The Triangle

Issue date: 10/17/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Mike Arrison

After the Phillies beat the Dodgers 5-1 Oct. 15 and locked up the National League pennant, Drexel students were out in full force, reveling in the team's first World Series appearance since 1993.

"Let's go Phillies!" chants spread down 34th Street, which was closed off due to the large crowd. Firecrackers were shot off, and one student even brought a cardboard cutout of Rocky to the party.

"The celebration that began outside of the Greek houses was the single most unifying event in Greek Life history at Drexel," Brandon Miller, a senior in Alpha Epsilon Pi, said. "Most of the Greeks were wearing letters, but that didn't matter at all. I hugged fellow Greeks who I knew and who I didn't know."

Miller, who said he and his fraternity brothers had talked about the idea of heading to City Hall after the game, helped spread the word, and soon after, a crowd of hundreds of students formed to walk into Center City together.

"Once the march got going and I was at the front of it all, going downhill through 34th Street and Lancaster Walk, I was able to see the crowd in its entirety and was completely speechless," Miller said. "I was in complete shock."

Junior Jon Auman, who was six when the Phillies last reached the World Series, said: "It was exhilarating ... once in a lifetime. It was something you could say you were proud you did later in life."

Sophomore Oren Panitch, another member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said he was amazed his brothers were able to start something of such great magnitude.

"To think that AEPi was responsible for such a massive movement not only shows the spirit a fraternity has, but how much influence Greek Life as a whole holds on the University."

A group of policemen escorted the group of students down Market Street, and when they arrived at City Hall, the students interacted with other Philadelphians as the festivities continued into the night.

In the team's 126 years, the Phillies have won just one championship, in 1980.

The franchise is attempting to become the first major professional sports team in the City of Philadelphia to win a title since the Sixers accomplished the feat in 1983.

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