Tom Dougherty, 26, a Northeast Philadelphia transplant living in Palm Beach, was Philly-fied from his red sneakers to the "P" tattooed on his shin and he took it up a notch by "mobbing out" with a red bandana around his nose and mouth.
"People are too nice here," he said. "I try talking crap and they're just like, 'Good luck to your team.' "
"What's that about?"
Justin Rosenbaum, 20, a Delaware County native and student at the University of Central Florida, agreed.
"I love talking trash. That's my hobby when I'm at sports games," he said. "I kind of wish the Red Sox would have won because at least they'd know what to say back.
"The atmosphere here is pathetic," he said. "The passion and the hunger of these Rays fans just isn't there."
Bringing it
Bryan Wilson, 32, a Wilmington, Del., transplant who now lives in Tampa, was a hard-to-miss Phillies fan, with a giant foam Phanatic head he wore as a hat.
"They didn't bring him down so I had to," he said. "At some point, I'm sure I'll even do the Phanatic dance."
Double-teaming
A number of people seemed to hail from neutral Switzerland last night, metaphorically speaking, as they sported gear from both teams, like Terry Ratican, 40, a Bucks County native who lives in Land O' Lakes, Fla. He wore a Tampa Bay baseball cap and a Phillies T-shirt.
Ratican pointed to his head: "I live here in Tampa," he said, before pointing to the upper-left side of his shirt: "But the Phillies are in my heart."
A rose among thorns
Also prevalent last night were lone Phillies fans among groups of their Tampa Bay friends, like Tim Stahl, 28, of Naples, Fla., who was the only red ship in his sea of blue friends.
"I came in a car with four other guys in those shirts," he said, pointing to his friend, Ande Johnson, who claimed to have given Stahl a "figurative wedgie" on the car ride to the stadium.
The Phillhawk?
