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| Monday, June 27, 2005 |
| Finy in Philly |
Finy in Philly
Getting up at 5:30am on a Saturday is not exactly my idea of fun. But, as those of you who don’t live in the home city of your favorite team already know, sometimes you need to make some sacrifices to feed your addiction. And on this day the Red Sox were playing down in Philly and damned if I wasn’t going to be there.
The trip did not start out well. After boarding the bus at Port Authority at 8:15, driving ten blocks, sitting for 45 minutes in a maintenance lot, returning to Port Authority, and switching busses, we were finally on our way at 9:30. The delay put me in my friend MC’s childhood home at around 11:30, which didn’t put us at the park until noon.
We met up with the Welshman, the Welshman’s friend and J at the bar attached to the park, a place called McFadden’s. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that it was EASILY 50-50 Sox fans to Phillies fans. The bar was overcrowded, but a good place to grab a drink before going into the park.
And I’ve got to say that park is gorgeous. It was much more intimate than I would have thought a field of it’s size could be, and incredibly clean. For Saturday’s game we were sitting in the Terrace Deck (read: the upper deck) up the right field line. The view was better than any other “upper deck” I’ve ever been in including Camden Yards.
The game, of course, was a thing of beauty. Clement went 7 innings with one earned run, the bats were absolutely on fire. It was a great game to see. The Phillies fans, at least in our area, got very quiet very quick. It was like they had given up. By the time we had scored 5 runs (which was only the third inning) most of the Phillies fans had gone completely silent. Now, I know being 5 runs down, but with it only being the third inning, it felt like they were rolling over and playing dead a little. This includes my Philly Fan friend MC. She found some friends, wandered down to the bar, and saw maybe a few pitches here or there after that.
The story wasn’t the same Sunday. (yes I am completely skipping over Saturday night. There’s a reason for that. What happens in Philly stays in Philly. Or so I’ve decided anyway ;) Let’s just say they do seem to have quite an active nightlife down there!) By Sunday the Phillies fans were just angry. Our seats on this day were directly behind home plate (again in the “Terrace Deck”). Before the Phillies came back to tie it (which I think we all saw coming when Embree was brought into the game) there was a lot of booing going on. If the fans weren’t silent, they were yelling obscenities at their own players. It was a bit disconcerting actually. Perhaps I should have seen it coming when on the way to the park a pair of sports talk radio hosts were insinuating the one of the reasons the Phillies lost was that they didn’t have enough fans in the stands. These guys were literally taking their own fans to task for not buying enough tickets that the Sox fans couldn’t get in. Because that would have gotten them 6 runs. *Finy shakes her head*
At the time of the game I was pissed. I was pissed that we let them get back into it, I was pissed that we couldn’t hold the lead. But overall it really didn’t detract from what a fantastic two days at the park it was. Good friends, good games.
Oh and Rebecca … on returning to Port Authority late Sunday night I was able to confirm that the stickers are, in fact, still there :) |
posted by FINY @ Monday, June 27, 2005   |
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| 4 Comments: |
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Yay!!!!!
(macca- not if her mom reads this!)
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Hahaha Rebecca - actually SHE already knows the stories, and macca it wasn't quite as fun as your Friday night.
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