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World Series rivalry splits family loyalties

In many households in the region, the decision is clear-cut - rooting for the Phillies in the World Series is as natural as breathing.

Stephen Rupprecht, originally from Long Island, is a Yankees fan. His wife Sharon, from Lafayette Hill, is a Phillies fan. Their son Matthew, 18 months, is a Phillies fan because of a previous bet. Sharon is expecting and the new baby will become a fan of whichever team wins the series. ( Sharon Gekoski-Kimmel / Staff Photographer )
Stephen Rupprecht, originally from Long Island, is a Yankees fan. His wife Sharon, from Lafayette Hill, is a Phillies fan. Their son Matthew, 18 months, is a Phillies fan because of a previous bet. Sharon is expecting and the new baby will become a fan of whichever team wins the series. ( Sharon Gekoski-Kimmel / Staff Photographer )Read more

In many households in the region, the decision is clear-cut - rooting for the Phillies in the World Series is as natural as breathing.

But in some quarters, the Philly-New York rivalry has divided households.

Take the Rupprechts of Conshohocken. Stephen is from Long Island and roots for the Yankees. Sharon, who grew up in Lafayette Hill, backs the Phillies.

It gets more complicated when you consider that last April, unsure where their newborn son's baseball loyalties should lie, the Rupprechts decided that Matthew would root for whichever team won the World Series first. The fate of Matthew - who was born on a night when the Yankees lost to the Red Sox, an omen perhaps - was sealed last October, when the Phils finished off Tampa Bay.

"It breaks my heart," said Stephen Rupprecht. "My wife wanted to be nice and said, 'We can put him in his Yankees shirt before the Series starts.' I said, 'No, he's a Phillies fan, he wears red.' "

But hope is on the horizon, Stephen said. Sharon is expecting another baby in March, and his or her future fandom rides on the outcome of this Series.

Stephen could use some company, he said. Sharon, 34, comes from a big, Phillies-loving family, and they aren't afraid to give Stephen a hard time.

"They have made it very clear that I'm the enemy now," said Stephen, 39, an administrator at Drexel University. "I know they're kidding, but it's going to be a very interesting Series."

No matter what happens, the Rupprechts have vowed to stay cordial, even if the games are close.

Tricia Pompilio and husband Vince Savarese have made no such promises.

Tricia, 33, grew up in North Jersey and is a serious Yankees fan. Vince, also 33, was raised in Ohio with no particular baseball affinity, but became a Red Sox fan at Boston College. When they moved to Philadelphia in 2000, he switched his allegiance to the hometown team.

The two fell in love in college despite their stark baseball differences. A Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan who stubbornly refused to remove her Paul O'Neill jersey, even when taunted at Fenway Park? Practically Romeo and Juliet.

"We managed to get over the baseball thing," Tricia said. "But we did have some really hostile times."

With the Phillies and the Yanks in different leagues, most of the year Tricia has no problem with Vince wearing red.

"I enjoy going to see the Phillies during the season," said Tricia, a production manager for television commercials. "But now, it's on."

While Tricia likes the Phils fine as long as it's not the postseason, Vince doesn't feel the same about the Yankees.

"This off-season, they got the three most expensive free agents on the market, and now they're in the World Series," said Vince, a doctor. "The Yankees represent all of what's wrong with baseball."

In the background, there was a sharp intake of breath.

"Tricia's glaring at me," Vince said, a little proudly.

Less clear is who will win the loyalties of their daughter Fiona, 20 months. On a day he knew Tricia was taking her out, Vince dressed Fiona in a Phillies sweatshirt, a move that infuriated Tricia.

"She's going to wear her Yankees sweatshirt all this week," Tricia said. "I can't wait. I'm the one who dresses her most of the time, so he has no chance."

Game 1 will be on television tonight in the Pompilio-Savarese house in South Philadelphia, of course. Probably on two televisions.

"When we watch the Red Sox and the Yankees, we have to go in separate rooms. It depends on who's winning and who gets mad," Tricia said. "There's a good chance that we'll have to watch these games in separate rooms."

Then there's Ron Mickey of Malvern, a Phillies diehard, who made a bet with his niece and her husband, Pam and Nick Salimbene of Bethlehem.

If the Fightin's prevail, Mickey will send Phillies World Championship T-shirts, and the Yankee-loving Salimbene family will have to wear them in their Christmas card photo. And vice versa.

"I promised him I would," Mickey said, "but I'm afraid it would sear my skin."

The Phils-Yanks series has not only split some families. It's also causing fans with divided loyalties some angst.

Nina Spagnoli, for instance, loves both teams, and is driving herself crazy trying to decide which one to root for.

She's also deciding which jersey to wear at game time - Derek Jeter of the Yankees or Raul Ibanez of the Phillies.

"I never thought I'd have to choose like this," said Spagnoli, 23, of South Philadelphia.

In 1999, her uncle took her to her first baseball game - Phillies vs. Yankees - and she's loved both teams ever since.

Spagnoli, who works as a cashier at Shank's Original Uptown at 15th and Sansom Streets, plans to watch tonight's game at a World Series party at a friend's house in South Philly.

"During the day, I'll wear my Jeter jersey, because all the other girls at work will be wearing Phillies jerseys, and that will be pretty funny," she said. "But when I go to the party, I'll probably just wear my Ibanez over Jeter."

Then again, she said, maybe it would be better to wear Jeter to the party and wave Ibanez - with "Rauuuul" on the back - as a rally towel.

With her favorite teams going head to head, it was just too close to call yesterday.

"It is really tough," Spagnoli said. "I just don't know."