Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Dwindling numbers of stinking Mets fans are invading Philly

What in the name of David Wright is going on here? And just when did Phillies fans start taking that "City of Brotherly Love" stuff so seriously?

What in the name of David Wright is going on here? And just when did Phillies fans start taking that "City of Brotherly Love" stuff so seriously?

It wasn't that long ago that boosters of the New York Mets were about as welcome here as the German Army in the Soviet Union during World War II. But now it seems Phanatics are going the "Kumbaya" route with Mutts - er, Mets - fans.

A stroll along the Citizens Bank Park concourse prior to last night's series opener between the NL East rivals provided a most unexpected - and somewhat nauseating - sight: People in Mets gear cordially walking and talking with those in their Phillies finest. And we're not talking one or two such pairings. This ostensibly odd-coupling appeared to be the norm.

For instance, Andrew Losi - dressed in a black Mets sweatshirt and green Mets baseball cap - walked among three co-workers, all of whom were rockin' Phillies caps and jerseys. Didn't these guys ever hear of the enmity between the camps?

According to Losi, a Holland, Bucks County, resident who, like his three buddies, is an employee of a Northeast Philly online network company, any rivalry has pretty much evaporated as the two franchises find themselves heading in opposite directions. The Phillies are currently seen as the "Yankees of the National League," while the Mets are a national laughingstock, thanks to their on-field ineptitude and off-field financial woes from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi-scheme scandal.

"I don't think [that's the case anymore], they're in two different leagues now," offered Losi, 31, a Brooklyn native. "Every year, the Phillies get the big free agents, and because of the scandal, nobody wants to go to the Mets."

He said that's the reason the Mets hordes who used to overrun Veterans Stadium when the team played there have shrunk to barely noticeable among the Phillie-istas who cram Citizens Bank Park.

Rudy Kappra, 53, of Paulsboro, N.J., was part of Losi's group. When asked how he could possibly be seen in public with a Met-lover, Kappra said it was irrelevant because he saves all his contempt for the Atlanta Braves. "The Mets could win five World Series, and I'd still hate the Braves," he declared.

Out on Ashburn Alley, Stephanie Drum, 29, of Hamilton, N.J., paraded around undisturbed in a replica Mets home jersey accompanied by her mother, Patti Coniglio, whose own wardrobe identified her as a Phils' loyalist.

Drum acknowledged that a few years ago at a Phillies-Mets game, a group of male Phillies fans threatened her with bodily harm. But these days, she offered, she's a lot more likely to be pitied than scorned.

"Of course, people hassle me," she said. "But now they make fun of me and say they feel sorry for me."