Philly Sports Today

Pandemonium. That’s probably the best word to describe the city of Philadelphia during its parade to honor the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. The entire parade route–from 20th and Market Streets all the way down to the Sports Complex at Broad and Pattison–was jam-packed with wall-to-wall people. Early estimates are 2 million people. It was totally nuts the entire time, including on the bus and subway heading down to South Philly. SEPTA clearly was not ready to handle the flood of people that swarmed the city early this morning.

Pat Burrell led the parade on a Budweiser beer wagon pulled by Clydesdales with his wife and bulldog also on board. The rest of the team was split up on either double-decker tour buses or long, flatbed trucks. The parade took almost twice as long as they originally expected and fans flooded the street as the cars made their way to the stadium. Once they made it down to the stadium complex, the team did a victory lap at Lincoln Financial Field and Shane Victorino, Jamie Moyer, and Charlie Manuel gave brief speeches. In my opinion, it was clearly not worth being at the Linc during the parade.

I was one of the lucky few who was inside Citizens Bank Park for the celebration. It was absolutely incredible. They raised the 2008 World Series flag. They introduced every member of the team, including guys in the front office and random coaches and the like that nobody even cared about. It was still fun though. Everyone initially came out and took a victory lap in a convertible. Then there were tons of speeches by Pat Gillick, Charlie Manuel, Mayor Michael Nutter, Harry Kalas, and pretty much every important player. Chase Utley gave the best speech hands down. Utley started it off by saying, “World Champions. World f-ckin’ Champions!” The Bank exploded and the players thought it was hilarious. It was awesome. Jimmy Rollins poked some fun at the fans booing the Phils at times during the season and also took some shots at the Mets. That was pretty cool as well. Finally, the team took a victory lap around the field, with Shane Victorino carrying the trophy, as confetti rained down from the sky and fireworks were set off. It was such a fun day and an unforgettable experience. I never thought I’d see the Phillies win the World Series, but now that I’ve seen it, it is truly fantastic.

In the words of Cole Hamels, “One thing I can’t wait to do is go down Broad Street for that parade again and again and again.” We can’t wait for it either, Cole.

Go Phillies.