Cheesesteaks

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

12 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

One takeaway from my time in Seattle is that every major American city is pretty much the same with only minor differences. They all got buildings and restaurants and traffic and people. 

 

This was my expectation going in.  That is why the repeated experiences I had in that one particular city impressed me so much.

 

Maybe it was a sampling error.  In a sense, everything that we think that we "know" from observation is exactly that.  Let's see how my future trips down there go.  

By the way, definitely hit Shibe Sports if you're in Philly.  It's located about two blocks away from the Mitchell and Ness store. Not only does Shibe have fitted Philadephia A's caps, but they have t-shirts for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL and the Philadelphia Atoms of the NASL.  The only thing they don't have is a Connie Mack straw hat.

[JayMac]

17 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

This is interesting to me!  I have also been to Philly three times.  And, not only have I never seen any crimes (felonies or otherwise), but I was shocked at the polite behaviour that I witnessed on the part of that city's drivers.  

I ride a bicycle. (I rode from New York to Philadelphia and back; it is my proudest achievement.)  Here in New York it is normal to see drivers blowing stop signs and even red lights.  And, when they do deign to stop at red lights, the car at the front of the line is almost always over the stop line, and is sometimes even in the crosswalk.

I saw none of this behaviour in Philly.  Down there, drivers actually stop at stop signs; and they do this even if no pedestrians are crossing in front of them. And they come to a full stop before making a right on red. (Fortunately, there is no right-on-red in New York.  But on Long Island and in northern New Jersey, drivers routinely terrorise pedestrians by rolling right through the red on the way to a right turn.) It was remarkable to me that Philly drivers can actually be counted on to act legally at intersections.

What's more, entirely absent in the streets of that city are the constant acts of intimidation to which cyclists and pedestrians in the New York area have become accustomed.  I wear white gloves, so as to make my hand signals as visible as possible.  While riding through an intersection of two two-way streets, I will frequently put up a palm-out "stop" sign to a car going in the opposite direction that is making a left turn across my path. Every time I did this in Philadelphia, the turning car stopped -- I mean "stopped" as in "ceased moving"!  By contrast, drivers in New York typically respond to that hand signal by barely slowing down while continuing to advance on me (despite the fact that I, as the vehicle going straight, have the right of way over a turning vehicle).

My experience in Philly taught me that drivers' lawbreaking and menacing on a massive scale is not inherent to a big-city setting.  And it taught me something about my beloved home town.  When I realised that drivers in a city that is famous for booing Santa Claus are noticeably more civilised than New York's drivers, I had to conclude that there is something very wrong with the local culture of my city.
 

Around the country many people think that New Yorkers are rude A-holes. My stays in Philly made me understand that the people who hold this opinion might just have a point.

Anyway, here is my souvenir from my time down there:

 

 

 

 

I have that same hat. If I were around during the Philadelphia Athletics time, I think I would have been a fan. I would probably have gone to a few games at Shibe Park to see my relative, Jimmie Foxx play.

[BBTV]

While I'm a fan of the NL style, I really wish the A's had stayed and the Phillies had moved (Kansas City Phillies would have been right up there with Utah Jazz in terms of mismatched nicknames.)

 

I love the royal blue and white A's gear, and the stand-alone A without the 's that they have now.  I only wear hats when running or working out, and they have to be small 3930s, so if I ever found a 3930 Phila A's cap I'd purchase in a heartbeat.

 

Same with the Cheesesteak caps - if they ever offer in 3930 I'm getting a without (it just makes for a better logo than the with, which is a little too detailed IMO.)

[OnWis97]

I was buying into the Philly sterotypes as well.  I mean, come on, they booed Santa!

 

My two experiences were positive.  Both included Phillies games.  One was a few months into the new ballpark, vs. division rival Atlanta.  I noticed not one incident that made me think anything different of Philly than anywhere else.  My next was in 2010; myself and five friends in our Twins gear watching a thrilling back-and-forth extra innings game.  I've had worse treatment as a Twins fan in Milwaukee than I did that day (on the following year's annual Twins road trip).  All I got that day was good-natured back-and-forth ribbing with the 50-somethings in the row behind us.  It's all anecdotal of course, but I left almost disappointed (jokingly) that I did not get mugged or something.

[JayMac]

I know you said it in jest but that is still taken out of context to this day. My dad was at the infamous game where "Santa" was booed. My dad said he appeared drunk because he was staggering a bit. It's almost like a streaker getting hit with something. Plus, the Eagles were terrible that year so you can understand the frustration that the fans had to let out.

[joshey]

Somewhat OT but Portland, OR. Is the cleanest and nicest city I've ever been to. Even the homeless dress well there

[joshey]

And I was almost killed in Philly for wearing a Giants Plaxico jersey on gameday, at the game, where we forced OT and won on some early career Eli heroics. I was literally chased out of the stadium! Good times... Must've been either 05 or 06.

[Trapper John]

I was at a Phillies game a couple years back with some locals that took us to Tony Luke’s a couple blocks from the stadium and they said it was the best... if it's the best I don't know but it was the best I've ever had. But in Denver the cheesesteaks kind of suck....

[FiddySicks]

Just came in today. The shipping process was a bit of a nightmare through their pro shop, and they sent me the wrong version (I ordered the "wit" version, and they sent me the "witout" version), but it's still a beautiful hat. The wrapping paper is a great touch, too. Definitely gonna wear this to my softball games from here on out.

 

 

[MCM0313]

On 3/24/2016 at 5:44 PM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

This is interesting to me!  I have also been to Philly three times.  And, not only have I never seen any crimes (felonies or otherwise), but I was shocked at the polite behaviour that I witnessed on the part of that city's drivers.  

I ride a bicycle. (I rode from New York to Philadelphia and back; it is my proudest achievement.)  Here in New York it is normal to see drivers blowing stop signs and even red lights.  And, when they do deign to stop at red lights, the car at the front of the line is almost always over the stop line, and is sometimes even in the crosswalk.

I saw none of this behaviour in Philly.  Down there, drivers actually stop at stop signs; and they do this even if no pedestrians are crossing in front of them. And they come to a full stop before making a right on red. (Fortunately, there is no right-on-red in New York.  But on Long Island and in northern New Jersey, drivers routinely terrorise pedestrians by rolling right through the red on the way to a right turn.) It was remarkable to me that Philly drivers can actually be counted on to act legally at intersections.

What's more, entirely absent in the streets of that city are the constant acts of intimidation to which cyclists and pedestrians in the New York area have become accustomed.  I wear white gloves, so as to make my hand signals as visible as possible.  While riding through an intersection of two two-way streets, I will frequently put up a palm-out "stop" sign to a car going in the opposite direction that is making a left turn across my path. Every time I did this in Philadelphia, the turning car stopped -- I mean "stopped" as in "ceased moving"!  By contrast, drivers in New York typically respond to that hand signal by barely slowing down while continuing to advance on me (despite the fact that I, as the vehicle going straight, have the right of way over a turning vehicle).

My experience in Philly taught me that drivers' lawbreaking and menacing on a massive scale is not inherent to a big-city setting.  And it taught me something about my beloved home town.  When I realised that drivers in a city that is famous for booing Santa Claus are noticeably more civilised than New York's drivers, I had to conclude that there is something very wrong with the local culture of my city.
 

Around the country many people think that New Yorkers are rude A-holes. My stays in Philly made me understand that the people who hold this opinion might just have a point.

Anyway, here is my souvenir from my time down there:

 

 

 

 

Nice hat! I've spent much time in two big cities (smaller than NYC or Philly though), Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. I agree---having a large proportion of obnoxious drivers is not inherent to a big city. Most of the drivers in those cities are pretty good. Actually, from what I've seen, a greater proportion are obnoxious in my hometown of Chillicothe (pop. ~22K) than in either Columbus or Cincinnati.

[BrianLion]

On 3/23/2016 at 6:15 PM, BringBackTheVet said:

The only good thing about either Pats or Genos is the Garage Bar across the street from Genos, and the pop-up beer garden that magically appears in the summers across from Pats.  Speaking of the Garage... it's a beautiful day, might have to take the 5 block stroll to have a few spring beers.

 

God I miss living in Queen Village. Being able to walk out my door and go to the bars/restaurants on Passyunk or down near Penn's Landing was great.  

[BBTV]

QV is fun (I usually find myself in New Wave Cafe after bocce games), but for my money East Passyunk is the place to be. Moving there from Fitler Square was the best decision I made, though I di miss being right by the schuylkill banks trail.  

[Around the Horn]

On 4/8/2016 at 0:41 AM, Bucfan56 said:

Just came in today. The shipping process was a bit of a nightmare through their pro shop, and they sent me the wrong version (I ordered the "wit" version, and they sent me the "witout" version), but it's still a beautiful hat. The wrapping paper is a great touch, too. Definitely gonna wear this to my softball games from here on out.

 

 

It comes in wrapping paper?!