The comments on Enrico's post yesterday describing readers' favorite memories from the Spectrum are some of the most interesting and fun responses I've read since starting at the Level a year ago. It's great to see that one building and the events it has housed could be such a source of lasting enjoyment for a city's residents, and in so many different ways. My favorite of the bunch so far is by CaliEagleFan, who recalls the most formative time in Flyers history, a playoff run that predates me, yet still shaped my interest in the team. Here's a sampling:
They peppered Bernie with shot after shot, and he turned them all away.
About a minute or so into the power play, the Bernie chant started. It
got louder. And Louder. AND LOUDER... so loud in fact, that I thought
the entire roof was going to come off the Spectrum (again). The place
was actually vibrating.
Several moments described in this comment gave me chills, and I've read it a few times. The comment also gives a great retrospective preview of why there is still so much anti-Flyers sentiment in the league at many levels. In case you missed it, you can see it in its entirety after the jump. Highly recommended. If you have memories, long, short, concerts, Flyers, Sixers, ice capades, whatever, go ahead and add them to the post here.
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CaliEagleFan's comment:
By
far, my most memorable Spectrum moment came at Game 1 of the Stanley
Cup Finals against Buffalo in 1975. I won't bore you with the details
of how I got the tickets, but they were pretty good. As a matter of
fact, I was sitting center ice, right next to Clarence Campbell and
then head of officials in the NHL Ron Ziegler.
As you may recall, the Broad Street Bullies were uniformly hated
across the NHL, and particularly by the league, who saw their
fisticuffs and goon tactics as a stain on the history of the game. So
as you might imagine, there was much glee in NHL offices when the
finals pitted Buffalo's offensive juggernaut against the goon squad
from Philly.
But first, I digress... I remember they played Kate Smith singing
God Bless America before that game. To that point in my young life (I
was 16), that was the loudest I had ever heard any sporting event as
the entire crowd roared along with Kate. But I was in for much more.
News
So after the puck drops... I'm going to say just a few moments into
the game if I recall correctly, the Flyers were called with a bullshit
2 man major penalty... meaning the Sabres were going to have a 2 man
advantage for 5 minutes no matter how many times they scored. Out came
their number one power play unit... but there was only one problem:
Bernie Parent was in goal.
They peppered Bernie with shot after shot, and he turned them all
away. About a minute or so into the power play, the Bernie chant
started. It got louder. And Louder. AND LOUDER... so loud in fact, that
I thought the entrie roof was going to come off the Spectrum (again).
The place was actually vibrating.
Needless to say, the Flyers killed off that double major. The glee
upon the faces of Campbell and Ziegler turned, as the minutes ticked
off the power play, to rage. By the end of the 5 minutes I thought
Campbell was gonna bust a blood vessel. He was RED. Livid. It was
obvious, even to them, that Buffalo had NO SHOT at the cup that year.
As soon as that power play was over, the two got up and left... never
to be seen the rest of the game.
So... not only is this my greatest Spectrum moment, but I'd have to say it's my greatest Philly sports moment as well.