That's what Mayor Nutter told Phillies fans before Friday’s World Series victory parade. And everyone was, joyous that is. The other half of his quote was, "You cannot be a jackass." Nobody was.
The almost two million fans of all ages, colors, political affiliation - and even varying degrees of interest in baseball - really was a sight to behold. It is amazing how something as simple as a ballgame can bring together so many people seeing the glass as half full for a change.
As a photographer, I wanted to capture that feeling somehow, and as a newspaper photojournalist I wanted to be able to convey what I was seeing, and feeling to our readers. I started my day’s coverage with the tailgaters and early arrivers at Citizens Bank Park. The very first frame I made after parking illegally (I pulled in behind the Fox29 live truck) was one above, of Charles Clearwater, who left Pottstown in Phillies-slash-Halloween makeup with his friends at 5:30 a.m. to get a curbside spot to watch the parade (he and the others lining Pattison Avenue then didn’t yet know they were in the wrong place). Thankfully it was a perfect example of the genre – fan screaming into the camera – that I was able to vow I wouldn’t take anymore like it for the rest of the day.
Nick Lanzetta (with and without the "P" on his chest) and his friends from Delaware County commandeered a prime corner spot in the parking lot.
I made these early photos for our website, and then got back to my car (it wasn’t towed or ticketed). The traffic was already backing up for blocks coming into the stadium complex, so I was headed toward South Broad Street where I could park again, send in a couple photos, and then start to shoot fans arriving on SEPTA. Inquirer staff photographer Michael Bryant, planning ahead and arriving already so he could cover the ceremonies inside the ballpark in another six hours, saw me and called on his cell phone as he waited in line to park.
He and I were part of a team of thirteen Inquirer photographers covering the event. Two other Michaels would join him in the ballpark, Mike Perez and Michael Levin. We also had Clem Murray and Sarah Glover on the media trolley in front of the player’s floats, Peter Tobia with a window seat at City Hall, Karl Stolleis and Charles Fox in other windows of buildings farther south on Broad, Michael Wirtz, Ron Tarver and David Swanson walking along the route, and Lawrence Kesterson was in a helicopter. I was shooting farther south, and in the Broad Street subway.
On 13th Street, in front of Justin McNally’s house, I found him and his friends getting ready to walk over to Broad & Oregon for the parade.
In a scene that will be repeated in two months for that other South Broad Street Parade, they were using the windows of parked cars as mirrors for their makeup.
After they took off, Justin’s mom Denise was kind enough to let me plug my laptop in inside her house, and even offered me the use a desk later in the morning to send more photos of the crowds gathering and waiting for the parade to start (I absolutely hate trying to edit photos from the front seat of my car). On Broad Street, the police were stringing up rope to keep back the crowd, already completely filling the sidewalks. But there was none of the hostility you might expect from people being asked to move back from spots they'd secured early.
The cops, like officer Rozier here, were in the same great mood.
This was about when I noticed I was the only person NOT wearing anything red! It reminded me of grade school when I’d forget to wear green on St.Patrick’s Day. At least nobody noticed and started pinching me. Nobody bothered Peter Romero, Jr. either as he walked, not with any Phillies garb but with a celebratory bottle. "This is the greatest day of my life," he said. "When else can you walk down the street with a 40 ouncer with the people, and nobody bother you. " His friend John Kadilliac added, "You can't buy a day like this."
