Start of a Rivalry

Hershey Bears v Philadelphia Phantoms, November 8, 1996

The Spectrum, Section Q Row 21

The 1996-97 campaign brought Hershey both a new affiliation with the just crowned Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche -- and rekindled an old on-ice rivalry with Philadelphia of a kind not seen since the first year 1938-39 Bears had fought it out tooth and nail with their first arch foes, the Philadelphia Ramblers. With the vast majority of the first year Phantoms' roster made up of former Bears, the intensity of play generated in each of the seventeen regular season and playoff games eventually contested between the two clubs in 1996-97 reached increasingly higher levels as the season progressed. By January every meeting between the two clubs in either building was invariably played to SRO crowds. And with Bill Barber returning to Philadelphia to guide the Phantoms, ironically the Bears were taken over by Bob Hartley who in both 1994 as assistant coach and 1995 as head coach had helped lead his former club, the Cornwall Aces, to playoff series victories over the Bears.

As had also been the case in Hershey's first AHL season in 1938-39, only Philadelphia finished 1996-97 with more points than Hershey-and also (as six decades earlier) these two rivals dominated the league's All Star Teams. Bears' netminder Jean-François Labbe took both the Cunningham (MVP) and Holmes (top goalie) awards to go along with his First All Star Team berth while right wing Blair Atcheynum, Hershey's leading scorer (42-45-87), also collected First Team honors. (Three former Bears -- Darren Rumble, Vaclav Prospal and Patrik Juhlin -- represented the Phantoms on the First Team.) Hershey defenseman Pascal Trepanier rounded out the Bears' all stars with a Second Team berth.

"Cheap Seats"

Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Redskins, November 6, 2006

FedEx Field, Section 411, Row 10



This was one of those crappy Sunday Night games that starts after 8pm on the East Coast and goes to midnight, when most of the East Coast is sleeping. That's how I ended up with a set of free tickets; no one else wanted them.

I took one of my boys. We got inside the stadium a bit early when the stands were mostly empty.
There was a group of Eagles fans in the next section and a group of Redskins fans about 20 rows behind them. It is not often a Redskins fan will get the best of an Eagles fan, even on his own home turf. After a few barbs, the Eagles fan yelled up "We are in your house and have better seats then you. That's the best you could do". Then they started chanting "cheap seats" at the Redskins amateurs.

I don't wear Eagles gear to Eagles games (home or away). Even thought they are my home town team and favorite, their (new) colors since the late 1990's are horrendous and their revised logo even sucks. I suspect one day the team will either update colors or go back to the classic kelly green. And I'll buy something once again.

Donavan McNabb connected for 56 yards to Reggie Brown and after a David Ackers PAT, the Eagles were up 7-0. The Redskins John Hall kicked a 24 yard FG in the 2nd followed by a Mike Sellers goal line run to give the Skins a 10-7 edge at the half.

The Eagles tied it up in the 3rd with a 34 yard David Akers FG. Still in the 3rd, Washington's Clinton Portis rushed for a 6 yard TD to put the Redskins up 17-10.

The Eagles saw opportunities in the 4th bu never could put anything together. They had possession of the ball in the last few minutes of the game but were sloppy managing the clock.

The Redskins won 17-10.

Southeast Rivalry

Florida Panthers v Carolina Hurricanes, November 5, 2005

RBC Center, Section 305 Row P

Last row seats. Part of a hockey team trip. RBC has emerged as a great place to see a hockey game. Northeast bastions such as Philadelphia and Boston have lost their atmosphere after moving into new buildings in the last decade.

The RBC is a smaller, more engage arena. 16,015 were on hand this evening. Robert Luongo was the netminder for the visiting Panthers. Martin Gerber was in the nets for Carolina. With those two, you'd expect a low scoring affair. It remained scoreless for 2 periods. Florida only got off 3 shots on net in the first. Both teams picked up the tempo in the 2nd.

The scoring did not start until the 3rd period at the 11:29 mark when on a powerplay, Rod Brind'Amour netted his eight goal of the year, ending the 0-0 stalemate.

Niclas Wallin added another for Carolina at the 14:35 mark putting the Hurricanes ahead 2-0.
Carolina had 27 shots against them with Gerber stopping all for a shutout. Roberto Loungo stopped 27 of 29.

Post Rivalry

New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles, November 4, 1991

Veterans Stadium, Section 249 Row 5

A Monday Night match up. I did not have a ticket to this game. I may have picked on up from the ground inside the stadium. The seat referenced above must have been the one I picked up from the ground.

JFK Stadium was still up. Parking in that lot was were we always tailgated. There was good pissing places around there that did not require a long walk. JFK was demolished in 1994 to make way for the new home of the NHL Flyers.
The warehouse across the street where we pissed were demolished in the early 2000s to make way for the Eagles new stadium, Lincoln Financial Field.

That means I pissed on 3 stadiums. Texas Stadium on the outside wall, Fed Ex Field on the outside wall and inadvertently, the spot where the Eagles would call home a decade or so later.

I worked with a guy who worked in the stadium on the side. He hooked us up with a security guard under the stadium. We would slip the guy $10 each and he would look the other way as we walked in the underground tunnels. If we got caught we promised not to rat the guy out.

I would look for dropped ticket stubs just in case we were ever asked later during a game for some type of proof of admission. We typically just walked around and stole views where ever we could. A bonus was we got an empty beer cup and a side door for free beers throughout the game. We just tipped the worker who our buddy hooked us up with. Another $10 tip was win-win for all involved.

This game lacked a little of the fire from years past. The Giants were removed from their Super Bowl victory the previous Super Bowl. They were not displaying the fervor of a team who looked like they wanted to repeat. The Eagles fired wildly popular Buddy Ryan and replaced him with Rich Kotite. The Eagles would go into a multi year slid until the Andy Reid era began.

Jim McMahon was the field general for the Eagles with Jeff Hostetler leading the Giants.

The opening quarter was scoreless. It wasn't until Roger Ruzek hit a 38 yard FG to put the Eagles ahead 3-0 in the 2nd. McMahon connected with Keith Jackson for a 73 yard TD and Ruzek kicked another FG in the 2nd to put the Eagles ahead 13-0 at the half.

James Joseph ran an 11 yard run into the end zone in the 3rd. The Giants Rodney Hampton poked in the team's first score from the 1.

Ruzek added to the Eagles lead with a 25 yard FG. This was followed by a Joseph 1 yard run for Philadelphia to put the Bird up for good at 30-7.

#1 Loses to Eventual #1

Georgia Tech v Virginia, November 3, 1990

Scott Stadium, Section SWS Row K

In perhaps the most exciting game of the 1990 college season, #16 Georgia Tech made a stunning comeback and outlasted #1 ranked Virginia, 41-38, at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. The loss dropped the Cavaliers out of the #1 spot and made Virginia the fourth different number one to lose in 1990.

Our seats were on the side, last row of the lower bowl. The wife was a recent grad so we met up with her old roommate and husband. We had pre and post game oasis at a fraternity house. The pregame atmosphere was much more festive then the post game.

The game was a CBS nationally televised game. Back in those days when a game was on a network, it meant something. The stadium at the time had a phoney green artifical turf. Someone the night prior to the game broke into the stadium and tried to light the 50 yard line on fire. There was a large, unnatural green artificial turf patch hap hazardly plopped down in the center of the field.

Virginia had a comfortable halftime lead. Georgia Tech turned the tide in the 2nd half.
With the game tied at 38 with :12 left on the clock Georgia Tech's Scott Sisson nailed a game winning 37 yard game winner to the shock of 49,000.

Georgia Tech, in this year of so many changes at #1 eventually were awarded a co national championship with Colorado.

National Champs Seminoles

Florida State v Virginia, October 31, 1992

Scott Stadium, Section 9 Row W

A 13-3 snoozer. The Seminoles were the National Champs in 1992. The Noles had 4 players selected in the first 2 rounds of the NFL draft in 1993.

Today's FSU victory was Coach Bobby Bowden's 150th victory as head coach.