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Philly Not Feeling The Hate

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2008

Updated: 10/21/2008 12:45 am

PHILADELPHIA - Take a look, Philadelphia. Things have worked out just as hoped. You wanted the Rays; you got them.

With almost a week to debate the merits of two potential World Series opponents after the Phillies dusted the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League Championship Series, Philadelphia fans - even the ones who are housebroken - united in their preference for a title tussle with Tampa Bay rather than Boston.

"I was hoping we'd play the Rays," said Dennis Maiorano, concierge of a downtown Philadelphia hotel.

From the vantage point of Florida's west coast, the logic seems crystal clear. Tampa Bay has Philly's collective nose out of joint. Ben Franklin can't touch Howard Frankland. Everybody remembers how the Buccaneers ruined the Eagles' party in the 2003 NFC title game on the way to winning the Super Bowl. And don't forget how the Lightning took down the Flyers in the Eastern Conference final on their way to the 2004 Stanley Cup.

Is it any wonder Philadelphia should want to dig up Gulf Coast beaches in search of its buried civic pride?

"Well, to be honest," Maiorano said, "it's just that we'd rather not have Red Sox fans here."

Whoa, now. Just back up the civic pride parade. What about the Phillies being entrusted with defending Philadelphia's dignity, preventing the Town of Brotherly Loathe from AGAIN having beach sand kicked in its face?

"I had no idea that was the case," Phillies infielder Eric Bruntlett said. "I'd not heard anything like that until you just mentioned it."

Good try, Tampa Bay, but apparently we are not a big-boy rival just yet.

Yes, the Bucs' upset of the lopsided-favorite Eagles in the final football game played in Veterans Stadium remains universally accepted as the most devastating loss in recent Philadelphia memory.

"We still feel like we lost that game, that Tampa didn't win it," said Philadelphia restaurateur Pete Ciarrocchi, an Eagles and Phillies season-ticker holder. "I mean, OK, Ronde Barber is good. A great player. But Joe Jurevicius? Joooooooe Jurevicius? Come on."

Yet even throwing in a couple of Flyers playoff losses to the Lightning, it apparently is not enough to merit the full rapture of Philadelphia's famous ire - the one that moves them to boo Santa Claus, beat up opposing fans and throw ice balls at the field.

"You know, Philadelphia fans have a rivalry of that premise with a lot of cities simply because they have not won a championship since the 76ers in 1983," said Howard Eskin, afternoon drive-time voice for Philadelphia Sports Talk radio station WIP-AM. "That animosity can be spread around to a lot of different cities. But I think there is more toward Boston.

"I had a few people on the air say that it's a way to get back at Tampa. But the latest loss they hate was to Boston and it was in the Super Bowl. Now, there are a ton of haters in Philadelphia. So they will find a whole lot of reasons to hate Tampa, trust me. But the fans here want to face Tampa because they think the Phillies will have an easier time beating Tampa."

An online poll by the radio station last week showed almost 60 percent of Phillies fans wanting the Rays.

At least that way the risk is less for the potential reward. As good as winning a World Series against anybody would be for Philadelphia, the possibility of losing one to Boston simply is unthinkable.

"You guys won a Super Bowl and a Stanley Cup and we haven't won anything since 1983, so a lot of people here don't think you've paid your dues," Ciarrocchi said. "But Philly fans hate Boston.

"In Philadelphia we had a revolution. In Boston they had a tea party."

Within short walking distance of the Phillies' Citizen's Bank Field is Chickie's and Pete's, 30,000 square feet of action named by an ESPN poll as the No. 1 sports bar on America's East Coast. On Saturday night, the Rays-Red Sox broadcast shared time with two college football games on the 37 televisions that cover the building's brick walls.

Bottled beers and "world famous since 1977" crab fries are among the favorites of the packed crowd, which included a wedding ceremony in a back banquet room. With the ALCS showing on the largest projection-screen monitor, patrons easily kept watchful eyes on the action as the Red Sox worked their way to the Game 6 victory, but, with the exception of one twentysomething drinker in a Red Sox cap sitting at the bar, no cheering or reactions were heard over the sound of driving music.

Chickie's and Pete's manager Bob Morrison, a native Philadelphian, took in the scene while chatting with an out-of-town visitor.

"They're watching, just with no real rooting interest," Morrison said. "Now, if it were the Cowboys playing anybody, they'd be booing them. So I don't think of Tampa as much of a rival. Now, after the Series, it might step up. But right now, the history is not there yet."

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534.

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