They teach them young in Philadelphia.
As Fox 5 San Diego’s Julian Del Gaudio was in the middle of his live shot outside Citizens Bank Park, a very young Phillies fan snuck behind the reporter and flipped the entire Padres fanbase the bird.
The Phillies are returning to the World Series for the first time since 2009, and the city is understandably thrilled with the current state of their thriving sports teams. Following their Game 5 win over the Padres to clinch the National League pennant, Del Gaudio shared a photo on Twitter of the young fan flashing the middle finger alongside the caption “Well Philly, thanks for the memories.”
https://twitter.com/JulianDelGaudio/status/1584321638329221122
The bird flip, however, did not occur as Phillies fans celebrated their pennant victory. Del Gaudio’s report was interrupted by the young fan with a giant smile Friday night ahead of the Phillies’ Game 3 matchup with the Padres (which Philadelphia won 4-2).
“Speaking of things that pop up that you wouldn’t expect, I just want to start off by saying, we apologize in advance if anything pops up that is out of our control, but this crowd is pretty raucous,” Del Gaudio said shortly after a middle finger made its way into his report. “The fans, alive, they’ve been drinking a lot, by the smell of it all.”
“They start ‘em young, Julian,” Fox 5 anchor Andrew Luria added from San Diego. “We keep it classy here in San Diego. We’ll leave it at that.”
Last year, Eli Manning notoriously flashed the double bird during the ManningCast as the two-time Super Bowl champion attempted to explain how nine-year-old Eagles fans used to greet him in Philadelphia. Thanks to Fox 5 San Diego and a young Phillies fan, we all got a taste of what Manning had to deal with during his NFL career.
After the Phillies clinched a World Series birth Sunday night, it’s safe to say there were probably more examples of raucous celebrations in Philly exceeding that of a little kid flipping the bird.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com