email this
print this
reprint or license this
CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer
Sharing a high-five (minus four) at the Citizens Bank Park store are Bill Lemon of Glendora and son Sean, 4.
- Want World Series tickets? They'll cost you
- Inside the Phillies' celebration
- Phillies' Moyer at last reaches World Series
- Red Sox surge back to beat the Rays
- Phils vs. debate? Not even close
- No Phils cap for William Penn this time
- Phils savor pennant but work not done
- E-mails full of e-lation
- Who's next?
- Francona, Maddon reflect on ties to Phillies
- Game time moved for Obama
- Todd Zolecki: The Phillies Zone
- More on the Phillies
- Buy Phillies jerseys, t-shirts, hats, and more
- Purchase Phillies playoff photos reprints
Photos: 2008 Phillies - Championship wallpaper
- Relive the memories: Coverage of the World Series run
RELATED STORIES
READER FEEDBACK
Who was your favorite player of the playoffs?
(May vote for more than one)
SAVE AND SHARE
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Phillies have region rejoicing
At this time, in this city, it is difficult, nay, impossible to overstate the healing power of the Phillies' National League championship. A triumph so rare and so sweet, the city woke up delirious yesterday morning, as if the Santa Ana winds had blown in from Los Angeles, dusting the city with mood-elevating confectioners' sugar.
"It's an amazing euphoria," said Jeffrey Nerenberg, a 40-year-old lawyer from Plymouth Meeting.
He had sneaked away from his office, where he practices personal-injury law, to join the mob at the Modell's sporting-goods store on Chestnut Street in Center City.
"I wanted to feel the pulse," said Nerenberg, a lifelong Phillies fan. "And see the gear."
From the official shop at the stadium to the improvisational sidewalk sales in the thick of pedestrian traffic, Philadelphia celebrated by spending obscene amounts of cash on enough Phillies shirts, caps, car air fresheners, grill covers, baby bibs, pennants, sweatshirts, socks, wall clocks and fuzzy blankets to make up for the last 15 years of tsuris.
What? The word is not familiar? It's Yiddish for pain and suffering. And the feeling had been like one huge communal downer that cuts across every ethnicity, class, gender, and American Kennel Club breed.
The relief energized (almost) the entire region, inspiring even marginal fans to buy masses of useless junk.
"I promised myself if it went into the World Series, I'd buy a T-shirt," said Anita Rubin, who took a break from her job at a consulting firm to patronize a sidewalk concession across from City Hall.
Is she a big fan?
"Ah," she said. "You know," she said. "Sure." And with that, she handed over $20 for two shirts - one for her, one for her husband.
Ta Williams, 36, who has sold T-shirts at the stand since he was a teenager, said business had been hopping since the night before, when he and his coworkers plied Broad Street until 2 a.m. "I stopped counting after the 20th dozen."
His stand also carries a wide variety of Barack Obama shirts and one John McCain style. But yesterday, the shipments of Phillies shirts couldn't arrive soon enough. "It's time," Williams said, "to do a party."
No rest for the revelers
Just before 7:30 yesterday morning, dozens of fans were gathered at Philadelphia International Airport when the World Series-bound Phillies' Delta charter landed. Soon, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and the rest of the hometown heroes filed off the plane to a cacophony of car horns.Wearing a Rollins T-shirt and carrying a Fightin' Phillies towel, Kathy Ann Henhaffer, 50, of Glendora, arrived with fiance John Rowan, 45. After the previous night's series clincher against the Los Angeles Dodgers, she confessed, "I don't have any fingernails."
She said they had watched until the final out, woken up early, and decided, "Come on, we're going to watch them land."
George Ganley of Southwest Philadelphia made a detour from his night-shift job at the Food Distribution Center to cheer the conquerors.
"Happy isn't the word. Exhilarated is," said Ganley, who will turn 34 on Wednesday, the day of the World Series opener. "It's the perfect birthday present. Hopefully someone will buy me tickets."
From the airport, the Phillies took a bus to Citizens Bank Park, where they were saluted by about 75 fans. Among them was Mayor Nutter, who declared that "it's a wonderful time in the city."
He had watched the last game at Chickie's & Pete's sports bar in South Philadelphia. "It was totally crazy," he said. "The building may have slightly moved." - Sam Wood
Rivals give us a mouthful
Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. was gloating about the second bet he had won over council members in opposing cities, first Milwaukee and now Los Angeles.
