Whether you love them or hate them, Philadelphia sports teams breed some of the most passionate and knowledgeable sports fans in the world. Despite long draughts, elusive championships, and years of shouting, "there's always next year", there are no fans more loyal. Philly fans come from all walks of life. They embody an ideal; one of a hard-working, blue collar, never give up the fight mentality. If there is one thing about Philly that unites people, that brings them together more than anything else, it's our teams.
Welcome to Phanadelphia.
Welcome to Phanadelphia.
AS THE MANAGER OF A POPULAR (PHILLY) SPORTS BAR, THIS MUST BE AN INTERESTING PLACE TO WORK DURING MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS?
"Yeah, absolutely. It's always something new going on depending on what time of the season it might be for playoffs; baseball, hockey, football. Especially when exciting things like the World Cup ends up coming around and the U.S. Open and the Olympics. It always keeps the job interesting. There's always something to watch on television too. Makes the shift go by. It's great when you're working in a Philadelphia sports bar and it's the ninth inning and it's a tie game, and there's a walk off home run, it's magic. The place is electric and it's a good feeling. You can scream whatever you want when the Flyers score sometimes. Or the Eagles score a touchdown and they play the Eagles fight song. You feel good where you work!"
ARE YOU, YOURSELF, A SPORTS FAN?
"Yeah, I'm a sports fan. Not so much football as much as hockey. Soccer I'm a fan of. I enjoy tennis, baseball as well. Working in a sports bar with so many crazy fans over the years, football just isn't the favorite 'cause it's one day a week; they get all jazzed up and it gets a little wild at times. It takes the excitement away of being a football fan. I used to be one before I got into (working) sports bars, if I'm being honest, that's the truth. It's (football) all jammed in one day, sometimes it gets a little exciting for the average football fan.
I think the hockey fan, and that's why I like it, they're the blue collar fan. They come in and they're pretty respectful, pretty mellow. Plus the season is spread out. Baseball is also kind of mellow. There's a lot of games throughout the year. I think that's why football, being one day a week...."
I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT. THAT THE FREQUENCY OF GAMES WOULD INCITE DIFFERENT BEHAVIOR.
"It's all crammed into one day and they're trying to cram it into that day. Whereas the other sports are spread out, so that fan is a more mellow patron in the bar area. I mean there are Thursday night and Monday night games. But Monday nights aren't as popular in the bar because it's a work night and everybody has the fantastic televisions at their house where you don't really need to be here. When you get the local teams, when the Eagles are gonna be playing, then Monday Night Football's gonna be great. If the game means something for that division then it'll be a draw. But Sunday's the day they all come out.
"Yeah, absolutely. It's always something new going on depending on what time of the season it might be for playoffs; baseball, hockey, football. Especially when exciting things like the World Cup ends up coming around and the U.S. Open and the Olympics. It always keeps the job interesting. There's always something to watch on television too. Makes the shift go by. It's great when you're working in a Philadelphia sports bar and it's the ninth inning and it's a tie game, and there's a walk off home run, it's magic. The place is electric and it's a good feeling. You can scream whatever you want when the Flyers score sometimes. Or the Eagles score a touchdown and they play the Eagles fight song. You feel good where you work!"
ARE YOU, YOURSELF, A SPORTS FAN?
"Yeah, I'm a sports fan. Not so much football as much as hockey. Soccer I'm a fan of. I enjoy tennis, baseball as well. Working in a sports bar with so many crazy fans over the years, football just isn't the favorite 'cause it's one day a week; they get all jazzed up and it gets a little wild at times. It takes the excitement away of being a football fan. I used to be one before I got into (working) sports bars, if I'm being honest, that's the truth. It's (football) all jammed in one day, sometimes it gets a little exciting for the average football fan.
I think the hockey fan, and that's why I like it, they're the blue collar fan. They come in and they're pretty respectful, pretty mellow. Plus the season is spread out. Baseball is also kind of mellow. There's a lot of games throughout the year. I think that's why football, being one day a week...."
I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT. THAT THE FREQUENCY OF GAMES WOULD INCITE DIFFERENT BEHAVIOR.
"It's all crammed into one day and they're trying to cram it into that day. Whereas the other sports are spread out, so that fan is a more mellow patron in the bar area. I mean there are Thursday night and Monday night games. But Monday nights aren't as popular in the bar because it's a work night and everybody has the fantastic televisions at their house where you don't really need to be here. When you get the local teams, when the Eagles are gonna be playing, then Monday Night Football's gonna be great. If the game means something for that division then it'll be a draw. But Sunday's the day they all come out.
YOU MENTIONED PEOPLE HAVING THESE HIGH DEFINITION, GREAT TV's AT HOME, SO WHY WOULD THEY COME OUT TO A SPORTS BAR AT ALL?
"We give you the atmosphere. You get waited on, treated extra special that day, waited on hand and foot. To be with other fans, to be cheering against other fans. It's a little different than rooting in your living room where there isn't really someone to go high five. Your buddies might be over, but if you're in a bar and there's some rival fans in there, it kind of makes for some excitement. You can give a little shit talking back and forth. I think just being out in the public atmosphere is always gonna win over being home."
WHAT'S THE CRAZIEST OR ROWDIEST THING SOMEONE HAS EVER DONE?
"The sports bar I worked at before this, someone actually stood up on a metal table and broke the table, cracked it. When I went over to talk to the table, they said they didn't know what happened, that it just fell over. People have thrown bottles at the television...'
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WORKED IN THE PHILADELPHIA AREA?
"For the most part. South Jersey, Philadelphia."
DO YOU NOTICE A DIFFERENCE IN FANS BETWEEN THOSE AREAS? DO YOU NOTICE A LOT OF RIVALRIES?
"Not necessarily here. Philadelphia fans, there's one thing that's very special and unique about them, they're Philadelphia proud. They stick with their team, regardless. They'll give "it" to ya, but at the end of the day, they're still an Eagles fan, a Phillies fan, a Flyers fan. Even though the Sixers aren't having a good season, we have our people that come in and they'll wanna know why the Sixers aren't on, if they're not. They're like "Why is the Sixers game not on? C'mon let's get the game going." When I worked in south Jersey, at the tip, you'd have more rivalries there because the cable television line was basically right in the middle where Hamilton, NJ is. So if you go a little south of Hamilton you have your Philadelphia team fans. A little north of Hamilton, you've got your Mets, your Yankees, your Giants, your Jets. So there could be clashes a little bit more when I worked there."
DO YOU HAVE A "STAND OUT" MEMORY OF YOUR YEARS OF WORKING IN A SPORTS BAR?
"Every once in a while you get to meet people. I got to meet Terrell Owens when he was with the Eagles when he was really peaking back in 2004. Bill Clement, I've met him a few times. He's really respectful. A good guy. Nothing really sticks out and you get to meet so many people that they all kind of run together.
Working in a Philadelphia sports bar during the Super Bowl was great.
And I was in NJ when the Yankees and the Phillies played. That was a good experience because you had a mixture of NY and Philadelphia fans. That made for a great World Series. I would say that when they got to play, you got a sense of some great local sports teams coming together."
Philly fans are always all in for the game. Watching their teams are a tradition, a rite-of-passage, and just a really good time (when we win). Who hasn't scheduled a child's birthday party during the bye week? Or planned their family vacation during the off-season? (Just me then?) So, tell us, were do you most like to watch your favorite teams and games?
