Parade of stories along Phillies' route
For Devin O'Toole, yesterday's parade was a Halloween exorcism of countless defeats, and he brought along a list of demons he wanted banished.
He and his 11-year-old brother, Fintan, had stayed up until 2 the night before, crunching stats to figure out who would make the roll and who would be spared.
CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer
An enthralled police officer offers applause as the World Series champion Phillies pass her on their triumphant ride down Broad Street to Citizens Bank Park.
In the end, it held dozens upon dozens of names, meticulously categorized by sport, of former Philadelphia athletes who had failed to cover the city in championship glory. Eagles Mike Mamula and Freddie Mitchell; Phillies Antonio Alfonseca and Mike Zagurski; 76ers Shawn Bradley and Matt Geiger; Flyers Joni Pitkanen and Roman Cechmanek; on and on, and on and on.
"Now, these guys don't matter," said O'Toole, 22, of East Falls. "This Phillies team has reversed the curse."
To celebrate the end of a bad spell, the city of champions filled to bursting, as hundreds of thousands of fans descended on it for a parade a quarter-century in the trying.
The throngs were so overwhelming that fans had to climb trees and lightposts to catch glimpses of their favorite players passing by. The anticipation was so intense that the crowds let loose a giant roar as a Parking Authority tow truck went down the parade route before the procession began. And the screaming was so relentless that one clever street vendor sold cough drops.
It was a dream come true for Phillies fans, each of whom had a story to tell.
At 11 a.m., Sylvia Boodis, 85, was making surprisingly fast progress with her walker, cutting through the crowd that grew thicker by the minute on 19th Street.
She had just left the beauty shop and was going back to her home in Kennedy House when a shirtless fan stumbled into her path.
"He said, 'Hello!' And I said, 'Oh, boy. Are you loaded!' "
A few steps further, however, she encountered John Kane, a 28-year-old mortgage consultant from Media. Seeing that Boodis was having trouble getting her walker onto the sidewalk, he helped her negotiate the curb.
"I love Philadelphia," she said. "I love Philadelphia."
- Melissa Dribben
With an hour to go before the parade, a police officer stopped on Market Street to fix his bicycle's flat tire. A fan caught sight of his fetching black T-shirt with "Philadelphia Police Narcotics Strike Force" on the back.
"I'll fix your tire for you if you give me that shirt," yelled Pat Flynn, 32, a furniture refinisher from Marlton.
The officer ignored him.
"Twenty bucks for the narc shirt!" Flynn called out again. This time louder.
He persisted until finally the officer walked over to Flynn, smiled, and whispered a phone number.
