Ill State of Mind by NeeKo ft. Deanie Marie, as I previously shared.

Goin’ Back to Philadelphia, PA- A Tribute to the Phillies by Bobby Burnett

This is played in the ballpark after a Phillies home win

Fightin’ Phils by Richie Rosati 2008

Fightin Phils Anthem – Tone Love

Parading Down Broad Street

Listen here.

“Phillies Go Hard” by Jakk Frost

Others listed here.

I was paid by Metro to parade around a rainy Center City Philadelphia last Wednesday wearing a Yankees hat, ahead of their World Series matchup with the Phillies, who won that first battle.

Diane Allman took a second glance at the only piece of Yankees memorabilia for sale at the Moell’s at 16th and Chestnut streets, turning up her nose at the Derek Jeter shirt. [Source]

See how the clip appeared in print here, and check that Thursday New York edition, which ran the experience of a reporter who dressed as a Phillies fan in Manhattan.

It’s one of those experiences that remind you why freelance writing can be a sweet gig. Below some background and extras from the story.

How seriously fans take their teams, particularly in the big and rugged East Coast cities, is a question that is often asked, so the Metro staff wanted to find out for themselves. I got this e-mail forwarded to me from my editor that preceding afternoon:

We’ve got Brayden to go out in Phillies gear tomorrow and record his experience. But to fully conduct the experiment, we need someone to wear Yankees stuff in Philly and see how much more vicious one city is vs. the other. …can you set that up for tomorrow morning?

After a few minutes of thought, I took the gig.

Despite the rain and a slow first 20 minutes, it turned out to be a fine experience. I put the hat, which I borrowed from a friend, on my head at Dilworth Plaza of City Hall, walked through and down South Broad Street and down Walnut Street to Rittenhouse Square, back up 19th Street and east down Market Street back toward City Hall.

In the drizzle and mist from 11 a.m. to just before 1 p.m., I got lots of glances and rolled eyes, but I didn’t have so much as a word said to me the first half hour I walked around City Hall.

My editor asked that I remain “a perfect gentleman,” instigating nothing, so I went on that way. Walking down the Avenue of the Arts, just about 11:30 a.m., a bicyclist whizzed by on the street, gave a small yelp that caused me to turn and there he flipped me the middle finger.

I had a story.

My counterpart in New York was sticking to Manhattan — more people and perceived to be less passionate about the Yankees than in perhaps the Bronx — so I did the same and remained in a compact central portion of Center City, rather than South Philly or the Northeast where I’d expect quite more of a response, though fewer street walkers.

Despite what I expected, it was around Rittenhouse Square — the ritzy Center City nighborhood — where I got the most response. A young woman dressed in Phillies gear,  pair of 30-somethings, two construction workers and others who didn’t even make it into my story.

After any audible or clear response to me, I engaged them, telling them I was a reporter trying to gauge the response from Philadelphians.

I’d explain it was happening in New York, too, and, usually after a laugh, these people would tell me what more vicious things they would have done if…the circumstances were different.

The lesson? Big cities are never as violent against opposing teams as people suggest, particularly in their most cosmopolitan hearts and certainly on a rainy weekday morning.

Still, I feel like I need to display my Philly love after parading around town in their competition’s garb, so I’ll share this actually fantastic Philly Version of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” has been making the rounds on the local blogosphere.

Written and performed by local cat NeeKo and featuring a hot hook from a Deana Marie, it’s getting a lot of play for its timely Phillies reference. Like 35 seconds in: “Yeah I’m talking REPEAT, heat like Hamels/utterly amazing, Charlie wrote the manual.”

While I don’t think nearly as good, you might also check out more Phillies-centric tracks “Unstoppablee (Guerilladelphia)” by Kuf Knots from the Hustle and “Phillies Go Hard” by Jakk Frost and featuring a hook by Freeway. In an entirely different genre, how about a Phillies polka created the last time the Phillies and Yankees met in the World Series — 1950.

Second page of Philadelphia and New York editions of Metro on Oct. 28, 2009.

As I normally do for a story, last Monday I publicized on Twitter and Facebook and my instant-message status and through e-mail that I needed sources for a story for Metro, the free daily newspaper with editions in Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

Looking for Yankee fans living in Philly and Phillies fans living in NYC for a story. Who can help me out? [Source]

Just a few hours later, after wading through the responses, I had more than a dozen examples and more trickling in.

Last Wednesday, the day that the Phillies would win the first game of the World Series against the New York Yankees, I had a small package on the rivalry’s fandom, highlighted by small profiles of three fans in each city that cheered for the opposing team.

Like pictured above, see how the print version looked in Philadelphia and in New York. As always, below some background and extras that weren’t fit to print.

ONE PHILLIES FAN IN NEW YORK CITY

I had a longer conversation with Andrew Goldstein, a supervising writer at Spike TV who grew up in Bucks County, outside Philadelphia, but now lives in Manhattan. He turned out to have graduated from the same university as I did and worked at The Temple News.

During that conversation, he shared some gems aplenty that didn’t have a place in my structured clip:

• “Everyone knows my Philly-sports allegiance, so I end every e-mail to an old boss — who is a huge Mets fan – with “go Phils!” just to piss him off.”
• “I posted a Facebook update after the Yanks blew game five: ‘not everyone can close it out in five like the world champs.’ I got like 20 replies. So yeah, I’m just as much of an instigator as Mets/Yanks fans.”
• “I used to call [Philly sports talk radio station WIP] 610 as a kid with an assumed name and age. I was Earl from Ridley just to talk Phils and Eagles. Other kids dated, I sat home and chatted with Rob Charry.
• “There’s a Philly bar called Wogies in NYC with more than a passable cheesesteak. It’s this tiny joint and was just impossible to get into last year during the World Series. [My friends and I] ended up across the street in a bar that became the overflow Wogies-Phils crew bar. We watched every game there. Cut to after the Phils win, we trash this guy’s bar. I say to the owner, ‘dude, so sorry for you bar, you’ve been so nice to us all week.’ He says, “Are you kidding me? You just paid my rent for three months. I’m a Phils fan for life.’ We may opt for apartment veiwage in all honesty due to that reason.

ONE YANKEES FAN IN PHILADELPHIA

I found Eric Walklet, a Bucks County software developer originally from Connecticut, through a friend, whose friend is Walklet’s girlfriend. Some of his stuff that didn’t get in:

• “I’d also love to put a Yankees license plate frame or bumper sticker on my car, but I’m afraid I’ll park it in Center City and come back to see it on cinder blocks.”
• “But I’m not very aggressive about it like some New York fans, so I think I’ve avoided the worst of it. No bar fights or broken noses.”

Why Can't Us?

Tonight is game three of the American baseball World Series. The Philadelphia Phillies are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays one game to one in the best of seven game series.

But out of these playoffs, a rallying cry has been born. Too bad some are embarrassed by it.

It began as a caller’s remark just last Thursday.

In short order, a local sports blog and one of the nation’s leading sports blogs began singing its praises as a Phillies rally cry.

Then, T-shirts and mugs were designed to get out the message, and hundreds of items have already been sold, raising money for charity.

Then it spread to radio, Facebook, print and ESPN. [Inquirer]

I have to buy one of these. Why the hell haven’t you?

IT WAS IN MARCH THAT I first reported for the Philadelphia Business Journal that Mike Schmidt, one of the most celebrated third basemen in baseball history and easily one of the most iconic Philadelphia sports heroes, was launching a charity wine: a Zinfandel.

Now, I may have thought it a little funny, if only because two worlds seemed to collide, and when I went to the product’s first wine tasting for media yesterday, it may have seemed a little sillier still when I took a freight elevator to the basement and wandered passed the Citizens Bank Park groundskeepers in pursuit of the tasting. But, to be fair, as we all know, Schmidt is putting his name on the line to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis research.

On Friday, he said he would be embarrassed if the product’s donated total didn’t reach “six figures.”

That’s good stuff. But, I wasn’t the only one who thought it a little strange; peep Inquirer Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki with a brief mention of the matter.

What’s more, it came full circle when my photographer – the incomparable Sean Blanda – asked Schmidt why did he end up with wine as his vehicle for philanthropy.

In the end, the answer we all might expect came out.

I’d probably rather have a beer.”

Still, Schmidt gave a lot to Philadelphia – and took a lot of heat for a long time, despite his Hall of Fame career – so I’ll push for some more coverage of the wine. We all must hope my editor will take it a bit more seriously than I did at first.

Never posted this, thought it as good as time as any, at this point, to celebrate the marketability of professional athletes giving back. -cgw

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed, without edits, to run in the Jan. 11, 2008 edition.

Two Eagles lent their significant star power to brighten the holidays for a group of Philadelphia kids, last month.

Through a partnership with the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, running back Brian Westbrook and free safety Brian Dawkins met individually with 70 Philadelphia children on Dec. 18, giving each a present at GPAUC’s Center City office.

“This was all the generosity of Brian Westbrook and Brian Dawkins,” said Bonnie Grant, spokesperson for the GPUAC, a business-community partnership that unites a handful of regional non-profits. “They wanted to make it a very special holiday for children with need.”

It was a particularly special day for Westbrook, who got word of his most recent selection to the Pro Bowl less than an hour before his appearance. GPUAC president Sharmain Matlock-Turner made an announcement during the event. The children cheered, even if some weren’t old enough to know much about Westbrook’s running game.

“The kids were thrilled,” Grant said. “It was as if there were in the presence of magic.”

Not to be outdone, the Phillies had their holiday spirit in full force.

A handful of front office personnel unloaded more than 7,000 pounds of food the very same day, all donated to feed the hungry of Philadelphia’s growing Latino community.

Among those of the Phillies top brass who were on hand to bring the canned foods, collected at a Sept. 7 game against the Florida Marlins, were Ruben Amaro, Jr., Phillies assistant general manager, and broadcaster Scott Franzke. The donations, which also included a check for $25,000, were given to the region’s largest food bank, Philabundance, which has partnered each holiday season with the Phillies since 2005 when then-Phillies first baseman Jim Thome took interest.

The day before, Phillies President Dave Montgomery, General Manager Pat Gillick and several former players served dinner at the Our Brother’s Place Homeless Facility in North Philadelphia. It was the 8th year such an event has taken place and part of a week of philanthropy.

“As an organization, we recognize how important it is to give back,” said Gene Dias, the Phillies director of community relations. “Particularly at this time of year and particularly to those in the most desperate need.”

Mike Schmidt, the Hall of Fame former Phillies third baseman, has taken to wine-making for charity. Along with two other members of the 500 Home Run Club, former Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks and standout switch hitter Eddie Murray, Schmidt has teamed with Eos Estate Winery in California to produce three wines, each using one of the major leaguers’ names and career home run totals. All of the proceeds will go to a philanthropic cause of the athlete’s choosing. Schmidt has decided his profits will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, based in Maryland. There is the Mike Schmidt 548 Zinfandel, the Ernie Banks 512 Chardonnay, and the Eddie Murray 504 Cabernet. They can be preordered now, though they won’t be available in stores until May. A bottle is expected to cost $17.”

We’ll have a carafe of the Mike Schmidt 548 Zinfandel, maybe something in a 2009.

But, I couldn’t possibly top the press release I received.I happily shared with just about everyone one quotation I read while filing the story. It came from Liz Banks, wife of Ernie Banks and president of the 500 Home Run Club.

With 548 home runs, Mike Schmidt was such a quality ballplayer that for him to launch a quality wine for charity seemed a natural fit.”

Natural fit, indeed.