This past weekend, the Flyers beat division rival New Jersey in overtime, the Eagles had a come from behind victory against the surprising Falcons, and the Phillies are only one win away from the city’s first professional title in 28 years.
That’s all great, but I’m more interested in some other Philly developments. No, Rocky Balboa isn’t making yet another comeback, and neither are the peep holes in the Eagles cheerleaders’ locker room.
This is something much more monumental.
The final week of October may end up being remembered in Philadelphia as the time when the curse of the William Penn statue was destroyed (weather and Phillies bullpen permitting), but for me it will be remembered for two things:
1. Throwing a smoke bomb on the ice
2. Heckling a baby
Yes you read that correctly. Yes, both of those things actually happened.
Saturday in overtime of a key early divisional game that the Flyers desperately needed to win, somebody went Euro soccer fan and threw a smoke bomb onto the Wachovia Center ice. A smoke bomb.
Later that evening, the father of Tampa Bay Rays utility man Ben Zobrist, reported that a Phillies fan verbally abused the baby he was holding (not clear if it was Ben Zobrist’s kid or not) who had the audacity of walking into Philadelphia wearing Rays gear. A baby.
Of course this should surprise absolutely no one. This is, after all, the same fan base that booed Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, gave a standing ovation as Michael Irvin was nearly paralyzed, and had to have a court room installed in the bowels of the Vet because it became too much of a burden to the police department to move the numerous unruly Eagle fans every Sunday to a police station.
Heckling a baby, though? Come on!
It’s a freaking baby! A baby has no control over the clothes it wears. It has no idea what the World Series is. And it obviously didn’t get the memo not to rock Tampa Bay gear in the house that Mike Lieberthal built.
I honestly don’t know which act was worse. On one hand, throwing a smoke bomb onto the ice has to scare the crap out of anyone in the stands in a post-9/11 climate. On the other hand IT’S A FREAKING BABY!!!
A couple years ago, my family and I went down to Cardinals spring training in Florida. We started talking to some ex-STLers now living in the Philly area. I foolishly asked “So do you guys see the Cardinals when they play in Philadelphia?”
The father stared at me like I was an idiot and said, “No, we have children. Those people are insane.”
After heckling a baby and throwing a smoke bomb on the ice, I now see what he meant.
This is by far, a new low, even for this city. We can all only hope that the Tampa Bay Rays come back to win the Series and make this band of fat ass, cheesesteak sucking, Rocky extra wannabes wait at least one more year for a pro sports championship so they can continue to blame a statue for their futility.
Or they can win it all, and get right in that baby’s face and show it how dumb it was to rep another team.
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