After missing a whole NHL season, we (all hockey fans) got a very exciting season. A team like the Flyers was bound to hit the bumps and potholes in the road early on, and various injuries only made things worse, but they kept trying. Simon Gagne was a star, and we (Flyers fans) got to watch a bunch of very impressive rookies (like Mike Richards!). In fact, the biggest disappointment this season for me was that I was not in Philly to watch local coverage or to attend any games!

So, all I want to say to the Flyers club is this: Thank you for a good run this season. October can’t come soon enough!

Wake Up Philadelphia, and let me hear ya sing
The Orange and the Black
The Orange and the Black!

The Orange and The Black, by the Boils

I started celebrating early, and had a Franklin-themed Christmas. A statue of Ben, given to me by Kevin, sat by the piano and watched over our holiday cards and decorations. While out holiday shopping, Kevin bought me Benjamin Franklin : In Search of a Better World. And on Christmas, I received four books on the man — plus one additional book compiled from his writings:

• Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan
• Atlantic Cousins: Benjamin Franklin and His Visionary Friends by Jack Fruchtman Jr.
• Franklin: The Essential Founding Father by James Srodes
• Stealing God’s Thunder : Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America by Philip Dray
• Poor Richards Almanack

As if that weren’t enough, I’ll be returning home to Philadelphia for New Years… and once all of the mummery is over, I’ll visit the many Franklin-themed exhibits and attend some Franklin-themed lectures, such as:

• Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World (Exhibit)
• Franklin, Freemason (Lecture)
• Ben’s Birthday Salon on First Friday
• Franklin Biographers: A Reunion (Panel discussion)

Of course, I’ll also be visiting the Franklin Institute and Independence National Historic Park. Unfortunately I’m only in town through January 8th… what will I do on Ben’s birthday (January 17)? What will you be doing to celebrate this great man?

They even took one weekend trip to Washington, D.C., which was where they had moved the national government after Philadelphia had started it going properly between 1790 and 1800. A lot of people from all over the country were taking history trips that summer. Some of them certainly didn’t know much about Philadelphia.

Like the woman who came up to them outside the Capitol in Washington and said, “Hello, folks. I’m from Ohio. I see by your license that you folks are from Pennsylvania.”

Anthothy said quickly, before his grandmother or mother could reply, “Oh no, we’re from Philadelphia.”

The woman looked puzzled and said, “They haven’t moved it from Pennsylvania, have they?”

His mother and grandmother laughed politely, so the woman wouldn’t feel badly about being ignorant, because of course Philadelphia was in Pennsylvania, but you weren’t from Pennsylvania, you were from Philadelphia. He guessed maybe out in Ohio there were no important places to be from, so you have to be from Ohio.

The book dedication reads: For Marian, who didn’t understand Philadelphia.

Yes, friends, Veterans Stadium, former home of the Phillies and the Eagles, is gone. I only ever attended one Iggles game (versus the Redskins, and we kicked their asses!), but I went to more Phillies games than I can count. I shared the same birthday as the Phillie Phanatic, so for many years I went to games in the hopes that my name would be on the scoreboard (it never was, oh well). It was also the site of oh-so-many great concerts: Paul Mc Cartney’s triumphant return in 1990, the Monkees in 1986, the Rolling Stones… *sigh*

I saw the whole thing from the roof of my building in Center City. A few other residents were up there, too. We said our silent farewells and toasted our old friend as it fell. The local news stations replayed the demolition for hours. I now look out from my building and see emptiness where the Vet once stood. I wonder what it will be like to drive by on I-95 and not see it standing there?