What A Day – Let’s Cut To The “Chase” – and How About That Septa Team
Fantastic day. I’m in a window viewpoint from the seventh floor of the Brownstein building at Broad and Walnut. I stick my neck out. There is a sea of non stop humanity north, south, east and west, on rooftops. Before the parade, after the parade, during the motorcade, the sound roared up and down big, daunting Broad Street. It was, and will remain, the most electric day in the recent history of Phillies-land.
While reporting “live” for KYW Newsradio. I can’t forget all the great people I met along the way, the people jammed into the subway. those on the street, the others helping people out with directions. I can’t forget the Phillies floats. with all the employees on them. not just the super players who made it happen, but the entire team. I remember the ticker tape confetti streaming down from the high rise concrete canyons and the most exciting act of all – THE UNIFYING FORCE THAT BROUGHT ALL THESE PEOPLE TOGETHER FROM All CORNERS OF All THREE STATES, AND THE GREAT CITIES.
What a joy. One of the best moments in my Philadelphia life.
A few arrests? Sure. But a majority of soulful people, hundreds of thousands, enjoying the beautiful day in the sun.
And yet, there were missed opportunities. The Police and Fire Departments were super. The City’s imagery was gorgeous, but Septa?
I was caught in the crush on the way down and the way back. The crush was the biggest ever, but Septa managers were rarely found. Cars on the subway and rail lines were jammed to the point of breathlessness. Most of all, I regret those in wheelchairs who were denied access to the trains, because no one listened to them. I saw this. Too much of it, and it was a shame. It was also a shame to the little kids who were almost crushed on those trains. There was no disciipline. There was no one telling people to get on or get off. It was dangerous. And we were lucky no one was hurt. Sadly, thousands missed the event. Sadly.
SOME UNUSUAL MOMENTS OF THE DAY:
Semi-streaker, wearing red underpants, running south on Broad.
Woman with baby. She was wearing a red Phillies cape and pushing a carriage.
Beach ball battles in the crowds. Boos and cheers.
Super Phillies man, caped and all. Who was he?
Chase Utley. Mr. Clean, uttering the four letter no-no on LIVE TV and Radio. Yes, Chase it is the World Bleepin Champions, but Chase, kids are watching and listening. But this is the stuff of legends and legends were made on this wonderful day. No question there will be soon be tee-shirts with the words that Chase uttered.
Yes, it was a day for memories – a Philadelphia holiday.
Halloween? It was just an afterthought after our big day in the sun.
Comments(27)
It’s only a word Larry..and most likely those little kids who are watching and listening probably have heard the word uttered before. thank god chase said what everyone was thinking. awesome chase! and maybe instead of ripping chase you should say ”septa f**king sucks”!!!
shouldnt the kids have been in school? and I am sure those fans have called him worse during certain parts of games during the season
Larry,the kids hear worse at the playground,school,home,tv the comedy channel,hbo,,the fans will be happy to hear him say it again in 2009,,septa was the big loser,,septa police was nowhere to be seen,,Chase Utley is the best Phillies player since Mike Schmidt,what Utley said was a shocking but the fans gave him the loudest ovation..
Larry,John Mccain has taken the lead in atleast one poll,this election may turn out to be as exciting as the the World Series..
aHHH!
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Now that I’ve had my BM, and the parade is over Larry, can we please refocus on the election? Where are they hiding that ass wipe Joe Biden? I can’t wait until my income can be given to people who don’t pay taxes. Why did Biden lower the income limit for tax cuts to $150k, does he not even watch Obama’s commercials where it was $250k, then $200k. Now the Mexican, Richardson, lowered it to $125K, three more days to lower it below six figures, anthing is possible once the Democrats are in charge! I feel really dirty for voting Obama. If you’re not sure vote McCain, you’ll feel better about yourself even if he loses.
Larry, does PLO connnection to Obama concern you, or is that just right wing crazy talk? Israel will be in for a rude awakening under Obama, but we’ll have plenty of mideast oil, so it’s not all bad.
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Arrrrrr. Says I the HMS McCain may not be sunk yet. It took on a large part of the sea when he made Palin first mate, aye, but avast! He has unleashed the most negative cannonade of grape shot ever in a campaign. Principles be damned, thinks I. He has become the candidate who beat him in South Carolina in 2000. Says I he needs an eye patch. He’s already got a parrot in Sarah, maties.
Will Obama turn out to be a fluke, a flip flopping flounder or an exotic tropical fish? I myself would have preferred a “rock fish” but that ain’t on the menu. We got whale blubber and McMakeral or Nemo and all of his friends. What a country………
hey,did the cheapskates obama camp ever come up with the street money?I did not see a follow up story on it,but the last I heard, it was suppose to be an HONOR to serve him on election day,
Without street money who is going to do all the grunt work? And with the price of gas, who is going to donate their time and money for the KING.
Does anyone know how much or if there will be street money?
McCain just lit up a crowd in Wallingford PA, with Ridge and Lieberman in tow. Cindy looked fabulous surrounded by other blond stepford wives! If he repeats that speech over next two days he has a shot at PA, if only he had been talking like this two weeks ago. I would now cancel my absentee ballot and vote for him if I was going to be in PA this Tuesday. My family is furious with me, and I’m starting to think they have a right to be if PA ever turns out to be FL circa 2000. Take another look at McCain if you haven’t voted yet, he might still be in it, if you’re a fence sitter vote McCain, its a safer choice of two risky bets.
No real Philadelphian will ever forget that electrifying Friday on which we celebrated our world-champion Phillies and their world class fans. We cheered them in our streets & in our stadiums. We welcomed them into our homes & into our hearts.
Nor can we forget last Wednesday night, when, in a nano-second, the Fightin’s erased decades of yearning and self-doubt for this town with a dazzling display of red blooded talent and blue collar tenacity.
We will forever recall how they restored hope for the fans who let the legendary “Philly curse” rob them of their optimism. The Phils may not rise above William Penn in our history, but their achievement is towering in the legend and lore of Philly sports.
This quietly confidant, totally committed team did it the old fashion way: No bragging. No bull. Just professional Baseball at its best.
In an instant, the Phillies turned Citizen’s Bank Park from a field of dreams to a land of legends.
Their moment of victory transcends sports. It brings a sense of unity and common purpose to a region scarred by years of division over race and politics, economics and education. We’ve been bad rapped as the most bitter, brutal fans in all of sports. It may be that best antidote for Philly’s acrid Atty-Tood is this sweet victory.
Maybe you want to analyze what happened here on Friday afternoon, by the numbers:
? Two million people jammed city streets.
? Over a million riders brought SEPTA lines to a slow and frustrating stop
? Hundreds of thousands more watched on TV, listened on radio or viewed online.
I think it’ s safe to say those fans were all inspired by the dignity and spirit of this incomparable crew, even if Chase Utley did do a live audition for Howard Stern’s job on local television and radio.
For any parent and youngster who loves this truly American game and admires the people it shapes, like Souderton’s Jamie Moyer, the Phillies’ victory serves as lasting reminder that the lessons learned playing a kid’s game on neighborhood ball field, can make you a champion in sports and in life.
To the world the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies are the acknowledged Kings of Baseball. But, even better to us in the Delaware Valley, they are Row House Royalty. They have been publicly anointed in a cascade of champagne and an avalanche of confetti as our Hometown Heroes. They bring us honor and validation. So, on this night, and for seasons to come, we will sing the praises of the 2008, World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Our song is a rhapsody in red and white and it might be the sweetest sound a Phillies fan has ever heard.
Paul Gluck
Ready for a shock? Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!
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“Winning Isn’t News”
By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY
Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn’t tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we’ve defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq ….
London’s Sunday Times called it “the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.” A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.
The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush’s surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.
We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.
Al-Qaida’s loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province , which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.
Now, in Operation Lion’s Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.
Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.
Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has achieved “satisfactory” progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks “a big change for the better from a year ago.”
Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates , which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.
But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, “the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks “that signaled political progress.”
The war in Iraq has been turned around180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don’t seem to consider this historic event a big story.
Copyright 2008 Investor’s Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.
Addendum: The reason you haven’t seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple–journalism is “dead” in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who apparently would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful response to 9/11.
Thanks WRH, of the US Media/Press has changed a ton since your day. After giving Obama an 18 month lapdance, they haven’t had time to report the news. Each reporter now cares this card in his/her wallet/purse:
Democrats = liberal = GOOD
Repulicans = conservatives = BAD
Please report accordingly.
Larry, the Phillies should be more concerned about how Chase hit against the Rays (and the 2nd half of the season) than an off the cuff remark at a rally.
Where will the Leo and Larry Lovefest be held on Wednesday to celebrate the Liberal mandate after the election? Woody’s?
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Woody’s after some serious shopping at KOP Mall.
My comrades and I will drink vodak from Gumm Emporium! Yea socialism! We will then begin Great Leap Forward Mark II and imprison everyone who voted for McCain and the other robber barons. Their homes will be awarded to the homeless. Property is theft! FREE AIR for all!
Also, I think McCain has a career on SNL ahead of him. Or maybe he could be a sitcom actor or late night talk show host.
Leo, I advise you to save your money and lube up good. It’s going to get ugly. You may think of yourself as a liberal but likely not a communist. I suspect that this will evolve into more of the latter.
At least McCain has a sense of humor. He’ll need it as he reflects on the last 6 months: his failure to communicate a message and the media’s blatant bias.
Media bias. Right up there with Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny. McCain should take ownership of his failure. After all, the media didn’t choose Palin or decide to suspend the campaign during the week of the bailout package. Those two black eyes were self-inflicted. And McCain refused to speak with the press, cutting them off. How is that “media bias”? Or did Katie Couric use mind control on Palin to make her sound like a nincompoop?
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night.
The media has not looked into anything in Obama’s mysterous past. 18 month lapdance. No scrutiny whatsoever. Not even a drive by glance. We now know more about Sarah Palin in 2 months than we do Obama in 1 1/2 years. Go figure. Free ride. Free pass. Lapdance. Coronation. Camelot. Manchurian Candidate. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Leo, you may not be as smart as you think you are but you are certainly smart enough to see that. Or blinded by the light………………
Larry, here we are on the the eve of the presidential election and you have no final words of wisdom to add to the debate. What are you doing? Your whole blog has been dedicated to this election. On the last night you turn up empty.Where are you?
Yeah he was blinded by the light cut loose like a deuce,
Another runner in the night blinded by the light.
Mama always told me not look into the sights of the sun,
Oh but mama that’s where the fun is.))
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AHHHH!
OOOJ, I don’t know how you have managed to miss all of the media coverage of Rezko, Wright, etc. The problem for McCain is that Hillary dragged all of that out and got it covered during the primaries. Ergo, it was not “news” by the time the campaigns began in earnest. It isn’t a lack of coverage. The facts were out there. They just weren’t repeated endlessly as they were on FOX. But, then, news organizations (aside from FOX and Olbmermann) are not supposed to be propaganda organs.
Also, in contrast to Palin, it helps that Obama didn’t say endless stupid stuff. She had the lowest bar ever in a VP debate — she got points for being able to read her talking points without crying or peeing herself. By any objective assessment, her performance was miserable.
Anyway, starting Wednesday, it’s a new America. You don’t need the bullet when you’ve got the ballot. Are you up for the downstroke, CC?
WRH ,The reason your “news story” isn’t a headline here( beside the fact that this is 4 months old and is an opinion piece!)is because we aren’t in Iraq to fight al Qaida. That group, for the most part, wasn’t there till we arrived. The threat is in Afghanistan. That’s where al Qaida still flourishes and has increased in strength over time. We may need a surge there to combat the rise in terrorist groups through to Pakistan. Full disclosure, please.
Leo , I don’t even know if Obama is eligible to run for president let alone being capable of handling the job. Any American worth his muster would have plenty of doubts voting for the man from Kenya er er… I mean Hawaii.
Ed, thanks for the laughs. When you can’t win on the issues, resort to scurrilous fabrications! It’s teh hawt! And it isn’t working for McSame!
I’m going to pass on the “victory” celebration at Woody’s tomorrow, Comrade.
And the candidate from…..the People’s Republic of Hawaii????