Walking toward his apartment donning a backwards Philadelphia Phillies cap and matching jersey, sophomore Brandon Dohanicz stepped over a half-eaten chocolate chip cookie on Montgomery Avenue after spending time “partying in the middle of Broad Street” following the Phillies’ 10-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night.
Down the way, between 12th and 13th streets, Insomnia Cookies was distributing free treats to celebrate the Phillies’ National League Championship Series win, putting them in the World Series for the second consecutive year.
“We were passing by [Insomnia] and yelled, ‘If I buy two, can I get three free?’” Alhaji Sesay said as he endured a 15-minute wait for Snickerdoodle and oatmeal raisin cookies with his friend and recent Temple graduate, Donovan Young. “We were just joking, but [the worker] said, ‘It’s free.’”
Unfazed by free cookies, Dohanicz was also unworried about the mixture of Temple and city police blocking Oxford Avenue and 13th Street, along with other roads surrounding Main Campus.
“The police don’t want us to run down [Broad Street], but they’re nice enough to block off the street for us,” the entrepreneurship major said.
Becca Lewis, a sophomore education major, said she had received the e-mail from Campus Safety Services enforcing the city’s “zero tolerance” rule, but wasn’t worried about any arrests being made since she hadn’t seen any violence.
“You could go up to anyone, hug them, and they’d be your friend right now,” Lewis said, noting that the officers standing guard “seem bored.”
While neither Temple Police nor members of the Philadelphia Police Department were at liberty to comment on the evenings’ festivities, officers stood in full uniform, clustered on sidewalk corners while conversing with each other as well as Phillies fans.
Stopping briefly at a patrol car outside the Liacouras Center, three freshmen females screamed “Go Phillies,” at two Temple police officers – who smiled and gave the freshmen two thumbs up – before continuing their brisk walk down North Broad Street.
“We saw people running everywhere,” one of the girls, university studies major Sammie Schweiker, said.
Schwiker and friends Caitlin Cassidy, a psychology major, and Carly Hahn, a university studies major, joined the masses when they saw empowered Phillies fans celebrating from their dorm window.
Lacking power was 50-year-old Rose Costa’s car’s horn, which broke as she beeped at other cars and pedestrians to find a parking space near Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
“It was blocked off all the way down to Hunting Park,” the Philly native said.
“We just wanted to see all this,” said Rodney Ellison, 50, who had accompanied Costa to witness the dancing crowd spill into the normally busy intersection. “We old, but we ain’t out of it.”
While Ellison said he had observed a similar scene in 1980 when the Phils beat the Kansas City Royals to clinch the World Series win, senior communications major Dusha Holmes had only seen last year’s victory over the Colorado Rockies.
“It’s been years since the city has had championships,” Holmes said. “The city needs this.”
Ashley Nguyen can be reached at ashley.nguyen@temple.edu.
Be the first to comment