Phillies Phrenzy: History in the Making

            It has always been rumored that Philadelphia is home to some of the most die-hard, sometimes a little insane, sports fans. I don’t know how many fans of other teams would agree, probably claiming that their city holds the most absurd fans, but there has been no lack of support for the Philadelphia Phillies from the city’s natives the past few weeks. Red Phillies shirts, hats, and banners hanging in windows are surely not in rare form on the streets lately, what with the team defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 4-1 series last week, becoming the 2008 National League champions. And now, after almost 30 years, the beloved Phils find themselves in the World Series, leading the Tampa Bay Rays three games to one.

            Although the Phillies are one of the most celebrated sports teams in Philadelphia, along with the Eagles, no one was expecting this time to come. The ‘Phillies Phever’ is spreading faster than ever, inviting long-time and bandwagon fans alike to share in the excitement. “It might as well be the game of the century,” said Philadelphian Jon Hernandez, who is currently a sophomore and residing at the University of Tampa.

The team’s true fans are not hesitant to display their loyalty, and that loyalty is in no way short of supply. “Philly fans up here constantly get bashed,” said Erica Matus, a freshman at the University of Scranton, “but that doesn’t stop everyone from wearing their red shirts and hats. The pride of the fans here is nuts. People actually get in physical fights over the Phils.”

            Aside from the sporadic fights that tend to break out over famed sports teams, this World Series is a way for people all over the city to unite. Old or young, male or female, black, white, brown or yellow, fans from every different environment have found common ground with one another, sharing their love for the game. Chris Weiseman, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep believes that the Phillies are “a legacy…and one of the only things that can unite an entire city usually divided by hate and violence. The Phils erase the hate in Philly and turn it back into the city of brotherly love.”

            Filled with brotherly love or not, It is no secret that the fans here can get a bit out of hand. Last night I had the possibly once in a lifetime chance to catch the subway down to the Citizen’s Bank Park and join the thousands of other people tailgating in both the stadium’s parking lot and the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles play, to watch game five of the series. Game five could have, ultimately, been the deciding factor for the outcome of the World Series, being that the Phillies only needed one more victory to win the series.

On the ride down to the game, the subway cars were packed with eager fans clad in any Phillies gear they could find, starting victory chants and becoming more and more energized about the game. Many passengers, clearly not over the age of 21 could be found with beer cans in hand, chugging a few ‘brews’ before they got to the stadium.

            Upon arriving at the parking lot, I ran into numerous tailgates filled with people huddled around television sets, bike cops breaking up fights and trying to pick out underage drinkers scrounging beers off of their older friends, and hoards of people jumping in front of TV cameras, trying to get their 15 seconds of fame. Anywhere I walked, people greeted me with cheers of delight and “GO PHILLIES!”

            Despite the freezing cold and the scattered rain showers, what seemed like half of the Philadelphia population showed up in the parking lot to cheer their team to a potential victory. However, those cheers were cut short at the bottom of the sixth inning when the game, tied at 2-2, was put on rain delay, and then later suspended, making this the first and only World Series game to have ever been postponed due to inclement weather. Many disappointed fans voiced their distaste about the postponement of the monumental game, some cursing Mother Nature, others cursing the officials who called the game.

            “They should have delayed the game when Rollins dropped the fly because the weather was so bad,” said Chris Weiseman about the timing of decision to postpone the game. “Instead they waited till the Rays scored. There was no way if the Rays hadn’t scored that the game would have been suspended.” Sharing Weiseman’s belief that the calling of the game was a mistake is Steve Stieffenhofer, a 20-year-old Philadelphian who stated that in waiting until the bottom of the sixth, pitcher Cole Hamels was robbed of a post-season record. “They took away something that meant so much to our beloved pitcher. He would have been the first pitcher ever to get 5 wins in the post-season and they decided to wait until the Rays tied the game. The choice of calls and no calls this series has been absolutely disgraceful on both sides.”

            Mike Miloradovich, a junior at Temple University, has his own theories as to why the game was called. “The baseball gods got mad at all the bandwagon Phillies fans and sent us a storm.” The wrath of the gods or not, the delay of crucial game five has been an upset for almost all Phillies fans. The game will pick up again tomorrow, Wednesday, October 29^th, and if the Rays come back to beat the Phillies, the series will move back to Tampa for game six.

            However, if the Phillies do reign victorious tomorrow night, it can be sure that no matter what the weather, havoc will be wreaked all through the streets of Philadelphia, just as it had when the Phils triumphed over the Dodgers in the NLCS. The streets at Cottman and Frankford, a popular area for sports fans to watch the game in the surrounding bars, will, without a doubt, be flooded with thousands of screaming fans, and cars driving down Broad Street will be honking their horns at pedestrians in celebration until the early hours of the morning. City Hall is also sure to be taken over by numerous Phillies enthusiasts if the team wins. There will also be a parade held in the streets of Philadelphia some few days after the winning game, much to the delight of fanatics everywhere.

            It can be said that this World Series is a huge step in Philadelphia’s history. The Phillies are off to a good start, and are less than half a game away from taking the title of World Series Champions. “Do it for Steve, beat the Rays!” said Alexandra Strockyj, a Temple freshman and die-hard Philadelphia fan, agreeing with the popular saying that the Phillies should avenge the death of Steve Irwin and beat the Rays. This surely will be a World Series for the books!

Into The Wild

            What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘hobo’? A dirty bum lying on the side of the street? A crazy toothless lady talking to herself as she roots through trashcans? An old man in torn clothes pestering you for spare change in the subway station? How about a teenage boy or girl hitching their way halfway across the country, living off the excessiveness of our culture, and having the time of their life?

            If you look up the word hobo on Wikipedia, you won’t find a description of some North Philly scumbag, but instead you’ll find information about a whole subculture of people, men and women, old and young, who choose to live their lives free of material dependency. Hobos, often referred to as ‘tramps’, differ from bums on the street in that they travel around, sometimes working odd jobs or playing an instrument to make a few quick bucks for food, a train ticket, or some green, whichever is most important at that moment.

            Many of these travelers have some sort of education, a family, and a place to go if they ever have to return home. So, why would anyone want to leave all of that to fend for themselves on the streets? For many, it’s a way to escape the commodity culture that has engulfed our society. For others, it is an open door to escape family problems or difficulties in their homes. Some simply just want to start fresh and prove their independency or fulfill some dream of being out on their own. One boy took fulfilling that dream of independency and made it a reality, taking busses and hitching rides all the way to Madison, WI within a week’s time.

            Tim Czarnecki, an 18-year-old boy from Roslyn, PA, decided it was time for some change in his life. He decided one Sunday night that he wanted to go to Milwaukee for an anarchist conversion, and arrived there on a Greyhound bus the following Wednesday, armed with nothing more than a backpack containing a sleeping bag, some socks and underwear, a notebook and a few extra layers of clothing. Four days later, in true tramping style, it was time to move on. Tim then hitched a few rides into Madison where he stayed for the next two months.

             Transportation, however, is sometimes difficult to come by for hobos. While on his way to Madison, Tim found himself stuck in Brookfield Wisconsin for two days straight, unable to catch a ride out of town. More often than not, the drivers of passing cars would display distaste for Tim’s grungy attire and shake their head or even counteract Tim’s hitchhiking thumbs up with a thumbs down of their own. Some older people would smile at the hopeful tramp, obviously reminiscing about their own carefree days of tramping, but would not stop to give Tim a lift.

            There are many other factors of tramping that one must consider besides getting from A to B, such as food and shelter. Food is often acquired by hobos by dumpstering or asking people who walk out of restaurants for their leftovers. “White boxes are magic,” said Tim, referring to the white Styrofoam containers that leftovers are carried in. Dumpstering is one of the more popular methods of getting food. According to Tim, he sometimes finds fresh produce and other kinds of food in “better condition than I would have in a fridge.”

Aside from finding freshly thrown away food in dumpsters, hobos sometimes find other things as well, such as shoes, electronics or furniture. ‘Hippie Christmas’ is a term widely known and celebrated by hobos. It is the time when the leases of the apartments in the area go up, and residents empty their apartments, sometimes throwing away most of their possessions. Tim said that some of his fellow tramps have found iPods, laptops, furniture sets, and a surplus of clothing.

Finding shelter is a whole separate, often challenging, process. There are three conditions that anyone seeking shelter outside must consider, those three things being bugs, wind, and rain. Sleeping under a tree takes care of the rain and cuts down the wind, but there is often many bugs around, and while there are usually no bugs on the roof of a building, there is little protection from wind and rain. Therefore, finding a good place to sleep can be very difficult.

Luckily for Tim, he was fortunate enough to meet some people who welcomed him into their homes. He stayed with a guy named Joey for a few days, a girl for a week, and three college girls who let him sneak into their dorm for the last two weeks he was in Madison. Between attempts to fight the wind and light his half-lit cigarette, Tim said that living in the dorm was beneficial to him because he finally had a shower and a couch to sleep on.

“Living and survival are two different things,” explained Tim. He said that once you find shelter and food, you have all the time you want to do whatever you want to do. Tim usually spent his days playing guitar either by himself or accompanied by another hobo that he met. Sometimes he would put out a hat for change, but he mostly played for his own enjoyment, to better himself as a musician and songwriter.

Tim said that, overall, the best experience of his travels was meeting all the people that he did. He said that he “met everyone from a six year old black girl playing my guitar, to a 70 year old alcoholic man.” He met tramps that traveled alone, with pets, family and even spouses. Tim went on to say that meeting these people was the most positive experience of his trip, sharing stories, laughs and bits of wisdom.

            Many people believe that the word ‘hobo’ only applies to the homeless bums on the street, but these people are severely mistaken. The hobo culture is completely different from anything most of our society has experienced. Call it a smart way to live life, or call it narrow-minded, but whatever you call it, the hobo lifestyle has been around for many, many years, and will continue to grow for years to come. So, next time you see a stray on the side of the road with his or her thumb stuck proudly in the air, don’t be afraid to pull over and help them out in their journey, I guarantee that they will appreciate it more than you know. Hell, you could even learn a thing or two from a hobo.