Whether they openly loathe us, or secretly cheer for us, we’re always on their mind. Want proof? Let’s just look around our own Fansided network.
For those of you on the main BSB page, please click Continue Reading to see the rest of this post.
So recently, a bunch of bloggers (myself included) have been doing bunch of top 5 lists. Top 5 teams to see, top 5 arena’s, blah blah blah. A lot of interesting stuff that is good reading. And time and time again, our own Philadelphia Flyers are mentioned.
Let’s start with The Rat Trick, our fellow Florida Panthers blog.
5 Teams I Have to See Every Year: We are 5th on the list.
"Every time Philly comes to town, you can expect alot of physical play, some real nastyness and for the most part a competitive game."
5 Arena’s I Must Get To: This time, we’re 4th on the list.
"The fans are nuts, and they don’t care if you’re in a Flyers sweater or not. If you’re sucking that night, you’ll hear about it."
Sounds like a little crush, doesn’t it? I think Frank, who is originally from Chi-town and a ‘Hawks fan, is simply elated that they went through us to get the Cup. Thus, he’s just happy to see us. Lucky bastard.
Next, we’ve got our Montreal Canadiens site, A Winning Habit.
Five Teams I Love to Hate: We place 5th on this list as well.
"Clarke,Hextall, Tocchet and now Pronger…how can anyone stand this organization."
This match-up, as Rick does talk about, goes way, way back to the 70’s. They ended our attempt at a dynasty back then, but pretty much have been our whipping boys since they gave us John LeClair.
Finally, there’s our Tampa Bay Lightning site, Bolts by the Bay.
If I Could Punch 5 NHL Players: Just for us, the list was expanded to 6 players, with 3 of them being Flyers! Oh joy!
"5.Danny Briere/ Scott Hartnell, Flyers – So technically this is a six person list but I don’t like these guys for the same reason. I think they both play a tad dirty for my liking. Briere is over-payed in my opinion, and whines like that is his job. Scotty Hartnell plays dirty and needs to cut his goddamn hair.4. Daniel Carcillo, Flyers – Hey, surprised to see another dirty Flyer make this list? Well don’t be, because I thought about just filling out the rest of this list with their roster. After watching countless videos of this guy cheap shotting the rest of the league and diving like he was in Bejing Olympics, I have had enough. Then he decided to grow that terrible mustache which just put me over the edge. I wonder if its a requirement in this guys contract to look like he is a homeless person. Shave your face and get a haircut you diving bum!"
Damn, South Florida really hates us. I think the real underlying reason for this anger is that when the elderly people from our area move down there for the climate, and make driving in the Sunshine State a pain in the ass. Or, it could be that aside from the fluke playoff run, we’ve pretty much spanked the Lightning throughout their entire existence.
Finally, let’s not leave out the biggest Chris Pronger fan of all, Susan Lee from Daily Ducks Blog. She hasn’t done any “Top 5 Reasons” lists, but just check out her archives during the Stanley Cup Finals. Right now, she claims to despise him and everything he does. Let’s not forget what Prongs did for the Mickey Mouse organization. He came along, and pushed the team over the hump en route to a Stanley Cup. While of course that team had a lot of skill, they were feared and respected for their toughness. Pronger was a huge part of that, and now that he’s gone, she hates him. I don’t buy it. I think she has a major crush on him.
Of course, there’s also something she wrote about Danny Briere right after that devastating Game 6 loss.
"Stood before the Flyers motto “You play for the CREST on the front, Not the name on the back”, his right eye still orange and puffy with Frankenstein stitches standing out, Danny Briere gave us a truly honest post game interview. It wasn’t overladen with praise for his teammates or “we’ll win it next year” platitudes. He expressed the weird, sort of let-down feeling pretty much everyone watching had. Danny said he couldn’t believe the Cup could be won like this – with so much confusion. “That can’t be it,” he said in a quietly bewildered voice just after the game. “You can’t win a Stanley Cup and not even be sure if you really won it or not. I couldn’t believe they could win a Stanley Cup this way, but that doesn’t change how much that hurts.”We all know I’m no Flyers fan, but after seeing that, I wanted to give Danny a hug and a steak."
All in all, I’m not going to say we’re the most popular team of all time, or the most popular in any given season. But year after year, we’re up there. Opposing fans, you are in denial. Just accept it, you love the Flyers.
Thanks for reading!
You can follow me on Twitter by visiting www.Twitter.com/BroadStreetBuzz
Check out our new NHL site, Too Many Men on the Site
Fansided is also on Facebook: Fansided Fan Page