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Will the Flyers’ “Man I Need” Thing Catch on Like the Phillies’ “Dancing on my Own?”
By Matt Schultz
Published:
There’s something very fun about having an official/nonofficial soundtrack to a playoff run. We all remember how nice it was when the 2022 Phillies landed on Dancing On My Own as the song the team would blast in the clubhouse after playoff wins, during that magical pre-expectations era when the Phils were just emerging as an up-and-coming contender (This… feels long ago…). If you’re unaware, the Flyers are doing something similar – after wins, the team has been celebrating in the locker room with Man I Need by Olivia Dean:
My question, though, is this: Is this song catching on? Is anyone hearing this around town? Are fans blasting it from their cars after games? Are bars besides Stateside Live! playing it when the Flyers win? I’m genuinely asking; If it has been playing out there, please forgive my ignorance… but I personally haven’t heard it much, or seen it online, or anything. Feels like the song is falling slightly flat, especially when compared to the chokehold DOMO had on Philly nightlife for a while there –
Which brings us to the new playoff t-shirts that the Flyers made, available exclusively in Xfinity Mobile Arena stores:
They’re cool-looking shirts. I do like the shirts. The font is cool. The photo of the guys on there is a real nice one. But my question is… Are the Flyers kind of shoehorning the “Man I Need” thing in here? Is this song popular enough among fans and casuals alike to warrant this kind of shirt? Or are the Flyers forcing a “moment” here? Are we getting a hint of LeBron saying he scratched the inbounds play and then looking up at reporters all excited like he thought he just said an all-time iconic line, but in fact was being corny as hell?
I’m merely asking questions here… But I had to answer, I think I’d say: “I see what the Flyers are trying to do… but having a ‘The Men I Need’ shirt feels a little premature. Feels like barely anyone knows about this song. It doesn’t have the cultural cachet quite yet.” Which is a shame, because I feel like this shirt could’ve really been something special, with like a cooler phrase on there. For example, just spitballing, here are a few I came up with in the last twenty seconds:
- Flyers Hour
- Sound That Horn
- Loudest Horn In The World
- Flyers Attack
- Flyered Up
- Flyered Down
- Flyers Crawl
- Flyers Hands
- Orange, Black, and All The Rest
- Let’s Get To The Handshake Line Already Because This Series Is Over Just About
- Come Here
- Get Over Here
- You
- Whole-Ass Team In The Penalty Box
- Go
- When Else If Not Now? Or At Least Soon?
- Everybody’s Included
- Everybody’s Here
- Playoffs Hit Different [this one’s in Italian flag colors]
- Italian Flag [this one’s in Flyers colors]
- We All Combine
- I’m Friends With The Monster That’s Under My Bed; Get Along With The Voices Inside Of My Head
- Flyers. Rinse. Repeat.
I think some of those are pretty good. I could come up with more if I had more time, but that’s a good start. And remember, the cool font itself would be doing the heavy lifting, so the words aren’t even that important.
So yeah, anyway, overall: These new shirts are okay. They’re fine. The song is fine too. Dancing On My Own was better.
Kinkead: I think the Olivia Dean thing is landing with the female fans, but not exactly this guy:
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…)