Mikey D

I'll be honest, I want more baseball. I'm sad to see it go. But I'm glad to see it go the way it did- with the Phillies on top (the only thing better would have been the Tigers!). They are clearly my second favorite team now, with Grace's undying loyalty and the love I felt after catching Jimmy Rollins' homerun ball up in Philly. I can actually name every player on the Phillies roster, but not every Tigers player. Eek.

Yesterday was the parade for the Phillies championship, and over two million people showed. I tried to watch as much of it as I could at work online, and when I got home. It was pretty awesome, just based on the enthusiasm of the fans. You could tell this championship meant a lot to the city, which is great. I like it better that way. Teams from New York, Boston, L.A.- it happens all the time, and while I'm sure it's special, a championship doesn't have the same meaning to the city as it does elsewhere.

But yes, the parade. It had all your usually parade shit, minus all the gigantic floats. My favorite part was when a reporter interviewed a kid and asked, "Shouldn't you be in school?" and the kid said, "Hell no!" And instead of laughing, the reporter just agreed with the kid and said, "That's right! You get an 'A' for social studies today!" It was funny. And the parade "announcers" continually made fun of people that didn't take off work or went to school. They showed shots of the side streets with cars, and they would call them out, saying they shouldn't be driving, but out in the streets. Good times.

The parade ended at the ballpark and all the players gave a little speech. And Chase Utley stole the show. I'm sure people in the Phillies front office were none to happy with him, but of well. To preface, Chase got in a little hot water at the All-Star game for swearing on national television. When introduced at Yankee Stadium, the fans booed him (Mets-Phillies hate each other, mind you), and Chase, straight into the camera said, "Boo? Fuck you!" Not the classiest of moves, but I do say he embodies that Philadelphia spirit. That's a town of people that doesn't take crap from anyone.

So Chase got up yesterday, and gave his small speech. This speech was shown live on MLB.com, as well as all the Philadelphia tv stations (Fox, NBC, etc.). Chase, again, had the live tv spotlight...



Haha, ah Chase Utley. A Philadelphia Phillie for life.

Congrats, Phillies. 2008 World Series Champions. And for those who discount them, think about these things. They were 11-3 in the postseason and undefeated at home. They beat the team that was best set up for a short series in the Brewers in four, knocked off the hottest team in baseball in the Dodgers in five, and smoked the team that had the league's best record in Tampa Bay in five. There were no flukes, there were no, "well the Phillies just got hot". If that was the case people would have actually picked the "hot" team in each of those series, but nobody did. The majority went with the Brewers. The majority went with the Dodgers. The majority went with the Rays. And the Phillies, EASILY, beat them all.

World Champs.

~Mikey D