Philly Today

I should start a new blog called “Things That Wash Up on the Shore”. In the last two years alone, the Jersey Shore has seen unexploded WW-I munitions and medical waste on their beaches. In New York, they have the Montauk Monster. Now another strange one. Officials in Brigantine, N.J. are puzzled after finding what is described as chunks of some sort of marine creature.

They don’t know what kind of creature it is, but the chunks can be up to five feet long. Reports say that it looks like somebody blew up an animal. There are plenty of guesses, such as internal organs from a whale or shark, but DNA tests will need to be done in order to be sure. Hopefully they will really do the testing to get some answers, unlike the Montauk Monster which mysteriously disappeared. I can’t wait to see what washes up next.

As the Flyers bid farewell to their old home, The Spectrum, last the weekend, they will get ready for moving into a new home. Well, not really. But as you may have heard, Citigroup will be taking over Wachovia Bank. When I heard about this news, just like any concerned citizen, the first thing that crossed my mind was - when will the name of the Wachovia Center change? You see, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to name the center after a bank. Due to mergers, the name has changed from the CoreStates Center to the First Union Center to the Wachovia Center to ??? And it’s only been open for 12 years.

They should have used the original name proposed before it was built - Spectrum II - which might be lame, but at least doesn’t change. The funniest part about the building’s naming history is that at one point they considered changing the name because they didn’t like people calling it the “F-U Center”. They wanted to change it to the First Union National Center, or FUN Center. One of my favorite Flyers at the time, Brantt Myhres, said the name would make the building sound like a “circus venue”. The weird thing is that most arenas and stadiums sell their naming rights now, but they only get a couple of million a year to do so, which is nothing compared to their overall revenue. To me it would mean more if they pick a name and stick with it.

The Tappan Zee Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River just north of New York City, needs to be replaced. State planners are proposing to build a whole new bridge instead of repairing the current one. The cost? 16 billion dollars. Actually, that’s only if it includes a commuter rail line. To save money, it could be built with an express bus system with the structure to perhaps add the rail line in the future, it would be only $9.3 billion. Hmmm, good luck coming up with that with the current state of the economy. Of course, the bridge is over 50 years old and continually under construction as it is. With everything we hear about the nation’s bridges and how desperately they need repairs, it’s going to be a challenge to get them all replaced for the time being.

What an amazing DOUBLE PLAY TO END THE BALL GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the second straight year, the Phillies have won the National League East division by beating the Washington Nationals at home. Instead of waiting until the last day of the season, they wrapped it up on the second-to-last day. For the second straight year, Jamie Moyer was the starting pitcher and he did a great job. This season was different from last, though, due to the fact that the expectations were much higher after last year’s playoff appearance. The Phillies were also in first place for a good portion of the season, whereas last year they came out of nowhere to steal it from the Mets.

So while the division clinching post-game celebration was wilder and more out of control last season, I am still extremely excited that the Phils are in the postseason two years in a row for the first time since I started watching them as a kid. So I will get my rally towel out and gear up for some October baseball.

When I was a kid, I used to call the phone company to find out the time. I am not sure why I did. I was probably trying to synchronize my watch or something else dorky. It would beep every ten seconds so I could always be sure it was right. Well, next week Verizon is doing away with that phone number (846-1212) in Pennsylvania. They are also getting rid of the line to call to get the weather (936-1212). I actually used a different phone number to get the time. That was TIME-??? where you could dial whatever last three numbers you wanted. The combinations were endless. Oh wait, no they weren’t.

The numbers have been around for decades, but it turns out nobody uses these services anymore. I guess if your cell phone has a clock that’s always correct even if you fly around the world, you won’t be picking it up to find out what time it is. A lot of people probably don’t even know these numbers exist. Honestly, I didn’t even know about the weather one until now. Either way, these numbers are going the way of the pay phone. I think I may call them up one more time just for fun. I also think the robotic lady’s voice should say something Wednesday at midnight as a kind of sign-off. Like “thanks for the memories, it’s been fun.” That would be awesome. I will have to stay on the line until then to find out.

We already know there are a lot of commercials I don’t like. There are a few that I do like, including some of the commercials for FreeCreditReport.com. Usually they include some kind of catchy, humorous song about someone with credit problems and because they went to this website their lives are happier. I have not seen their next commercial yet but I hope they haven’t jumped the shark . According to reports, Ed McMahon will be featured in two new commercials… as a rapper. He will be making light of his well-publicized financial troubles. Although it could be funny it could also be just dumb. Keep an eye out for the commercials to appear online sometime in October.

The Phillies’ ballpark was evacuated on Wednesday afternoon when three suspicious packages were discovered near the first-base entrance. The packages were discovered and the bomb squad was called in to investigate. They were wrapped in duct tape with exposed metal. The packages were exploded by the bomb squad and the ballpark was re-opened. You want to know what was in the packages? Hot dogs. You know those guns that shoot t-shirts into the crowd at a sporting event? Well, the Phillies have a gun that their mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, shoots hot dogs out of.

The “metal” they saw was a foil hot dog wrapper. The duct tape is wrapped around the dogs so they don’t fall apart when you fire them out of a gun. By the way, if anyone has ever eaten a hot dog that was shot from a gun, let me know how it tasted. I know a lot of people think that hot dogs are deadly, but I don’t think this is what they meant. I hope someone got a video of this, because I’ve always wanted to see an exploding hot dog.

Unlike a lot of guys, I was never too caught up in fantasy football. I even thought the name of it was funny. I don’t know about you, but whenever I have a fantasy there are never any football players in it. I played in a league once, about three years ago but wasn’t too serious about it. Well, this year I got roped in again, and I am starting to wonder why I did it. It is kind of fun to draft your players and set up your roster. Then the season starts.

So far this season I have zero wins and three losses. Although I have great players, most of them have already been injured and/or suspended. I have only a few reserves to use, but how will I ever predict when they will have a great game? I could pick up more players to replace my original players, but that could backfire as well. I also have to shell out more money for each transaction. So I end up obsessing about every little thing every player does, instead of actually watching the football game itself. I’m not saying this because my team sucks, either. I would be equally obsessed if my team was doing well. I love how there are some people who are in multiple fantasy leagues, to the point where they’re rooting for every player in the NFL at the same time. Fun!

A funny website I heard about today is Women Against Fantasy Sports. There you can find stories from women about the men in their lives and their obsession with fantasy sports (interestingly enough, the lone woman in my league is currently in first place). You can even order merchandise. In the meantime, I will need to look for a new wide receiver and running back.

The original 30th Street Post Office will be closing this Friday, September 26. It has been around since 1935, along with the train station across the street, both being massive, impressive looking buildings with matching columns. The new post office will be opening on September 29. When I lived in the city, I was at 30th Street Post Office often. Because it was Philly’s main post office, it was open 24/7. It was close by to my college campus at Drexel, and even closer to the apartment building I lived in after graduation. I would walk there; I guess if you drove and needed to park your car it wasn’t nearly as convenient.

The old building is now owned by the University of Pennsylvania and will become offices. I think UPenn’s goal is to completely surround Drexel’s campus with their own. I miss going there and I will even miss the guard who sat outside the building, and whose only job was to yell at people who stopped on red past the white line. But I guess as long as my letters still get to where they need to go, that’s all that matters.

It’s been around for 85 years, and its last regular-season game is today. But if the Yankees lose one more game and the Red Sox win one more, it will be all over for Yankee Stadium. I’m sure lots of Yankees fans at the beginning of the season had visions of the stadium going out with one more World Championship. But it doesn’t look like it will happen. Even so, I will be interested to see the ceremonies on TV as the Yankees pay respect to the House that Ruth Built. I have some relatives that are huge Yankees fans, and so I was at the ballpark a handful of times as a kid. But I think it was too long ago for me to remember much about that historic building. I mostly remember messing around on the CB radio with my cousins on the way to the game, and stopping for Texas red hots in New Jersey. Aaahh, memories.