With Great Power...

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are going on right now, and fans are getting some great games. Today, the Philadelphia Flyers won their third game of this round against the Montreal Canadiens. Being a Flyers fan myself, I thought back to the amazing victory of the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series in 2008. There were some sad videos that were on the internet of the outrageous 'celebrations' our fans in Philly had. The most infamous was the one of the guy up on a traffic light pole, taunting the people below, then getting hit in the head with a vodka bottle and knocked back down to the road below. How is acting like a fool showing the world how you support your favorite team? There were reports and worries when the Canadiens made it to this round of the playoffs. They only flipped about 5 cars and set stuff on fire, acting more riotous then celebratory. Again, how does this show team love? When the Phillies had the parade through the city, roughly 2 million fans showed up and celebrated the team. I was there, I was one of them. The parade had some drunks I am sure, but any issues were dealt with right away. I witnessed personally a fight get broken up by some police officers, many of whom were in plain clothes to help with crowd control. This kept problems to a minimum. I only hope that if the Flyers are able to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, or even win, that the city of Philadelphia will not look the fool again. There is a history of the 'Broad St Bullies' and the history of the Flyers being a very physical team. This I understand. But the fans here in the City of Brotherly Love have a bad reputation for being violent and out of control. Who honestly hasn't heard of the Snowballs thrown at Santa? Or the Batteries thrown at J.D. Drew? Who never heard of the time that the Eagles fans cheering when Michael Irvin was injured during a game? A sad, but funny story of the building of the Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles, was that before and Eagles game that former Cowboy great Troy Aikman was announcing, he visited the new field. Some workers heard he was there, and introduced themselves to him, then asked a favor. They asked him to go lie on his back on the newly installed Sod field to see if it was softer then Veterans Stadium, a place Troy had played in many times, and been sacked many times in. (thus lying on his back) I like that story of gentle teasing by Philadelphia fans. I have been to many sporting centers across the country, and find it amazing that the worst fans I have encountered were not in Philly, but in Chicago. My best friend and I were in the front row of Soldier Field, and were dressed in Vikings gear, as they were playing the Bears that night. (I am an Eagles fan, but am not a moron. I will blend "when in Rome"!) Just 5 rows behind us, 4 guys who were in Vikings gear also were taken out after getting the shit beaten out of them. In the 6th row!!! Most of the horror stories of Philly fans rain down from the '700' level seats, not 6 rows off the field. Now, I am not saying that all Chi-town fans are like the guys around the Vikings fans. I am merely saying that I saw this first hand! But how many people take the stories of the Philly fans at face value? C'mon Philly, let's show the world we can be good true fans, without being stupid!