Philly Today

There have long been fan groups that show up at Phillies games to root for their favorite player. The Wolf Pack. Burrell’s Girls. Even if the player sucked, they had a group that usually rhymed with their name (anybody else remember Ledee’s Reggaes?) Could Sheff’s Chefs be the next group to emerge? The Phils have indicated that they have contacted Gary Sheffield’s agent with the hope that he could sign with them. They also released outfielder Geoff Jenkins which opens up a possibility for Sheffield. Sheffield was released by the Detroit Tigers and can be had for relatively cheap. But could this 40-year old slugger who can’t play the field really help the defending champs? I guess we will find out in the next few days which direction the Phillies want to go. Maybe they can give out chef’s hats like they did in Detroit.

Okay, I know that March does not end until tomorrow, and by then the weather is supposed to be beautiful (just in time for my first softball practice). Yesterday it was anything but. Rain, drizzle, and some pretty violent storms hit my area, including a small tornado in Lancaster County. I also just realized today that my grass is starting to get green and grow like crazy. In the next few days I will need to dust off the lawnmower, buy some fertilizer and get into some springtime activities. But I’m not complaining, it’s my favorite time of year. Today is also my beautiful wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday Babycakes!!

It looks like Philadelphia is getting at least one new casino. Ever since it was announced a few years ago that two casinos were in the works, there has been nothing but delays. Foxwoods still doesn’t even have a firm location to put theirs. But now Sugar House has gotten their first major construction permit to begin work on their Delaware waterfront site. It is pretty divided as to people who are for and against these casinos. These developments will give people plenty to talk about in the coming months.

The third-seeded Villanova Wildcats have advanced to the Final Four in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. They did so by beating the Pittsburgh Panthers 78-76, in a nailbiter that saw Pitt become the first number one seed to fall in the tournament thus far. With the game tied, Scottie Reynolds drove all the way from half-court to put the winning shot into the basket with 0.5 seconds remaining to send the Wildcats to victory, and send Philadelphia into a frenzy. For all of the great college basketball the city has, this is the first time since 1985 that a Philly school has made it to the Final Four. The last team? Villanova, who won the whole thing that year as an underdog. ‘Nova will certainly be an underdog from here on out, next taking on either UNC or Oklahoma. The team this year is definitely not the most hyped Villanova squad or the highest ranked. But they have cleared a huge hurdle in the quest for another Philadelphia championship.

Of course, I had to jinx myself and declare that my 300th post is coming up on April 5, and then fail to write anything yesterday. It turns out I was too busy/tired to blog. I had a personal goal of blogging for a whole year without missing a day. Then I thought maybe I could make it for at least 300 days but I fell short. It doesn’t matter; my so-called streak was selfish and fraudulent, much like Cal Ripken Jr.’s streak (don’t get me started on him). Since I started blogging last June, I had missed one other day back in November. I was hoping nobody would notice. Of course I could just write two blog posts today to catch myself up, but that is a bit advanced for me. So anyway, whether it’s the 5th or the 6th of April or whenever this 300th post hits, you need to enter my contest to win lots of Entrecard credits. It’s easy to win, especially with so few participants!

So you know those huge electronic traffic signs on the side of the highway that are usually wrong and nobody really pays attention to? It turns out that someone found an actual use for them: pulling off one of the greatest pranks ever. I first heard about this happening in Austin, TX but since then the same thing has been done in Omaha and Richland Township, PA. The signs were all hacked into and changed to read “Zombies Ahead.” In the case of Austin, it was like that for days before anybody was notified. That is so awesome. Apparently there is a website that I will need to Google to see exactly how this was pulled off.

It takes me back to my elementary school days. This was in the late ‘80s and the school had just purchased a brand new scrolling red LED sign, and for some reason I was one of the kids allowed to program it. In addition to typing in the lunch menu for the day, I loved all of the special effects that went with it. In particular, I enjoyed using the effect where a little alligator ate all of the words as they scrolled. But being able to hack into one of these big roadway signs would be the ultimate for a geek like me.

I just found out that due to my host today.com’s advertising policy, I have to take down my Entrecard widget in mere days. I found so many of my favorite blogs by networking through Entrecard, and I’m sure in the short-term I’ll be getting less traffic overall. In its absence, I guess it would make me feel better if you befriended Philly Today on MySpace , Twitter and whatever else I join in the near future.

So in order to unload my Entrecard credits and to coincide with my 300th post (projected to be written on April 5), I am going to have my first ever contest. And it’s the easiest contest of all time. Once you see how dumb it is, you will realize why I haven’t done contests.

Simply put, I want backlinks. So all you have to do is link to philly.today.com anywhere on your blog. It can be in a blogroll or just a quick mention in a post. After you link me, write a comment here and tell me where to find my link. On April 5, I will randomly select one of the commenters and that person will win all of the Entrecard credits I have accumulated to that point. I have no idea how many, but it will be well over 1000. I’m hoping that as fellow bloggers we’ll both be able to help each other out. Good luck!

Philadelphia’s an interesting place, and it’s not just the $1 hotel rooms. The area also features some classic signage. Let’s take a look:

You’ll see plenty of homemade signs at our sporting events. This gem came from a few years ago when Barry Bonds came to town in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s 714 home run mark. These fans were simply explaining one difference between the Babe’s total and Barry ‘roids-influenced record.

This guy who sells flowers at an off-ramp from I-95 has a sign that is quick and to the point:

True, not all of the signs, as evidenced by the one seen at a Philly Burger King, exhibit perfect spelling or grammar.

Moving to the suburbs, here is a sign from Phoenixville, PA. For those who don’t realize the word “Street” is missing from the top line, passers-by might wonder where is the detour for everybody else?

On the bridge over to Trenton, New Jersey you will notice a sign dating back to the early 1900s.  What an weird slogan, and how true is it really?

Again in New Jersey, the sign on this unidentified building tells people who love cash and beer not to get their hopes up.

I’ll continue to search for more signs, both on the web and when I’m in and around Philly.

According to the Philadelphia tourism marketing campaign, “Philly’s more fun when you sleep over”. It’s also more fun when it costs a dollar. The Alexander Inn, a downtown hotel, is offering five of its rooms for $1 per night certain nights through mid-June. It’s calling its promotion the “Guest Stimulus Program”. You can’t book the rooms more than a month in advance, but the good thing is there is no minimum number of nights required for a stay. So far, the promotion has been creating a buzz around the hotel, leading to more reservations. Hopefully more local businesses will get creative and start giving away ridiculous deals to get more new customers. I will have to keep my eyes open.

It’s fun to be in Philadelphia during March Madness. With six city schools that play Division 1 basketball, you’re bound to know somebody or work with somebody who went to each of those schools. Not a year goes by that at least one of those teams does not make the NCAA tournament. Now one team, the Villanova Wildcats, has advanced to the Sweet 16, which they have actually done in four of the last five years. They did so with a convincing 89-69 victory over UCLA in front of their home crowd. They will face Duke in the next round. That should be a tough matchup. My bracket may be tanking, but at least there is plenty to talk about this time of year.