Time to forgive Philly fans -- and celebrate with them

PHILADELPHIA -- As the game approached later innings, the cheers grew louder. They knew. The fans knew the curse was dying.

The cold didn't matter. The hearty wind was irrelevant. The fact the weather in Game 5 of the World Series was fit for an Eagles game quickly became an afterthought. Fans jumped and danced in the stands, around the stadium and throughout the city. When the World Series was over, the partying began.

And no one was burning this stadium down. The fans weren't throwing batteries, they were throwing kisses. Television showed tens of thousands of fans packed into one downtown area and there weren't massive riots.

The most beleaguered fan base and sometimes verbally abused city in America is no longer solely a late-night punch line. Philadelphia is a city of champions.

"This is for Philadelphia!" manager Charlie Manuel said.

"We really wanted this for our city," Jimmy Rollins said. "The fans have been through some rough times. They deserved this."

Philadelphia sports fans are maybe the only ones in America known simultaneously for being the butt of jokes and feeling unabashed about kicking some.

Depending on your viewpoint they're either passionate loyalists or angry hooligans. Some say they're both.

Yet if you hate them, to you, I say, it's time to celebrate with them. If they've cursed you, I say, it's time to forgive and celebrate with them. If they ever dumped a garbage can on your head or upended the port-a-potty with you in it -- unzipped and vulnerable -- to you, I say, forgive and celebrate with them.

'This is for Philadelphia,' manager Charlie Manuel says following the victory. (Getty Images)

For even the most ardent Philadelphia sports fan hater should feel joy for one of the most previously losing great towns in the country.

Philadelphia winning the World Series might be the most gratifying moment so far in sports history for a city's fans.

Before Wednesday's Game 5, only Cleveland scored higher than the city of Philadelphia on the Misery Richter scale. Cleveland watched Michael Jordan bury them and John Elway break their hearts. If it weren't for a guy named LeBron, Cleveland would need mass therapy sessions.

Previous perennial losers had fallen long behind Philadelphia. The city of Boston has the Patriots, the Red Sox won titles and the Celtics are defending champions. Chicago had Jordan and Mike Ditka. New York had two teams in the World Series and the Giants are Super Bowl champions. Atlanta, Buffalo, New Orleans and San Diego weren't in the same sports misery universe.

Philadelphia deserved this. They earned this. Good for them.

Not to sound like Sarah Palin but if you don't feel a sense of enjoyment for this great American city then your heart is made of hardened plastic.

(And the Star Spangled Banner plays in the background. "O beautiful, for spacious skies...")

In all seriousness, this is a good thing.

It seems, at least for now, there are no cars decorated with lighter fluid, mobs in the street or Kurt Russell looking for an escape. For now, it's hardcore partying, not rampant misdemeanor generating. In typical Philly fan fashion, getting the win wasn't easy, however. After The Great Rain Debacle on Monday, fans were forced to wait through a 46-hour delay.

They waited patiently. After all, it'd been 28 years, so what were a few more days?

Cole Hamels was asked when he thought it would sink in the Phillies were champions.

"I think when we come back, when we're all old and retired and we come back and (the fans) still stand up giving us a standing ovation," he said, "just like they did to all the guys of the 1980 World Series.

"We've got to witness that and knowing that and seeing the city and the excitement throughout the first game of the season this year, throughout the multiple sellouts and of course the playoff excitement was just really huge. I really think the fans stepped up. They could taste it just as much as we could. And they added to our confidence to go out there and win."

The last time Philadelphia won a championship of any kind was almost three decades ago. That was when Dr. J. and Moses Malone led the 76ers over the Los Angeles Lakers. No other city with four major team sports -- football, baseball, basketball and hockey -- has ever gone 25 years without a championship.

Some time after the game, thousands of fans were still packed into the stadium. They didn't want to leave. Phillies players took laps around the ballpark shaking the hands of fans and celebrating with them.

There was a circle of police officers around the entire field but you got the feeling they weren't needed. No one was going to do anything violent or stupid. At least for the moment. The fans were just ... happy.

The Philadelphia fan as a happy fan. Imagine that.

Well, mostly. When Bud Selig came onto the field, he was roundly booed.

You didn't expect them to become total angels, did you?

We'd all be disappointed if they did.