Flags of Our Fans: Philadelphia and Boston
As I write this, we are now sitting at the six month mark from the first men’s World Cup on North American soil in 32 years.
We have made our way down the list of World Cup host cities in the last couple of editions, and we now find ourselves in two cities with an incredible history not only in the sporting world, but in the story of our nation: Boston and Philadelphia.
For most cities, that tournament would be the headlining event for that year. However, it will have to share the spotlight in the United States with a historic birthday.
The 250th birthday of America brings with it an opportunity to celebrate how far this country has come and how far it still has to go.
For much of the nation’s history, sports have often been used to showcase national pride and achievement.
Yet, given the current state of our political landscape, it had me wondering how national pride and fandom are tied together, if at all.
With the history of both Boston and Philadelphia in the national and sporting sense, I couldn’t think of two better cities to help me answer this question:
Do you think your fandom here says something unique about identity in places where patriotism, protest, and civic pride have always been strong?
Let’s see what they had to say...