On April 5^th, 2009, the Phillies did something for the first time in over two decades: raise a championship banner over the city of Philadelphia.

In the wake of The Unhittable Slider, Philadelphia felt a sense of euphoria not felt in a generation. The parade, the streets bathed in confetti, beer and smiles. Chase Utley coining the now ubiquitous World-Effing Champions phrase. The World Series DVDs, t-shirts, hats, and all the merchandise that is so commonplace when your favorite team wins The Big One. No matter where you looked in South Philly, it was a sea of red for months on end. Even as the Eagles were on their way to the playoffs, that seemed almost trivial, as the Phillies were now the talk of Broad Street and beyond.

The high lasted long after Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske, clear through the off season, past the loss of Pat Burrell, and straight into 2009. And finally, Phillies’ fans could relax.

And for their efforts, they were honored at Citizen’s Bank Park by their fans, as they christened the 2009 season at home against the Atlanta Braves. It was a night full of pomp and circumstance, as the national ESPN audience was treated to the first baseball action of the season by our very own home town nine.

Although the Phillies would go on to lose the game, it would ultimately prove to be moot, as the Fightins would go onto wrap up the division and the National League by the middle of October.

But the loss on that night is not what I’ll remember. Sure, they put up a pretty lousy showing against an inferior team, but that’s not the memory that I keep with me. It wasn’t the four run deficit after two innings, or the stymied bats, or even the late inning rally started by the unlikeliest of people in Eric Bruntlett.

What I’ll keep with me, and I’m sure most of you would agree, isn’t the first line in the loss column, or the perpetuation of April struggles, but the team marching onto the field, cutting through a morass of red jerseys and rabid fans, and a red banner flying high above center that tells the rest of the baseball loving world that here are the Philadelphia Phillies. World Champions.

As we celebrate the one year anniversary of The Fightins dot com, I want to take a few moments to reflect on my long and perilous journey to join three of the greatest, most prolific, hilarious, and most frequently inebriated Philadelphia bloggers this side of the internet.

My journey here started six months ago, as my tenure as a college student was coming to an end, I decided to put my hard earned journalism degree to the test and cast myself out into the cutthroat world of sports writing.

I needed to start somewhere, so I emailed meech, the founder/owner/kingpin of TheFightins.com. Only I wasn’t emailing him about writing here, it was about getting a position as a writer on another baseball site. You see, our fearless leader used to be the Phillies blogger over at Bugs & Cranks, and because they weren’t answering my emails (I probably shouldn’t have insulted their mothers in the second, third, and sixth emails), I figured that he still had some pull and could maybe get me in over there.

Well, meech didn’t get me in at B&C, but he did one better. He offered me a job here, with the chance to write every day with the chance to be read by a legion of Philly fans. This opportunity was too great to pass up, and I imagine this is what Mark Wahlberg felt like when he became the lead singer of Steel Dragon. (Obscure movie references from 2001 not doing it? Fair enough?)

After a long and thorough application process (including a seemingly unnecessary number of colonic exams), meech and the gang welcomed me into the fold with open arms closed fists and threats of violence if I “dare try to bring some level of professionalism” to the site.

And thus, here I am. Not only am I getting an opportunity to write, but getting to write about my beloved Philadelphia Phillies. And while my 9-to-5 hours are spent behind a desk in an office, I like to think of The Fightins as my day job. And none of this could have been made possible if it weren’t for meech, Chamo, and Howdy S. Retard. These are three of the most talented guys that I’ve ever had the chance to work with, and their commitment to the Phillies AND to a nice set of cans is unremarkable. I am truely priveledged to be in their presence.

But most importantly, this wouldn’t be possible without all you fine folks who point your internet machines to TheFightins.com every day to check us out. Thank you all for your comments, suggestions, criticisms, witticisms, and other things that rhyme with each other.

Let’s do this again next year.

It’s here! It’s finally here!

When we last saw our red pinstriped heroes in meaningful game action, they were finishing off their near-flawless playoff run by defeating those playful Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5b of the 2008 World Series.

Since then: we partied, we had a parade, Cole Hamels went on Letterman, Ellen and Dancing with the Stars, Utley had hip surgery, Sarge wrote a book, Hamels called the Mets “choke artists”, Burrell left, Ibanez came (yuck!), I had a kid, I met Sarge, J.C. got suspended, the Eagles lost, the Phillies practically re-signed their whole team, we got a new president, Zolecki left the Inqy, Spring Training began, Cole Hamels got the cover of SI, Adam Eaton got cut, Chase returned, Chan Ho Park won a job, Big Brown started mashing early, we waited, ‘Nova lost, and now…

The 2009 regular season starts tonight.

For the first time in 25 years, us Philadelphians get to go into the year as the defending World Fucking Champions. (by the way, my eternal gratitude goes Chase Utley for his help in making “World Fucking Champions” become a socially acceptable phrase) I’m not too sure what to expect or how I’m supposed to act as a fan of the reigning World Champs, but I’m definitely ready to find out.

Now let’s get out there and Defend Broad St. I see no reason why we can’t.

Seriously, do you think they want to give this beautiful trophy up?

Of course not.

So, if you aren’t one of the lucky ones that scored a ticket for Opening Night (like me), how about joining the scribes at The Fightins dot com for a kick-ass, expletive laden, barely coherent live blog tonight. I’ll be on the comp around 7:30 to get shit started with the pre-game festivities. Feel free to drop by any time after that.

After the jump, we’re steady gloggin’…

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Here we have two dedicated Fucking Phillies fans who traveled to the Fucking outskirts with their homemade ‘World’ & ‘Champions’ placards to get their fucking pictures taken while standing on each side of the Fucking sign so it relays the greatest fucking catch phrase ever fucking uttered.

Fucking brilliant:

(Incredible Fucking image of the two Fucking residents fucking stolen from Beerleaguer)

By popular demand, here are two different versions of the famous Chase Utley “World Fucking Champions” speech from Friday.  Apparently, you crazy kids want this for a ringtone or something, but please don’t ask me how to do it.  I’m not as teckmologically advanced as you might think.  The first link contains the crowd reaction and the second is a shorter 10-second clip.  If anyone would like to explain how you would go about making it a ringtone, please do so in the comments.

(Right-click, “Save Link As…”)

World Champions (with crowd reaction)

World Champions (10-second clip)

BONUS! If you’d like to download the video, sign up for a Vimeo account, go to this page, scroll to the bottom, and on the right-hand side of the page — click “Download AVI Version”

From the crappy video department of the Fightins comes a brief video shot by the ‘Tard on his camera on Broad and Locust. Holy shit, that parade was awesome. Who gives a fuck that I had to wait five hours for a ten minute parade, that guy with the Mitch Williams sign kept pissing off my ladyfriend, I was sober, I had been up for over a day*, and some guy near me was peeing? World. Fucking. Champions.

CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE!

Also, titties after the jump.

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At the conclusion of today’s parade, the World Fucking Champion Philadelphia Phillies were introduced one-by-one to the raucous Citizens Bank Park faithful. One of the last players to step to the podium was the usually mild-mannered All-Star second baseman, Chase Utley…

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the greatest World Series speech in the history of sports. Kids, make sure to cover your ears. If you’re in the office, turn the volume down a smidgen.

WORLD. FUCKING. CHAMPIONS.

• don on “Jayson Werth and his Beard will circle the bases.”
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• Jdashdog on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!
• meech.one on Top 15 Moments of 2009, Number 14: Rauuuul!