’ It’ll definitely catch me off guard from time to time,” said Kazanjian, who admitted he had previously been anti-tattoos. “I have some friends who played the role of me in the past and tried to talk me out of it. They said that I would regret it, but I’ll tell you what, I have not regretted it a single moment since I got it.

“It is a conversation starter and my kids love telling people about the stupid thing that their dad did.”

Kazanjian got the tattoo, his first, after making a bet with his kids: Atticus, 16, Elise, 13, and Clark, 10. Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, the lifelong Eagles fan told his kids he would get a tattoo if the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs.

To make it more interesting, he said his kids could pick the design.

“None of the kids mentioned it to me during the game, but it definitely was in the back of my mind,” Kazanjian said. “There was no part of me that said, ‘I want the Eagles to lose.’ Like, I’ll get the tattoo if they win. But I definitely was like, ‘How quickly are they going to remember? And how soon am I going to have to do this?’

“And literally, after the win we’re all jumping up and down in the living room and all three of them are like, ‘When are you going to book it?’ They were all over it.”

Kazanjian made a similar bet before Super Bowl LII in 2018, when the Eagles beat the New England Patriots. If the Eagles won, the Downingtown native said he would get a Super Bowl tattoo. Unfortunately, he backed out.

This time around, he didn’t see that as an option.

“If it wasn’t for the pressure of the kids, I probably wouldn’t have done it,” Kazanjian said. “But I did. I wanted to show them that if I said I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. I’m not going to lie to all three of you. It was a lesson in follow-through.”

Kazanjian paid off his bet on April 1 — or April Fools’ Day — making his kids suspect he might back out again. But he went to Olde Media Tattoo in Media to get his very first ink from someone he trusts, Mike Del Buono, whom he has known over two decades.

Kazanjian arrived at the tattoo parlor with friend Andy Milano and showed Del Buono the reference images for his tattoo. It was Del Buono’s job to first, not judge, and second, bring the image to life. He excelled in both.

But none of that answers the million-dollar question. A jersey of the Super Bowl MVP makes sense … but why Chester Cheetah?

The short answer: It’s a family thing.

In 2022, the family created a game to keep themselves occupied during road trips on the way to family vacations. As they traveled to South Dakota and Wyoming, they created their own version of the classic punch buggy car-spotting game. But instead of looking for Volkswagen Beetles, they would yell out, “Cheeto car!” when they saw a bright orange vehicle.

The game eventually expanded. Whoever guessed the correct number of cars they would see ahead of time would “win the vacation.” With each passing year, it became more and more competitive. They kept track of the winners, who would receive a Chester Cheetah Funko Pop as a trophy.

So far, Kazanjian is tied with his wife Elizabeth for the most wins in the family, holding the trophy twice in its four-year existence. For the father, the tattoo is more than just a reminder of his favorite team’s big win.

“People are very surprised when I tell them about [the tattoo]. Even more surprised when I show them because they still think I’m joking,” Kazanjian said. “I was a little bit surprised too when I saw how big it was. It’s definitely a little bit bigger than I expected. But there it is. So for me, it’s funny.

“But, it’s also a great reminder of two things. One, most importantly, of the kids and the road trips and the family time. And then two, just an incredible dominant win over the Chiefs and the Super Bowl. So, for something so stupid, it holds a lot of sentimental meaning.”

After getting his first tattoo two months after Super Bowl LIX, Kazanjian doesn’t expect to get another anytime soon. He does, however, have a different perspective when it comes to adding permanent ink to the body.

“I’m not in a hurry to get a second one, but it’s definitely not out of the question,” Kazanjian said. “I used to try to talk to people out of tattoos and tell them they’re going to regret this decision, that it’s going to stay with you the rest of your life. I actively talked people out of them throughout my life, and now look at me.

“I can’t do that anymore because they have the ultimate comeback. ‘You have Chester Cheetah wearing an Eagles jersey.’”