So he listed his ticket, and his son's, for sale yesterday with no regrets, putting himself among the fans bound for a couch or bar stool for at least three more innings.
Some won't have that opportunity. Jimmy Peak, a SEPTA worker, had his off days aligned with the World Series game days and watched Game 5, Part One, with friends in a bar. Yesterday, he was eating mussels at Chickie's & Pete's in South Philadelphia and denouncing the series of decisions that placed Game 5, Part Two, squarely on his work calendar.
"I'm 31 years old. The last time they won, I was 3," he said. "The next time they win, I might not be here."
Shane Simon had it all planned. The Phillies were going to win the Series yesterday at home, on his 21st birthday. He even scheduled a birthday/Phillies-watching party for 25 friends in Geneva, N.Y., where he attends Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
So when the Doylestown native heard that the game wouldn't resume until tonight, he retooled. Fewer friends last night, and basketball instead of his beloved Phillies.
Tonight, it's game on. "Everybody's fully committed," Simon said. "We have a good amount of students from Philly and the Philly suburbs, and we have to rely on each other for moral support. Up here, it's a lot of Red Sox and Yankees fans."
The enthusiasm was not universal, perhaps owing to a long hangover from a long weekend at Citizens Bank Park.
"They partied the last five days," Chickie's & Pete's manager Roe Ferriolo said with a shrug inside her extraordinarily deserted establishment.
The lack of sleep got to contractor Scott Kelly, who posted his ticket for sale after getting back late to his West Chester home from the drenched Monday night affair. Once the game was rescheduled from yesterday to today, he reconsidered and hoped the weather improved.
