I am still astonished at how far the condom article has gone. Puck Daddy from Yahoo Sports, Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News, and David Matthews of Deadspin have all linked to Crossing Broad and shared their thoughts on my experience in Boston Monday night. Although I stated the facts about my experience, I figured now would be a good time to give my opinion and respond to Rob's Lettah.
I did not write the article to whine or complain. Like Rob's experience in Philly, I found it amusing. My initial reaction to the condom – I laughed my ass off. Really, I did. After my buddy flicked it off his lap, I was like "I have to take a picture of this," and I did, and here we are now. To those of you who think I posted the picture to prove that Boston has the worst fans ever or act like some grave injustice was done to me, you're wrong. Again, I found it amusing.
While there were plenty of assholes in Boston (I still can't figure out why they threw rally towels and empty beer cups on the ice), there were even more nice people. The guy with the mohawk in the picture above was a cool dude, giving us shit but laughing with us. And after the game, there were several Bruins fans who apologized for their fellow fans behavior and explained that not all of them were classless idiots. I wasn't expecting any sort of an apology being an opposing fan, but it was a nice gesture. The Boston police looked out for us and escorted us out of the arena. My point being – for each person throwing stuff at us, there was another Boston fan who understood that you can cheer for the other team and get along with each other.
Flyers fans, give Bruins fans shit tonight. Harass them, make fun of them, call them every insult in the book, and make fun of their accents. But don't throw things or try to start fights (unless they started it); that's when things escalate and people get hurt. I love the Flyers with all my heart and hate the Bruins, and hope their fans never come back to Philly after they've been here once, but you don't have to beat them up to make you're point. While Puck Daddy argued that, "In a way, this hurts more than a punch," I couldn't disagree more. It was a joke. It was (hopefully) empty, and no one got hurt. They threw it with the intention to make fun of us and bother us, but it didn't prevent me from waking up the next morning. And by the way, it's better to drink the beer after spending $7 on it. Don't waste it throwing it at someone.
I wasn't surprised at what happened in Boston during Game 5. What shocks me is that when the same thing happens in Philadelphia, the national media jumps all over the story and paints us to be the most violent, classless fans ever. In reality, this bullshit happens everywhere, and Philadelphia does get a bad rap.
Anyway, I had an awesome time in Boston, especially since the Flyers won 4-0 and their fans couldn't have been more disgusted. I hope the best fans in the world, Philly fans, are as loud as can be tonight to make sure there is a Game 7. I also hope Marc Savard gets the beatdown from Dan Carcillo for being a genuine prick, and Crosby sucks, especially when he's wearing that hideous baby blue jersey. Go Flyers!
One Response
If I wasn’t poor and it wasn’t the middle of the work week, I’d be headed right back for Game 6 tonight in Philly. I had an unforgettable experience at the game, and found out a lot. I had never been to an away game of any kind before, so bear with me.
I didn’t know people liked Dan Carcillo. I thought of him as a white, toothless Rasheed Wallace.
While I love my Bruins goal horn, I never knew it to be Bruins-specific. (Ignorance.) I think I like the Flyers one better. (Blasphemy.)
There are also general things like having all of your stadiums near each other and near the airport that have varying degrees of inconvenience and convenience. I love your city, but it has absolutely no reason to love me back… and it doesn’t. But that’s okay.
Even though the Red Sox are unstoppably relevant, and Boston is the only city with both a basketball and hockey team still in the playoffs, Friday was a rough night. The Cavs blew out my Celtics, the Yankees killed the Sox, and of course the Flyers. Put that alongside the Phillies fans drunk off of Moyer’s shutout and it wasn’t fun being me… but it…. was.
Being mocked is awesome as long as you don’t think you’re going to be vastly outnumbered in a fight. I don’t know if I’d go back to a game alone (which I was for all intensive purposes).
This inspired me to write a blog post of my own about my experience. It is nowhere near as outrageous as Adam’s, and it’s mostly stuff I included in my e-mail to you guys, so I won’t shamelessly link it. (I’ll just shamelessly mention that I’m not shamelessly linking it.)
Keep up the good work.
Rob from Rhode Island
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