What to Cheer With?

"Let's see them ring this bell"

D.C. Lowe, Getty Images

I've been reading up on the Tampa Bay Rays and their fans, who have a penchant for ringing a cowbell at their games. The tradition started in 2007 after a giveaway during the game. Apparently, the Rays owner Stu Sternberg is a big fan of Will Ferrell and the More Cowbell SNL skits.

In any case, this type of cheering (usually reserved for downhill ski racing) is completely annoying, but I guess could possibly be motivating for the Phillies. In 1993, they had to face that annoying, and borderline racist, Tomahawk Chop when they played the Braves in the NLCS. In more recent times the Phillies have adopted towel waving, which looks cool on TV but can hardly be called "a Philly Thing." Dodger fans this season were also big towel wavers.

The closest thing Philly fans can call their own is the Eagles fight song "Fly Eagles Fly" which was created by the team itself but has been adopted more or less wholeheartedly by the fans. A few entrepreneurial fans also tried to market a cheesesteak head in response to Green Bay's cheeseheads, but that never really caught on.

But one really cool tradition that Citizens Bank Park kept from the old Veterans Stadium is the practice of lighting up the giant Liberty Bell every time the Phillies hit a home run. That gives me an idea. Maybe Phillies fans could bang on replica liberty bells as a rally cry. One problem though, it might sound weird, you know, with the crack and all.

11:00 AM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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