Everyone Loves a Parade

The city of Philadelphia was calm this Halloween…Yeah right. There was a parade. There where massive crowds. Mayor Michael Nutter urged people not to drive. He pleaded for people to make use of public transportation. For once people listened. Both Port Authority Transit Corporation and South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority were jammed packed with people by 09:00 for a parade at noon. Mayor Nutter also uttered this phrase in a live broadcast while explaining parade plans, “You can be joyous, you cannot be a jackass.” Come on. It’s the city of Philadelphia. There hasn’t been a parade here since 1993. Of course there will be jackassary, that is what Philly fans are good for, and that is why Santa was Booed and pelted with snowballs. Back to the unprepared transit system. Patco stations had long waits just to get into the city. On top of that, when people finally made it into the city they just added to the mess that Septa was already dealing with. There were several reports of massive failures. People waited for three hours for trains that run every six minutes. Trains flew by numerous stations after filling up with passengers on the first two stops. For those that decided to drive into the city, they were just as screwed. There was traffic on the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Tacony-Palmyra and the Betsy Ross Bridge. When Public transportation failed, people drove. When the roads and bridges filled up with cars, people started walking over the Ben Franklin Bridge. If you some how managed to get into the city by noon, you were greeted by what was referred to as a sea of red. Broad Street was packed. Sections along the parade route swelled to about fifty people deep at some intersections. Once the parade passed, the people joined in. The parade was followed from City Hall to the Sports Complex. Absolute insanity. Aerial shots showed nothing but masses of crowds, police vehicles, and of course a handful of flatbeds that made up the actual parade. The ceremony at Citizens Bank Park was just as crazy. But all of the people, and all of the mass transit failures do not add up to the randomness of broadcasters trying to fill time as the parade took way longer then planned. Which by the way, also happened in 1980. A Live camera shot showed a sole fan in a tree celebrating. This is what the commentator said, “Look, that guy has a mullet!” Other random things were said to fill time, and there are plenty of bloopers and blunders, but it all comes down to this. Chase Ryan Utley. MVP of the celebration. After being introduced by Harry Kalas, he uttered these words, “World Champions. World Fucking Champions!” Jason Werth jumped out of his seat, the players started laughing, and the crowd lost it. Live TV at it’s finest. I can only assume that the next parade will be broadcast with a delay.
After witnessing this celebration, I came to a conclusion. There is no other place in the world I would rather be, then here. We get all four seasons, and we have the craziest non soccer fans in the world.
If this happens again, I’m getting up way earlier and I’m bringing my digital camera.
Strow