THE CITY OF Clearwater plans to roll out the red carpet today for . . . the Phillie Phanatic.
Mayor George N. Creketos will give the cuddly green monster a key to the city, 10:30 this morning at Pier 60, culminating a whirlwind weekend tour in Phillies baseball heaven.
Yesterday, the Phanatic made stops at famed breakfast spot Lenny's, took a stroll down the beach, took a ride on the Jolly Trolley and - if you can picture it - rode a segway down Mandalay Avenue.
Before accepting the key, the Phanatic will make a stop at the Marine Museum at 9 a.m. to visit "Winter," the famous Dolphin without a flipper and star of the Disney movie "Dolphin Tale."
"He's been a busy guy in Clearwater, which is Phillies country right now; he's becoming a staple," said Lee Edelstein, of Clearwater's tourism board. "But his getting out there is a good way to show that there is tons of things to do while in Clearwater in addition to catching a spring training game."
While Edelstein makes a valid point, few might still beg to differ. Bright House Field was sold out (10,981) for the Phillies' opener against the Yankees yesterday.
We leave you with a moment that, as a Flyers fan, chances are you are still pretty proud of:
On this day in 2004, the Flyers set a single-team record for penalty minutes in a game against Ottawa. The Orange and Black garnered 213 minutes in the box, capped by five consecutive brawls in the final 2 minutes of regulation. Flyers goon Donald Brashear spent 34 minutes - over half the game - in the penalty box, most notably for throwing down twice in addition to a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
By the time the cloud lifted, 20 players had been ejected for their involvement in a third-period brawl, which left a combined total of five players on both benches.
The game ended with an NHL-record 419 penalty minutes, eclipsing the previous mark of 406 minutes set in 1981 between Minnesota and Boston.
The kicker (no pun intended)? The Flyers also scored a KO on the scoreboard, 5-3.
