Philly in a Le’ Vacuum
Pretty good read in today’s Globe and Mail.
Funny though there is no mention of how moronic Canadiens fans have been through the years, especially if you attend a game “up there” and wear another team’s colors.
Or how stupidly insane the Habs fans have been this year alone: whether it’s rioting after game 7 against the Bruins, trashing Montreal, or burning cars, dozens of arrests, or pouring beers on a rival players in the penalty box (Mike Richards), or just wearing way to much Axe body spray.
I don’t remember anyone in Philly rioting after a hockey game or burning a car (maybe a ref’s car … but never a random car.) No, when the Flyers win at home, the faithful usually pack up in carloads of 2s and 4s or more and head to their favorite bar or gentleman’s club to keep the party going.
Who in the hell has time to riot when there’s still almost 4 hours of drinking left until last call? That’s the true difference between Flyers fans and Habs fans:
1. No one from Philly would pour a perfectly good beer on a player. That’s what surplus nachos and cheese are for but never on a player. Rival, annoying fan? Sure.
2. No one has time for random violence when their social priorities are in order:
A. Go to game, have a good time, win or lose. Boo loudly if required.
B. Think about leaving game a little early if Flyers are winning, to beat the traffic out of the lot as to not waste precious drinking time.
C. Call or text other friends throughout the arena to coordinate after-game destination. Or consider calling it a night after the game, as to save your good behavior points up for the playoffs or a better future game perhaps anchored by a holiday weekend. This choice is one most married men have to make every game … it can be tough.
D. If the decision is to hit the clubs, get there ASAP, continue you’re night out (text or call the wife to let her know that you’ll be home “in a little while” … whatever that really means, no one knows. If you’re really buzzed, don’t bother making the call. It will only hurt the cause.
E. Make sure someone is sober to drive. Always keep a Phillies hat in plain view in case you’re pulled over by the police. Nothing else screams “Cut this sap a break” like a Phillies hat. Also never greet an officer at your driver’s side window with: “We’re coming from the Mutha F’ing Flyers game. Wooooooo!” It’s been done and it never works they way you want it too unless you’re Rick Flair.
D. If you run into rival fans socially after the game, buy them a beer.
I’ve hung out with many a rival fan after games and there is never ANY hostility in the City of Brotherly Love. Many a rival hockey fan throughout Philly has drank a beer on the house.
Like the players, we leave it on the ice.