When the Phillies Won the World Series

This is the time of the year where all the baseball action turns from the players on the field to the players signing new contracts with different teams. At the end of the so called Hot Stove League I will present my thoughts on which teams were winners and which were losers in the signing contests. In the meantime, I will present blogs written by my Quinnipiac University students, currently enrolled in my Baseball and Statistics class. I hope you enjoy reading their personal stories about their relationships with sports.

The first student blog was written by Marissa Defanti. As a New York fan, I always heard how dedicated Philadelphia fans were to their teams. See why Marissa’s blog confirms my belief.

Everyone in the country and maybe even the World knows how important sports are to Philadelphia. When they win, we love our teams; when they lose, we love to hate our teams. At the end of the day, it’s all love. I’ve been a Philadelphia fan my whole life, living only 10 minutes from the city and 30 minutes from the stadiums. Some of my best memories include sitting in the K Lot, eating a hoagie and drinking iced tea with my best friends. The season usually ends in tears or anger, but in 2008, that wasn’t the case. There has been a myth up until this time that the reason our teams weren’t winning was because our City Hall was always meant to be the tallest building in the city, but recently it was not. In 2008, they built a William Penn Statue, Pennsylvania’s founder, and placed him on top of City Hall making it once again, the tallest building in the city, hoping this would end the curse.

I remember being lucky enough to attend the game where the Phillies won the NL East Conference and while I waved my rally towel in the air, I just knew this was going to be the year. The night the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, my entire family and all of my friends came over to watch the game. We had snacks and ice cream and were decked out in red clothing and face paint. It was an exciting night and one I’d always remember, win or lose. When Lidge threw that last strike during Game 5 of the Series, we all cheered and screamed in excitement. They finally won the World Series for the first time since 1980! My mom shouted that we had to get in the car to drive down Broad Street so we could celebrate with the rest of the city. We grabbed pots and pans and squeezed into our suburban, driving all the way with windows down and horns honking. It was a cold October night, but that didn’t matter, there was too much excitement and energy. It was so cool to see everyone driving around honking their horns and waving their flags. The entire city erupted in excitement and it really felt like we were all family. Random people would run up to you, giving out high fives and an occasional hug. It was the perfect representation of how we got the nickname, ‘City of Brotherly Love.’

The night ended and we all had school the next day, even though no one could sleep that night. The teachers couldn’t even focus, so we spent the entire day celebrating and talking about how great the game was and what we all did to celebrate. We were given Friday off so anyone who wanted to could attend the parade in Center City. I woke up early Friday morning and drove down to Center City with my two older brothers. I met up with all of my friends and we prepared for the parade to begin. Once again decked out in red, we watched the team carry the trophy around the city. The spirits were especially high that day and the curse had finally ended.
-by Marissa Defanti

Original Comments: