Waiting at the starting line outside 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 their left shoulders as they prepared to run in the sensory event for the Eagles Autism Challenge in May.
To add more fun to the day, both Kazanjian and Hulitt wore matching tattoos of Chester Cheetah in a Jalen Hurts jersey. The tattoos were identical, down to the trigger finger pose.
The only difference: one would wash off by the end of the night. 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 against 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 children: Atticus, 16, Elise, 13, and Clark, 10. Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, the lifelong Eagles fan told them he would get a tattoo if the Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
To make it more interesting, he said they 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. He backed out.
This time, he said, there was no 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 – April Fools’ Day – making his kids suspect he might back out again. Instead, he went to Olde Media Tattoo in Media to get his first ink from someone he trusted: artist Mike Del Buono, a friend of more than 20 years.
Kazanjian arrived with his friend Andy Milano and showed Del Buono the reference images. Del Buono’s job was to not judge, then to bring the design to life. He excelled at both.
But that still left the million-dollar question. A Super Bowl MVP jersey made sense. But why Chester Cheetah?
The short answer: It’s a family thing.
In 2022, the family created a game to keep themselves entertained on road trips to vacations in South Dakota and Wyoming. Instead of punch buggy, they played their own version by calling out, “Cheeto car!” whenever they spotted a bright orange vehicle.
The game grew competitive. Whoever guessed the correct number of cars ahead of time would “win the vacation.” They tracked winners, who received a Chester Cheetah Funko Pop as a trophy.
Kazanjian is tied with his wife Elizabeth for the most wins, each holding the trophy twice in its four-year history. For him, the tattoo represents more than just a big football 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 said he does not expect to get another anytime soon. But he has a new perspective on permanent ink.
“I’m not in a hurry to get a second one, but it’s definitely not out of the question,” he said. “I used to try to talk 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.’”