One of the Greatest Weekends in Philadelphia Sports

 

For a city of long suffering fans this past weekend in Philadelphia was a long time coming.  It marked the best 36 hours in Philadelphia history.  And I was fortunate to be able to be part it.  Here’s a condensed recap:

 

I first arrived to Philly about 1am on Friday and as I got off the plane I knew that the Phillies were in the World Series.  Everyone was decked out in Phillies swag.

 

Saturday I woke up to rain, wind, and cold weather.  The news media was giving weather updates every five minutes.  It did not look good at all that Game 3 was going to happen.

 

I took the Broad St. train down to stadium and it was just nuts…”Let’s Go Phil-lies” chants during the entire standing room only ride.

 

The McFadden’s Bar in Citizens Bank Ballpark was the only place open and it was just slammed with fans as it was raining like crazy. 

 

The Flyers were playing the NJ Devils at the Wachovia Center just across the street as the game was moved up to 4pm to accommodate the baseball crowd.  I thought it was cool that they handed out rally towels with the Flyers logo on one side and the Phillies’ logo on the other.  The Flyers won in OT!  The place erupted when Philly scored the winning goal.

 

The Penn State/Ohio State game was on and for once, it was all Nittany Lion supporters.  As I Buckeye fan it was difficult to hear the fans go nuts for Penn State, but as you can imagine very understandable and found myself actually pulling for them.  I wanted all the Philadelphia valley sports teams to win.

 

It was raining so bad I thought for sure it would be postponed.  But around 9:30pm the rumors were flying that the game may start.  So I entered the ballpark and went to my seat.  After a 91 minute delay, the ballgame began at 10:06pm.  Nuts!  I figured FOX would prefer to postpone the game and air it on Tuesday – better ratings!  The game ended up being the lowest rated World Series game ever.

 

I hate to say it, but I left early.  I left just after 1:00am and went back to my hotel bar to watch the ending, which got over around 1:47am. 

 

I did meet this guy Wolfe who claimed to be with The Who.  He was from London and was just a riot.  And with him was a journalist from Ireland who was in town doing a story on our Presidential election.

 

I went to sleep after 2 just to be woken up by the hotel fire alarm at 8:24am!  Damn, the entire hotel had to be evacuated.  Still no idea what happened.  It last about 20 minutes.

 

I ended up going back up to my room and got another hour or two of some much needed rest.  Then it was back to South Philly for the Eagles/Falcons game. The trains were plastered with fans in green and red.  A lot of Eagle fans, including myself were wearing both.  I wore my Donovan McNabb jersey and a Phillies cap.

 

The game was packed and electric.  I have been to many games in the past, but this felt was very different.  Fans were definitely routing on the Birds, but they were also doing a ton of “Let’s Go Phil-lies” chants.  A first in Lincoln Field.  Normally you only hear “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!” cheers.  It was surreal hearing a Phillies chant inside the Eagles’ nest.

 

Eagles won 27-14.  The Phillies fever definitely struck the Eagles’ faithful.

 

After the game I had a few hours so I took the train back to my hotel and had a blast doing the Eagle and Phillie chants during the ride.  I had to refuel with a tasty Italian Hoagie and put on my Phillies jersey.

 

I headed back down on the train and this time it was a sea of red and even more “Let’s Go Phil-lies” chants.  I was like a little kid at my first ballgame.  I was just amazed and proud to be a Philly fan.

 

It was so packed on Broad street with the fans still remaining from the Eagles win, the tailgaters for The Who concert and of course the Game 4 crowd.  The crowd was so lit up.

 

It was a huge difference from the night before, no rain!  The pregame party was nuts!  They had a live band called Mr. Greenjeans, a staple in the area.  Many locals know them from their appearances down the shore every Sunday night at Ocean Drive in Sea Isle.  They sang covers from everything from AC DC to U2 and even had their own Phillies song that was a remake using Twist and Shout.  Fans were wild!  So was I!

 

Finally got into the stadium and walked around a little since it was raining the night before and didn’t have much time.  I was standing in the concourse waiting Patti Labelle do the national anthem and TBS’s Craig Sager came up to me.  He asked me if they had done introductions the night before.  I said yes around 10pm.  He was cool!  He actually was wearing normal clothes – he was off!

 

The game was electric!  It was a great start as the Phillies got one in the first inning.  The highlight had to be pitcher Joe Blanton going yard.  He was the first pitcher to hit a homerun since 1974 when Ken Holtzman of the Athletics.  Blanton got a curtain call!  A pitcher getting a curtain call!  It was his first career extra base hit.

 

The entire game felt similar to atmosphere in Game 7 of the Dbacks/Yankees in 2001, but with more meaning and passion.

 

With Cole Hamels on the mound tonight, his postseason 4-0 1.55 era record gives the Phillies a great shot!

 

Tomorrow Philadelphia hopes to see their first championship parade down Broad Street since 1983.  For the great people of the city they call Brotherly Love I surely hope so.  I am just so bummed I won’t be there to witness it first hand.

 

Go Phils!

 

BTW: My camera phone sucked!

written by Roc