At approximately 9:52 PM Wednesday October 29, 2008 The Philapelphia Philles won the World Series at Citizen's Bank Park in Souh Philadelphia, PA!!! It was 28 years since the last time the Phillies won & only the 2nd World Championship in their 128 year existence!! Likewise, it was the 1st World Championship won by a Philadelphia team representing one of the four major sports teams in 25 years. It was magnificant to be there in the city watching w/ my 88 year old grandmother & my father, celebrating on Broad St. just minutes after recording the final out. Easily 200,000 people poured into the street to celebrate screaming & chanting "We Win!!". Young, old, rich or poor it didn't matter. The Phillies have just won the World Series!! The waves of emotion washing over everone was truly a sight to see. As well as attending the parade held Friday in the city w/ at least 2.5 million lining the sreets to cheer the team as they rode by on flat bed trucks. I was there w/ my brother & one of my oldest friends along w/ his 12 year old son who was pulled out of school to experience this party.
And for me, watching the trophy presentation on national TV & hearing We Are The Champions played for MY team! I have waited forever to experience this moment! Finally!!! For the last 72 hours it has been wonderful to hear a local radio station dedicate this song to the team & the city. As well as commericials playing the chorus while congratulating the team. I'm sure there are other Zoners from the Philly region basking in this great moment! Heres to all of you as well, We Are The Champions!!!!
Go Phils!!! I was going to head to the parade yesterday. When I got to the train station (still an hour outside of the city), there was no parking, and a huge line of people waiting to get to the platform. As much as I love the city and the Phillies, I could not bother myself by waiting with the crowd. I changed my plans and headed to the Delaware shore for some photography. I did get to watch the parade from an Irish Pub in Lewes, DE.
iron eagle wrote:
well as long as a Philly resident and Mummer that i was
i must admit to still being loyal to Boston teams...so i was bummed Boston didnt make it
i am sure the party was fantabulous and i myself would have enjoyed it tremendously...
Philly was always a great place to party...... i miss that
and frankly could have used it this past week....
Darling, you never told me you were a Mummer! We can publicize that!
Elmer Fudd Gantry wrote:
Congrats to the Phils. That does not take away from the fact, however, that Philadelphia sports fans are the worst fans on planet Earth.
you've never been in the vicinity of Croatian or Spanish football fans then,they still live in the dark ages when it comes to racist chants at coloured players
Elmer Fudd Gantry wrote:
Congrats to the Phils. That does not take away from the fact, however, that Philadelphia sports fans are the worst fans on planet Earth.
That is a gross misunderstanding fueled by a bias media. The people who may fit that description are NOT Philadelphia sports fans. They are the bandwagoners that jump ship at the first sign of adversity & personally I resent when people lump me & the rest of the die-hard fans into that category.
Also, Iron Eagle & Crazy Little Thing, I too am a life long Mummer, Marching in my first parade in 1978 at 9 years old. Continuing three gererations of my family as a mummer. I marched for 16 years retiring in 1993 from the Greater Overbrook Stringband where I was a banjo player. Since then I have not missed a parade on Broad St. as a spectator.
It has nothing to do with the media, it has to do with how Philadelphia fans are. I've been to the Vet, haven not yet had a chance to go to either of the new fields, but the fans are the same.
The "City of Brotherly Love" gets left at the stadium gates, man. Philly fans are horrible. They boo their own team!! The boo Santa!!! They will boo anyone and anything whenever possible. They love to throw shit on the field and torment their players. They will turn on a player in a heartbeat.
In December, 1989, two days after one of the worst ice and snow storms in recent Philadelphia history, Jimmy Johnson arrived with a young Dallas Cowboys team that would go on to greatness -- but now had to face Buddy Ryan and his menacing "86 defense," which devoured young quarterbacks and ground their bones into the green cement surface of the Vet turf.
City workers had done their usual bang-up job clearing the snow; and by the fourth quarter of a lopsided game, the fans were left to their own devices -- not a good idea in the only stadium in the country that housed its own municipal court to deal with misdemeanors and mayhem.
Police officers often were posted in plainclothes on the infamous 700 level to collar the more creative hooligans. For example, any fan wearing the jacket or jersey of the opposing team usually required a little help getting down to one of the lower levels -- just a nudge, a push, or full body toss would do.
Up on the 700 level that day against Dallas, a very prominent attorney was taking bets that nobody could throw a snowball and hit the Cowboys bench from that distance. By the fourth quarter, the police were involved. After the game, Jimmy Johnson needed an escort through a hail of white projectiles.
Of course, the snowball-throwing contest became bigger news than the game itself. And the next day, that famous attorney was exposed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. His name is Edward G. Rendell. Two years later, he was elected mayor of Philadelphia. He's now governor of Pennsylvania.
•In 1999, fans jeered Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin as he lay on the field for 20 minutes, suffering from a neck injury that ended his career.
•That same year, fans threw D batteries at St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew, who held out for a year after the Phillies drafted him and eventually signed with the Cards instead.
•Matthew Scott, the only person in the United States to have received a hand transplant, was asked by the Phillies to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team's home opener in 1999. The pitch, from his transplanted hand, dribbled over the plate. The fans booed.
•The place was considered so rough that the city opened up a jail — complete with a court and a judge — inside the stadium after a particularly nasty bout of drunkenness and fighting at a Monday night game between the Eagles and 49ers in 1997.