Stranger in a Strange Land...

Welcome to the "City of Brotherly Love," right? ...


This gem was in the Center City neighborhood in Philadelphia this weekend. The clever, but apparently very angry, parkist jammed the kitchen knife into the coin slot to tie this masterpiece together.

I decided to visit Thanatos in Philly and enjoy the World Series atmosphere with the Rays in town to take on the Philthies. I sported my D-Rays t-shirt Saturday... and of course got some strange looks and comments.

We watched the game at this downtown sports bar where I'm fairly certain I was the only person there rocking any Rays gear.

The place was packed to beyond capacity with rabid Phillies fans, who gradually noticed my shirt throughout the night. I think a lot of people saw it and were just confused... especially since it had the old logo.

For the most part, the people were just sort of fascinated. I think I heard the term, "You got balls man," about 50 times.

Since I was greatly outnumbered in a drunken Philly bar, I was well-behaved and didn't talk trash (not that there were many opportunities in Saturday night's loss...) So it ended up being an interesting experience to say the least. I definitely didn't mention too often that I was also rooting for Ohio State over Penn State in the game that was also going on. That just would have been reckless.

For the most part, people were just sort of baffled and intrigued at my presence... though one very drunk girl noticed me on my way back from the bar and started punching me on the shoulder... I just kept walking and never saw her again.

Now, if the Rays had won, it probably would have been different and a lot more hostile. Philadelphia fans don't exactly have the best reputation... but we all know how that game turned out so it didn't matter too much.

Of note, the bar blasted the Rocky theme at the beginning of the game as well as at the beginning of the bottom of the ninth, which was pretty cool. The crowd, of course, went wild both times.

The rest of the weekend was drunkenness and eating, as per the usual in Philly.

I wonder if Philly has something like Overheard in New York? If it does, something kind of like this might show up after this weekend...

Obvious transsexual Philadelphian: Where's the Liberty Bell? The Liberty Bell is everywhere, it's even in your soul.
Dashing young man in town from New York City: Yeah, the Liberty Bell is in your heart, your soul... and your colon.
Obvious transsexual Philadelphian: Yeah, that's why your butt has a crack.

-- Center City

Overheard by: I thought they cancelled Beavis and Butthead?

It went something like that, but as you might have guessed from the conversation, my memory of it might not be, shall we say... crisp?

One thing I noticed in Philly, it looks like the current economic crisis has made an impact on Philadelphia's undertaking industry, which has apparently had a serious trickle-down to the hearse industry.

Either that or perhaps the little Smart Car is for environmentally friendly midget funerals.

Also kind of neat this morning, I had to swing by the Time-Life Building in the Rockefeller Center in Midtown. That was kind of neat and the place where I spent the morning was like a little museum to Time and Life magazines with covers, pictures and little exhibits featuring things dating back decades. So that definitely counts as a neat little New York experience.