Joey's World Series Crisis

My buddy Joe is a Yankees fan. He always has been. He had the posters and pennants on his bedroom wall growing up. His Dad was a Yankees fan. This fan loyalty thing is mostly hereditary so I've never held it against him. Joe went to Penn and has lived in Philly ever since. He's a sports fan so he couldn't help but follow the Phillies. Through all the crappy teams of the last 15 years. Then something happened in recent years. The Phils put together a very good and likable team... even won a World Series.

In recent years I've seen a couple games with Joe. I got my first foul ball with Joe. We won a game used baseball bat by Shane Victorino in a raffle last year. And by we I mean Joe. I was one number off. Joe's kids are growing up Phillies fans. The Phillie Phanatic showed up at his sons 5th birthday. I posted that on my Studio blog. With his Yankee upbringing he's been both positive and encouraging in regard to the Phillies success.

Joe had a conversation with his five year old, Nicholas, about team loyalty on the day of the Phanatic appearance. Nicholas asked his Dad if he was a Phillies fan. Joe said "yes, of course." Nicholas asked, "Well, what about the Yankees?" Joe explained as best he could that Daddy liked both teams, different leagues, etc. Nicholas told his Dad that he just likes the Phillies and asked if it was okay that he just had one favorite team. Joe assured him that that was just fine.

Now I haven't spoken to Joe today about the Phillies/Yankees match-up, but he did mention a couple weeks ago that he was a little concerned. He didn't know what he'd do. It's easy enough to root for two teams through the season when they are in different leagues. I don't watch the American League much. It may as well be hockey through most of the summer. I start watching around playoff time. Joe's got a decision to make and I don't think it's going to be something he consciously decides. It will happen all by itself. When the bases are loaded and the team is down a run with two outs, Joe will be rooting for a team. There's no fence-walking in World Series baseball. Hopefully if he's really stuck, he'll ask his five year old.

Bacon Brothers and the Mummers

Just a quick follow up to the post earlier this summer. The Bacon Brothers released their song New Years Day to benefit the Mummers and the New Years Day Parade. I think there is a DVD coming out as well with a documentary of the day. I've added my slide show of the recording session. I haven't added the Bacon Brothers song, but if you want to hear it or buy it it's here.

The picture above on the cover art is one that I took that afternoon. They had a CD release at our little record store on Main Street in Manayunk this past weekend. I was supposed to shoot it, but had a wedding. Strangely they didn't reschedule the event around my photography schedule.

Bacon Brothers and Mummers Record New Years Day from Jim Harris Images on Vimeo.

Charlie and the Corn Chips

"I like it," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of the tense, four-hour-long 6-5 victory. Even when I hate it, I like it. It tests you. That's what the game is all about. It's exciting, but in some ways it's not too good."
Sometimes you need an interpreter to weed through a Charlie Manual interview, but ultimately he gets right to the heart of the matter with that West Virginia accent. The Skipper was an easy target here in Philadelphia for a couple of years. When he was asked once about the folks here not liking him, he replied something along the lines of, "There are plenty of people that like me in other places, so that's okay." Now someday there will be a statue of Charlie Manual at the ballpark. I'd almost bet on it.

I met Charlie when I took these pictures above at this years ALS charity event. The stuck him in the dugout,,,in the sun for about 4 hours for photos with fans. I wasn't taking those fan photos, I just needed to get something of him for ALS. I was trying to be quick and discrete, but Charlie was set on trying to help me get this shot with this little girl while she was intent on sharing her corn chips with Uncle Charlie. I watch this team for those 162 games a year, and a lot of the post game interviews that come with them too, but sometimes you get sense of someone's disposition in just a brief personal interaction.