Phollow-up

Longtime readers may remember my antipathy toward people or organizations purposely misspelling words that should be spelled with an F with a Ph instead. I think I closed it with a 5-letter version of what is normally a 4-letter word beginning with f.

It is therefore with decidedly mixed feelings that I report to you now that I attended and actually enjoyed the 2009 Phillies Phestival, in spite of their mailing beginning, "Dear Phillies Phan." My daughter and I went to this in part because it looked like it would be fun and in part because it's a fundraiser for ALS research, ALS being the disease that has made my mother paralyzed and unable to even communicate.

Our trip to the Phestival (argh!) didn't go perfectly. I bought by tickets 90 minutes after they went on sale, which closed me out of a couple of photo ops. I forgot my wallet, which is unheard of, we got there on the late side, too late to sign up to get the most desirable autographs, and we didn't bring anything to get autographed. Fortunately, my daughter had her ATM card so we were able to get some money, and the rest proved bearable.

The setup is pretty simple. There are autograph stations spread around the concourse and other things to do (silent auction, moonbounce, etc.) here and there and a few photo ops to be had.

Our own activities weren't that interesting. We got some autographs and some pictures, including a photo in the dugout with Charlie Manuel, which is on my Facebook page and is priceless. That included a facsimile World Series lineup card with what I thought was a printed signature but which turned out to be the real thing. Nice touch.

This leads me to point out was how incredibly engaged and gracious everyone was. If you watch this particular Phillies team, you get the sense that they're pretty decent people, and that was borne out by their behavior at the event. I have to give the biggest shout-out to Cole Hamels, who was at his autograph station half an hour before every other player and was incredibly gracious to everyone for well over 2 hours without a break (and his hair looks great even in real life). The other player who seemed to go above and beyond was Chase Utley, who worked the crowd on his way to his booth and had a wonderful manner with everyone. All of the players we dealt with were very pleasant and conversational and wiling to sign shirts, bats, balls, whatever. The only player who seemed halfhearted about it was Jayson Werth, who wore sunglasses inside and seemed to cool to really participate. Oh well.

Once we were there, there was no excess Ph stuff going on, and overall my indignation was soothed, I was really impressed with the whole thing and I will definitely attend next year.