Boston vs. Philadelphia: a Super Bowl battle for historical supremacy

Sunday's Super Bowl 52 will be a battle between two historic northeastern cities as the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots meet in Minneapolis. New England fans are hoping to bring a sixth Super Bowl win back to Boston, while about 270 miles southwest, in Philadelphia, the Eagles want to give fans their first Super Bowl championship.

CBS News' Mo Rocca traveled to Boston and Michelle Miller visited Philadelphia to see how the super city battle is shaking out.

Boston (left) and Philadelphia CBS News

Philadelphia is the revolutionary city where the U.S. declared independence. But demonstrators in the Boston Tea Party might take issue with that. Ditto the patriots who fought the British at Bunker Hill.

Heroes including founding father Sam Adams were the first to protest taxation without representation here at Boston's Faneuil Hall. It's now a marketplace, but more importantly, this is the "cradle of liberty." But freedom rang with the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.  

There's plenty of shared history in both cities: cobblestone streets, historical guides dressed in period costumes, and centuries-old taverns where Revolutionary War stories abound.

Miller at Philadelphia's City Tavern (left) and Rocca at Boston's Green Dragon Tavern CBS News

The Green Dragon Tavern is just the ticket in Boston. Paul Revere was apparently partial to the place. But Revere also went to the City Tavern in Philadelphia in May 1774 to warn the city that the British had shut the port of Boston.

The City Tavern was also a favorite watering hole of Ben Franklin, the innovative founding father who invented the lightning rod and battery -- two things our lives wouldn't be the same without. But remember: Franklin was born in Boston. You're welcome, Philly.

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