Phillies’ loss paves way for celebratory alternatives

I had my riot helmet and green-man suit sitting on top of the TV so they would be within reach if the Phillies won the series. My friends and I were speculating as to what we would see our fellow drunk Phillies fans do this year in terms of rioting.

Last year I saw cars being flipped, stoplights being torn from the ground, windows being broken and dumpsters being torched while an ocean of complete strangers embraced each other in total excitement. It was a wonderfully reckless scene of celebration and debauchery. The Discovery Channel placed us second on their list of “worst riots.” That was only one of the things Philly had to brag about that year.

We had a little taste of victory last year, and if we had won this year, it would have been worse (or better, depending on how you planned on celebrating). But what’s in store for us now? No parade? No late-night stumble to Pat’s Steaks? No green-men? I guess if there were going to be any riots this year, they would have been out of anger.

If you’re like any other red-blooded Philadelphian, you hate to hear the words, “Well, there’s always next year.”

But we want our celebration now. So how do we do it? I propose one of the following ideas:

Travel to New York and crash their parade: What better way to get back at the city who took our dreams away than to show up to New York, let them know we’re angry, and riot in their city? It would certainly let them know that we’re ready for next season, if not confuse or startle them. I hear the rioting in New York is fantastic this time of year.

Go to more Eagles or Flyers games: If we’re going to do any celebrating this year or next year, we have to be prepared. And there’s no better way to practice your public drunkenness skills than to tailgate at a major league sports arena. Everyone there is either ranting about Philadelphia sports in a drunken condition or very well on their way. Go there, and perfect your craft.

Riot Anyway: If there’s one thing Philadelphia is known for, it’s our passion for our teams, whether they win or lose. I’m sure if there were to be news footage of us rioting after we lost the series, the rest of the country would not be surprised one bit. In fact, I bet that they were expecting us to do it anyway, and why let the rest of the country down? If we don’t riot soon, the Yankees have truly won.

So turn that post-season frown upside down and don’t give New York the satisfaction of seeing us upset. Show the Yanks that while they celebrate for the next few days, we’re getting ready for next season right now.

Andrew Alexander can be reached at andrew.alexander@temple.edu.

SEPTA strike keeps some Game 6 watchers home

With SEPTA on strike, many of Phillies’ faithful were forced to abandon their usual sports bars and watch Game 6 of the World Series from their living rooms Wednesday night.

Popular spots for game-watching around the city were virtually unreachable for Temple students who rely on the subway and buses.

Tim Brodwater, a senior journalism and theater major, watched the game from his Kardon apartment with a few friends.

“I’m pretty annoyed that I can’t go out into Center City tonight,” he said. “I was looking forward to having a few drinks, but I don’t really have money for a cab home from the bars so I’m staying in.”

Brodwater tried to see the silver lining. “At least SEPTA waited until the games were back in New York to have a strike,” he said.

After making a comeback in Game 5 and moving on back to the Bronx, Phillies fans were hopeful for another win. The Phillies tried to overcome the Yankees commanding lead and take it to Game 7, but just couldn’t hack it last night.

Ryan Howard, who was holding the record for most strike outs in the post-season (13 in all), redeemed himself with a two-run homer during the sixth inning. Hearing fellow fans’ cheers in neighboring apartments through a wall or open window served as part of the charm of watching the game from home.

The cheers turned to sighs of disappointment when the Phillies fell to the Yankees. Shane Victorino got the third out in the top of the ninth and New York became the 2009 World Series Champs for the first time in nine years, and the 27th time in the team’s history.

Sadly, many fans stranded at home, like Brodwater, couldn’t even order a double whiskey to console them after the 7 to 3 loss.
Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.eduS.

Game 5 and mystery Phillies liquor shots please crowds at South Street bar

Part five of a multi-part series.

Many fans watching World Series Game 5 at the bar North on Monday night were skeptical at first, in part due to the Phillies’ performance in Game 4.
“Word on the street is the Yankees are going to let us win this game so they can beat us in their own state,” said Donnie Biresch, a sophomore Temple student.
Biresch’s conspiracy theory didn’t stop him from accepting the free celebratory “Phillies shot” North granted its game watchers during the seventh inning. North’s Phillies shot ingredients are unknown, but it was red, potent and crowd-pleasing.
The 222 South Street establishment is co-owned by Phillies fan Ben Reiter, originally from Long Island.
“There is a direct correlation between how much money the bar makes and how much I like the Phillies,” he said of his fandom.
“This is the kick-start I needed, the Phillies and Halloween.”
The token die-hard fans were in attendance at North, as well. One of them, decked out in Phillies garb, said he came all the way from Wisconsin to watch his favorite team.
The bar was filled with cheers and high fives when – thanks to Cliff Lee – the Yankees came up short in the ninth.
As Biresch predicted, the Phillies took Game Five, 8 to 6, and the Series makes its way back to New York for Game Six on Wednesday night.
Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

Students swing like the pros

Just in time for Phillies fever, 6ABC brought a pro pitching simulator for a demonstration.

Baseball fans swung for the fences Thursday, Oct. 29 on Main Campus – the virtual ones, that is.

They may not have been able to launch a ball down Liacouras Walk or onto Broad Street, but batters had the chance to swing at high-speed pitches from a virtual player in a state-of-the-art pitching simulator.

The ProBatter Professional PX2 simulator was set up outside of Maxi’s and 7-Eleven on Liacouras Walk for three hours.

The self-contained unit measures a massive 80 feet by 20 feet and was brought to campus in the spirit of the Phillies’ World Series appearance through sponsorship by local television station 6ABC.
Many students, however, had no idea the simulator was coming to campus.

“At first I thought it was a moon bounce, but I was excited to see a batting cage,” senior natural sciences major Garry Cole said.

ProBatter Representative Adam Battersby said the company’s public relations firm pitches potential demos to media outlets during the times around Opening Day and the MLB postseason. This postseason alone, the simulator has been to 10 locations – Thursday’s appearance at Temple was its fourth in the Delaware Valley.

“It’s a fun, basic entertainment machine,” Battersby said.

But ProBatter simulators can be anything but basic. The systems, used by MLB teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, can throw faster than 100 mph and can be adjusted to throw different types of pitches.

“This simulator can pitch at speeds up to 90 mph, but we’ll keep it around 65 [mph] today,” Battersby said.

Matt O’Donnell from Action News was the first to step up to the plate.

O’Donnell swung and missed the first three, finally making a connection on the fourth pitch. On the seventh pitch, he made a hit that would have likely hit Annenberg Hall had safety nets not been set up along Liacouras Walk.

The segment was taped for a portion of Friday’s morning newscast.

O’Donnell joked with the crowd of students, “Who’s going to be the first to hit one into Mr. Dickinson’s science lab?” after a ball escaped through a hole in the netting.

Temple senior Cole was the first student to step into the batter’s box.

“It’s different than a batting cage because of the video screen,” Cole said of his experience. The 8-by-10-foot projection screen displays a high quality image of a pitcher winding up, as a ball is thrown from a hole matching up to the pitchers’ release point.

“I didn’t know what to expect. It threw all strikes and was very realistic,” senior Hebrew major Ari Charlestein said.

Charlestein, who was decked in Phillies gear head-to-toe, said he hasn’t played organized baseball in a while.

“The best part is,” he said, “it’s fun and free.”

Matthew Wargo can be reached at matthew.wargo@temple.edu.

For baseball, they’ll be Philadelphia fans

Two Philadelphia men appreciate one of the city’s sports teams: the Phils.

Qurhir Duncan and Shawn Hyman are both lifelong Philadelphians, but the two men are only loyal to one of the city’s sports teams.

“I only like the Phillies,” Duncan said, a blue and red Phillies cap resting on top of his head. The two men were spending their Sunday afternoon at the North Broad Street Deli on Broad Street and Susquehanna Avenue before the fourth game of the World Series that night.

Duncan said he would be watching the Phillies take on the New York Yankees from the comforts of his own home Sunday night, but that afternoon he and Hyman would be rooting for the New York Giants over the Philadelphia Eagles.

“[The Eagles] are all right, but I’m a [San Francisco] 49ers fan,” Duncan said. “I grew up liking and watching them.”

Hyman deemed himself a “die-hard Steelers fan.”

“I don’t know why I was born in this city,” Hyman said. “I get harassed all the time, every week. I’m known for being a Steelers fan.”

However, Hyman remains loyal to the Phillies, going to Lucky Strike Lanes on Broad and Chestnut streets almost every night the baseball team plays.

“They get the people together,” he said. “It was only a little taste when they won last year.”

Duncan, who ran down Broad Street toward City Hall with the masses when the Phillies won the World Series, agreed.

“We need some good spirit in the city,” he said. “There isn’t a lot. That’s why their wins are so good.”
Whether the Phillies win or lose, Hyman jokingly insisted the city took a turn for the worse four years ago.

“Ever since [Allen] Iverson left the Sports Complex, the city went down,” he said, laughing.

Ashley Nguyen can be reached at ashley.nguyen@temple.edu.

Restraining the riots

While the Phillies’ wins in the last two years have rejuvenated the city, fans’ reactions to engage in risky behavior afterward are neither safe nor ideal.

Despite feeling that sport-watching is a lackluster hobby, I was thrilled when the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in their second National League Championship Series victory in two years.

But that tiny spark of enthusiasm I had inside me quickly dulled, as soon as I realized that Broad Street was shut down. That planned trip to Melrose Diner at 1501 Snyder Ave. wasn’t going to happen.

After the Phillies won Oct. 21, Andrew Bush of the press office for SEPTA said portions of John F. Kennedy Boulevard and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway were cut off. These blockings are appropriate for events that involve these streets being used as entertainment venues, such as the shows every year on July 4. They are not, however, fair or convenient when you are trying to get from point A to point B and your route is altered because of hundreds of rowdy fans.

When the Phillies won the World Series Oct. 29, 2008, an intense wave of happiness and joy swept through Philadelphia and its neighboring counties. Fans cheered, yelled, celebrated with drinks and proceeded to march to City Hall. It was at this point that things went sour.

That wave of happiness and joy was followed almost immediately by a wave of off-the-wall behavior. Cars were flipped, fires were started, and Phillies fans generally acted like barbarians as they formed a sea of red and white T-shirts on a path to City Hall.

This kind of celebration leaves me wondering what happened to the good old days of pouring Gatorade all over yourself and your friends when the home team won a game. Apparently, they’re long gone, since celebrating victories seems now to be all about the thrill of risky behavior.

“Risk-taking has two faces,” said Frank Farley, a psychology professor and former president of the American Psychological Association. “The negative shows itself in terms of criminal rule-breaking of civil life, such as tearing things down or setting things on fire.”

Farley, whose expertise is in risk-taking, said the positive face of risks include creativity, great accomplishment and inventiveness.

But Phillies fans are far from wearing the positive face of risk-taking.

Megan McEachin, a junior political science major and Phillies fan for two years and counting, recalls the riot last year. She described it as the “most insane time of my life.”

“I didn’t destroy anything, but I was there, and I left before the cops were [forced to take action],” she said. “It was very fun, but if I had to pay for the wreckage, then seeing random people pulling off bus stop overheads and hanging from posts would make me try and stop it, too.”

The Phillies victory two weeks ago and the ensuing chaos were nowhere near as bad as the incident last year. Blocking off Broad Street was probably a reason for this, though the blockage didn’t necessarily stop fans – especially Temple students – from trying to make their way to City Hall or gather on North Broad Street for a miniature celebration.

I know last year’s car-flipping, fire-starting celebration was primarily a result of the excitement of a 28-year wait for a World Series win. Adrenaline kicks in, and before you know it, you’re engaging in risky behavior because of the thrill and the rush.

But taking risks, regardless of adrenaline, is not conducive to your public record.

“If you take risks out in public, such as tearing a sign, police could catch you,” Farley said. “Your whole career could be impacted by something you did in an impulsive moment.”

While this is very true, the more important thing to remember is that this behavior endangers others. Philadelphia is already labeled as one of the nation’s most dangerous cities. Instead of having a round of beers at the bar or returning to our old Gatorade-pouring ways, fans that participate in these riots only add to the list of reasons why.

While this behavior goes on in other cities as well, this year we should try to have our (hopefully) celebratory fun in a more traditional, civilized way.

Joshua Fernandez can be reached at josh@temple.edu.

Phillies’ tough Game 3 loss doesn’t phase Halloween partiers

Part three of a multi-part series.

With Halloween and Game 3 of the World Series falling on the same night, Saturday proved to be horrifying for more reasons than one — for most it was the blood-smeared zombies skulking around the city, and for the remaining few it was the Phillies’ crushing second defeat in the Series.
Many college students opted to follow the game from a house party rather than the usual bar or pub so as to celebrate the holiday in costume with friends.
At one such party in University City, students from both Temple and Drexel came with the intention of watching or listening to the game while drinking and dancing.
Unfortunately most were easily deterred – come 1 a.m. no one knew the final score of the baseball game.
“Let me call my dad and find out,” said one Temple partier.
Upon confirming the Yankees 8-5 victory over the Phillies, there was a moment of silence to recognize the loss.
On the other side of town, South Street was still packed with pirates and Lady Gagas until after 3 a.m. Here, too, few seemed affected by the Phillies loss.
At Lorenzo’s Pizza, one overzealous Yankees fan began a “Let’s go Yankees” chant. Surprisingly, only one person came the Phillies’ defense and shouted back, the rest were unfazed, more concerned with consuming their pizza.
It seemed as though this Halloween, the candy, costumes and games trumped fan-hood, for Philadelphia’s twenty-somethings, at least.
Phillies fans have another chance to get their act together in time to cheer on their team for Sunday night’s Game Four.
Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

Yankees fans outnumber Phils supporters in near-campus bar for Game 2

Part two of a multi-part series.

Main Campus appeared empty Thursday night, likely because everyone was indoors watching Game 2 of the World Series.
However, on the west side of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Pub Webb was bustling with activity. The year-old bar turned out to be a safe-haven for misfit Yankee fans stuck in the wrong city.
Fans wearing both Phillies red and Yankees blue looked evenly matched by the door, but after venturing inside further, dozens more Yankee supporters were discovered.
The large group of said Yankee fans congregated in the back of the bar, loudly cheering on their team — A major behavioral difference compared to the modest Yankee fans witnessed during Game One.
Erika Sutliff, a junior advertising major, didn’t wear any Yankees garb, but said she was proud of her favorite team nonetheless.
“I am not intimidated. I love Philly, but when it comes to the World Series, I’m going for the Yankees. I will be out for every single game,” she said.
Pub Webb is a lifesaver for Yankee fans like Aaron Sheppard, who want to take part in the festivities while avoiding the hometown heat.
Sheppard, a chef at South Street restaurant Supper, only moved to Philly in September, but has already felt they city’s renowned “hospitality.”
“Today I was shopping at The Gallery for a new Yankees hat and a man walked up to me and asked me if I really wanted the Yankees to win. When I said ‘yes’ he pretended to shoot me with a hand pistol like six times,” he said.
Many of the patrons showing Yankee pride are out-of-state Temple students happy to root for their home team.
“My driver’s license says New York and I can’t switch teams at least until my license says PA,” said Jimmy Jones, a native of Queens, New York who graduated from Temple last May.
“[The Yankees] have 26 World Series wins. The city of Philadelphia has history, and they have history, too,” he said.
At one point, the nearly outnumbered Phils fans banded together to chant, “[Expletive] the Yankees!”
But Jones didn’t let it phase him.
“I love it. Next week when we win they’ll all be at home feeling sick,” he said.
And many Phils fans may just have been under-the-weather tonight, as the Yankees took Game 2, 3-1, leaving the series tied 1-1 for the teams to come home to Philadelphia for their Halloween-night matchup.
Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

Temple students, Phils fans out in full force to watch team’s blowout Game 1 win

Part one in a multi-story series.

Game one of the World Series kicked off Wednesday night, and Phillies fans were out in full force despite Mother Nature’s attempts to rain out the game.

Fox and Hound, one of Center City’s biggest sports bars, served as a perfect scene to take in game one.

By the bottom of the sixth inning, a mob of game-watchers already crowded the bar and began spilling out the door of the popular watering hole onto the corner of 15th and Spruce streets, as a brawl between a male Yankees fan and a gaggle of female Phillies fans was broken up inside the bar.

“The only difference between watching the game in New York and watching the game here is the number of people who get punched in the face,” said Phillies fan Jimmy Farrell.

A FOX-affiliate reporter in New York said Philadelphia’s only well-known athlete was Rocky, and he’s fictional.

“That insult is based on the presumption that the people of Philadelphia would take it as an insult,” Farrell said.

Clearly, participating in the series festivities is not for the faint of heart, even with Fox and Hound’s injury-preventative steps, such as only serving drinks in plastic cups and bottles.

Lifelong Phillies followers weren’t going to give up that easily. Alex Frigoletto, a senior marketing major at Temple, said following Philly sports is how she was raised.

“There’s a photo of me as an infant with a Phillies hat on, and another wearing Eagles stuff,” he said.

Surviving the upcoming week’s mania isn’t what Frigoletto is worried about, though. She said it’s her wallet.

“I’ll go out every night if my finances allow it,” she said.

Senior Ben Levy is proof that there’s no excuse to stay home on game night.

“I never come out, except now because we’re in the World Series.”

That sentiment goes for Yankees fans as well. Believe it or not there was a small group of Yankee lovers sitting at the bar. While they kept to themselves, many Phils fans couldn’t help but chuck drinks and trash at them.
Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

It happened…

I can’t believe it happened.

That’s the printable version of what I kept saying as I made my way from a house to City Hall a little after 9:58 p.m. last Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Phillies, the losingest team in the history of professional sports, won the World Series.

As I sit here a few days after reveling in the raucous mayhem of Center City last Wednesday and the unfathomably awesome parade last Friday, I still can’t believe it happened. I can’t get the smile off my face. I can’t shake this compulsive need to hug random strangers and joyously tackle people I know.

This all just feels too good. The wait to feel this kind of joy that only a major sports title can bring has been a long one — 25 years to be exact. Or, for most of us Philly sports fans at Temple, all our lives.

That’s why this title, in this town, with these fans, is so special.

We’ve been waiting a quarter century for it.

We’ve been saying “Wait ‘til next year” for more than 100 collective seasons.

We’ve been through Joe Carter’s home run, Scott Stevens’ hit, Ronde Barber’s interception, Ricky Manning Jr.’s three picks, Donovan McNabb’s vomit-laden rendition of the two-minute drill, a team from Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup, Allen Iverson skipping town and so many more depressing moments.

But without those moments, this World Series title wouldn’t even be as close to as special as it is.

For all the times we’ve asked “Why are we putting ourselves through this?”, for the all times we’ve lined up on the Ben Franklin Bridge ready to jump, last week was for that. Last week made it all worth it.

Now we know why we bombard Lehigh, Pa., for Eagles Training Camp and make the pilgrimage to Clearwater, Fla., for Phillies Spring Training, why we pack bars and tailgate in the dead of winter, why we taunt and fight with New Yorkers, Cowboys “fans” and everybody else. It all makes sense now.

It’s for this: the feeling of excitement, happiness, accomplishment and pride. It’s more than 1 million people flocking to South Broad Street or to Main Street in Manayunk or to Frankford and Cottman avenues in the Northeast on a Wednesday night to soak in an undisputed moment of bliss.

It’s a city of 1.5 million people and an area of more than 4 million people coming together as one. The only thing that counted was the Phillies and this city’s winning its first title in 25 years.

Everything else went away because of the Phillies. And no matter how much Commissioner Bud Selig ineptly tried to give the Tampa Bay Rays every chance in the world for the sake of television ratings, no matter how much Fox announcer Joe Buck blatantly rooted against the Phillies, they can’t take that title away from us.

The trophy is ours. It belongs to Philadelphia.

I still can’t believe it happened.

Todd Orodenker can be reached at todd.orodenker@temple.edu.

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