Throughout this week my main priority was finding somewhere to watch the World Series.
Of course I tended to my schoolwork and other duties as any responsible student would, but with the Phillies returning to Citizens Bank Park with a win under their belt, the dream of a World Series looked to be on the cards and I was desperate to see it. As I mentioned in my last blogpost, since I don’t have a subscription to the MLB I had to find somewhere in the city that was televising the games each night. Luckily I managed to catch most of every game.
On Tuesday, my girlfriend, a native of Philadelphia, travelled down from DC to catch game three in which the Phillies secured a seven to nothing win to take the lead in the series.
On Thursday night I headed to the Wells Fargo Arena along with a fellow exchange student where they were televising the 5th Phillies against the Astros as well as the Eagles game against the Texans. The subway was alive with people flooding to South Philly. Calum Scott’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ echoed throughout the Broad Street Line. I’ll never forget the pop of noise as the subway doors opened at NRG station. There was an ocean of people around Citizens Bank and the line for the Xfinity Center seemed to never end.
I nearly choked when I saw the price of a Phillies t-shirt but I couldn’t pass it up given the time that it was. I might have to go without my beloved Halal but I’ll make the $45 dollars some way.
We were packed in shoulder to shoulder in Wells Fargo around TVs showing what was happening just a couple hundred feet away in Citizens Bank. All the while chants of “LETS GO PHILLES” boomed. Irish sports fans can get quite rowdy but I have to admit there’s nothing quite like Philly fans. The mood of the room flipped on a dime and no one was spared some harsh words every now and then. Unfortunately it was not a good night for the Phillies. To add insult to injury the subway stopped operating as it was so late so we had to walk ourselves back to University City in the early hours of the morning.
On a brighter note the Eagles maintained their undefeated record going eight wins for eight for the first time in franchise history. Not to jinx anything but a super bowl is looking more and more likely if we manage to keep on making incremental improvements week on week.
Ultimately the World Series went to the Astros in game six. It looked hopeful early after Schwarber’s homerun but the Astros proved too strong. Although I won’t to see the Commissioner’s Trophy come to Philadelphia, my experience of Red October and the World Series week has made me a life-long Phillies fan. I’ll be sure to be here for the next time when we bring it home, whenever that may be. GO PHILS!!!
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