My childhood is fading and will abruptly end upon graduation, looming only months away. No longer will my days of summer be spent playing in my backyard or as a camp counselor. The culmination of my final days of my final summer, incidentally coincided with the final days of Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, home to the Eagles and Phillies.
As a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia suburbs, I felt compelled to share my recollections this week of the city that surrounded my journey to adulthood. Over time, I’ve learned that one thing connects every aspect of Philly. The city sucks, and that is why we love it so much.
My first draft, included a few aspects of the various reasons about loving a terrible city. I was going to mention the criminality and corruption of our politics, our blue-collar industry, and our stagnate population; however all of that can be summed up with a eulogy of the Vet, as it is called by locals.
Like others around the region, I’ve spent many of afternoons and evenings watching sports in that daunting concrete structure that feels like home, but unfortunately like a basement in one’s home.
The structure exemplifies the people that sat inside. The people were stone-faced and unpleasant. They were blue-collar workers that wanted to see their teams win. They were union workers wearing Phillies clothes and holding banners, waving down a limousine on their lunch break, so that their team could more easily sign an All-Star first baseman. When that All-Star, Jim Thome, finally signed with the team, he cited those union workers as one of the major reasons he wanted to play in our city.
The Vet witnessed crazy scenes, of tightrope walkers, human cannonballs, riotous behavior, and an obnoxious, yet funny mascot. Everything from batteries to snowballs have been thrown at the athletes, but no incident more famous than that of Ed Rendell. While running for mayor, he paid another fan to throw snowballs onto the field. Later that month he won the election, is now our current state governor, and may one day be president. It should be noted that his behavior is certainly no worse than his predecessor who firebombed dozens of rowhomes or his successor, who has been accused of allegedly pipe bombing another candidate’s election headquarters.
New stadiums across from the Vet (which will eventually be a parking lot) are comfortable and offer amenities. The behavior won’t be crazy. It’ll be calm. It makes me sick.
Philly fans are never apathetic. We cheer our players when they hit homeruns, curtain call after curtain call. We boo our quarterbacks when they throw interceptions. We cheer when an opposing player might be paralyzed. We boo Santa Claus. We fight on opening days, while cutting school. We cut work just to buy possible playoff tickets, even though our teams fail to make the playoffs. We hate the New York Giants and the Atlanta Braves. Beer bottles are often thrown for not wearing Eagles green and Phillies red. We are simply defending and punishing our teams based on their effort and play.
Most of these memories of cussing, booing and drunken shenanigans are courtesy of the 700-level, the infamous nose-bleed section of the Vet. It is one of the only affordable sections left in professional sports. The rabid fans from this section also prompted the necessity for an authentic criminal court with a real judge to be built within the bowels of the dusty concrete. Not surprisingly the court has drawn media attention from across the world, since it’s the only of its kind.
The most amazing thing about the fans passion is that the teams are as terrible as the city, yet we endure. The fans never deserted the Vet or the teams. One of the most memorable games ever at the Vet took place in 1993. It was the second game of a doubleheader that due to rain delays didn’t conclude until 4:40am. Despite the unprecedented hour, thousands of fans lingered to witness Mitch Williams, a pitcher get the game-winning hit.
Further displays of exuberant fans occurred in late September 2001. The Vet was electric for two straight weeks, when fans welcomed back sports into our society but with unmatched Philadelphia emotion. And on the last game of that season, I had to sprint to buy my tickets before they sold out. Every person in the echo-filled stadium lost their voice, only to see the Phillies barely miss the playoffs again.
Being born in 1982, I have never witnessed a Philadelphia major sports championship. Our losing streak has stretched now to nearly 100 sports seasons, almost as long as the Red Sox and Cubs alleged curse.
I don’t think it’s fair to put a word-limit or for that matter a time-limit on the Vet. I’m no longer a child, but I’ll forever have the blended memories of my youth, Philadelphia and Veterans Stadium. Watching my last game there Friday night, I almost felt tears come to my eyes, when words reverberated through the stadium, “they paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.” I’ll miss you paradise, and just like our city, you were the worst, but we will always love you.
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Copyright 2004, Kevin Semanick