Spirited Young People Celebrate

This column originally appeared on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008

So, anything unusual happen around here last week?

I mean, besides the fact that the authorities had to call police into West Chester from as far away as Kuala Lumpur to help calm the display of exuberance expressed by the folks in town who wanted to properly commemorate the World Series victory by the Phillies Wednesday night. I don’t know about you, but for me nothing says sporting achievement quite like the words “overturned car.”

What happens if something else exciting happens in the world of Philadelphia professional athletics? Animal sacrifice? Spontaneous human combustion? Cats and dogs living together? Democrats sweeping the Chester County Courthouse?

My neighbors and I could hear the crowds cheering the Phils from the front porch of our place on South Church Street and I briefly considered walking the few blocks to join in the celebration. Good thing I didn’t, because apparently part of the admission to the event was a predilection for removing street signs from their moorings, presumably because they make good wall art when you’re on a limited budget.

I did find the whole matter good light reading in the paper at breakfast in Penn’s Table Friday morning, however, after the dust had settled and West End Towing had cleared the streets of upside down motor vehicles. Our wise colleague Jennifer Miller described the going on in her perfectly understated way: “For the most part, the chaos involved spirited young people publicly expressing their joy for the major win, both outside bars on Market, High and Gay streets and in the 500 and 600 blocks of South Walnut Street, where many West Chester University students reside,” she wrote.

The emphasis here, obviously, is on the adjective “spirited.”

My friend and former colleague Sondra Roberto, who broke both stories and hearts when she covered the cops for the Local in the mid-1990s, was appalled by the news, but for her own particular reasons. "There was a time when the only drunks who frequented downtown West Chester were journalists and lawyers and cops,” she wrote after the news broke. “The college-aged fools stayed in their place across town."

Welcome to the new West Chester, Sondra -- the destination spot of southeastern Pennsylvania and the perfect place to visit when you want to pick a fight with a K-9 officer, as one “spirited young person” reportedly tried to do.

According to Jennifer’s story, West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn said afterwards that his department “anticipated a crowd after the game but was hopeful illegal activity would not occur.

"You certainly plan, and we had expected there was going to be a number of people, but I'm disappointed in the destruction of property," Bohn said. "While you expect anything and everything, I was hopeful that none of that type of activity would occur."

Sort of like Gen. George Custer hoping the Cheyenne Nation just wanted to give a shout out to their homey, Sitting Bull. Bohn can take heart that no other municipal police department in Chester County reported any major disruption after the Phils won. West Chester, it seems, is where folks come when they want to be taken into custody.

When I moved to Pennsylvania in 1980 the Phillies won the World Series for their first time in their history, so I feel a certain affinity for them. My friend Jamie was, and remains, a major Phillies fan, and he taught me the essence of fanaticism during their stretch drive for the pennant and the championship. He takes a back seat to no one when it comes to being overcome with joy when the Phils do well, and morose when they don’t.

But unless I miss my guess, all of the cars on Jamie’s road in Chester Springs still remain grounded on their four tires and the stop signs are still attached to their poles. Family members in his household remain uncharged.

Oh, and for you officers from Kuala Lumpur just arriving: the specials at Penn’s Table are great.