On Friday, Let's Show Some Class, Philly!

Its beloved Eagles (aka Iggles) have won the Super Bowl. And Philadelphia is in a state of sustained, giddy glee. The whole city is bathed in green and people are already festooned in Eagles gear in the lead up to Wednesday's Big Parade.

Yes, the Eagles have won. But can Philly and its denizens really begin to feel and act like genuine winners? Put another way, does the Eagles' drubbing of Kansas City finally make Philly a winning town?

We ask this because Philadelphia, stuck between those behemoths of New York and Washington, has always felt overshadowed by the nation's center of commerce to the north and its center of power to the south. When a town that normally would be able to stand tall on its own merits finds itself woefully eclipsed like this, you can understand how it might develop an inferiority complex -- the kind that leads to a hard luck mentality and triggers periodic bursts of feigned bravado laced with resentment. 

Consider 1980 when the Phillies won their first World Series victory in decades. It was a magical moment, yet Tug McGraw still felt the need to proclaim: “New York can take this championship and stick it!”  Then again in 2018, at the Eagles Super Bowl celebration Jason Kelce sang "nobody loves us, we don't care" and gratuitously dropped the F bomb, just as Phillies player Chase Utley did in 2008 at his team's World Series celebration. And who can forget the 1972-73 Flyers hockey team that proudly donned the monicker "Broad Street Bullies," embracing its pugnacious (and arguably, violent) ways. At moments such as these, you have to ask yourself: what kind of message does this send?

The other night the bullies were out again on Broad Street, this time in the form of young hooligans who "celebrated" by lighting fires in the middle of the street and tearing down traffic lights (see video). Just two weeks prior when the Eagles won the NFC championship a college student tragically died when he fell from a utility pole during that night's Broad Street antics.

When it comes to winning pro sports titles (baseball, basketball, football and hockey) Philadelphia comes in at number six, behind Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and, you guessed it, New York. The Big Apple is the undisputed champ with 54 titles. But then again, it has twice as many teams. Boston (a smaller town than Philly) has an impressive 40 titles. The numbers then drop off into the 20s with Philly at exactly 20 championship titles so far, easily distancing Pittsburgh at 17. That's certainly nothing to be ashamed of. In fact to be just shy of the top five among 12 major cities (even way ahead of Washington and arch enemy Dallas) should be a source of immense, genuine proud -- the type of pride that can and should speak for itself.

So starting now, let's chuck the thuggery, Philly. Ditch the vulgarity, too. Knock that chip off your shoulder and do yourself proud. Show some class and act like a winner! You'll be better -- and stand taller -- for it.

Next Time You Go To A Game, Remember THIS!

 

His Personal Religious Beliefs Take Precedence

F F

HOCKEY PLAYER REFUSES ‘PRIDE’ JERSEY  Ivan Provorov, an ice hockey defenseman and alternate captain for the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League, declined to wear the team’s LGBT warmup jersey for “Pride Night” on Tuesday after the team’s 5-2 home win over the Anaheim Ducks. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion,” said Provorov, who is a Russian Orthodox Christian.  READ

#Flyers Ivan Provorov on his Pride Night pregame boycott :
“My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.” pic.twitter.com/YSFKvkyEJC

— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) January 18, 2023

Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella defended Ivan Provorov's decision to sit out the team's pregame Pride celebration over religious beliefs, saying: “Just because you don’t agree with his decision doesn’t mean he did anything wrong."https://t.co/qGzfxkJq6W

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) January 19, 2023

Ban Kate Smith? No, Ban The Democrat Party!

Excerpts from a very thought-provoking column in the Delco Daily Times written by Patrick Carson:

While Kate Smith was recording the perceived racist song 90 years ago, Democrats were busy recording a record number of lynchings and terrorist attacks against blacks using their enforcers, the KKK. If any person or institution should be expunged from our lives, it should be the Democrat Party. It was, after all, the party of slavery . . . .  After losing the Civil War Democrats still tried to control their former slaves. Every Southern segregation law was passed by Democrat legislatures, signed by Democrat governors and enforced by Democrat officials.

After the Civil War Democrats fought tooth and nail against Republican measures to help out the newly freed slaves. They resisted Reconstruction and part of Reconstruction was the creation of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments along with the Civil Rights Act of 1866. That’s right, there was a Civil Rights Act one hundred years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Only 16 Democrats out of 80 voted for the 13th Amendment and not one Democrat would vote for the 14th or 15th Amendments. The Civil Rights Act was vetoed by Democrat President Andrew Johnson, but the Republican Congress overrode his veto. . . . . 

With their long history of hatred and terror against blacks, not one of these Democrats ever came out and made a formal public apology for their actions and their party’s actions over the past one hundred years.

If Kate Smith’s statue is to be removed for a song that she was under contract to record, then how much more so should the Democrat Party be removed from America for its history of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, and lynching.

What Kind Of A Person Does THIS?

From sportswriter and commentator Clay Travis:

I want you to think about this for a moment — what kind of person scours the recording history of a woman dead for over thirty years to complain about a song recording nearly 100 years old? Is that person a normal, sane and representative example of modern American life or... ?

OMG! Here's What Angelo Cataldi Says NOW . . .

Philadelphia's premier sports radio talker has weighed in on the Flyers/Kate Smith controversy more than once.
But now, Angelo Cataldi has launched his most direct salvo yet at the Flyers. Here's what Cataldi has to say:

The Flyers owe the family of Kate Smith an apology for the knee-jerk decision to remove her statue from outside the Wells Fargo Center 10 days ago. Rather than do their own research, the Flyers blindly followed the lead of the New York Yankees, who stopped playing her rendition of God Bless America after uncovering her recordings of two racially-insensitive songs from the 1930s. Kate Smith fought for racial equality during her long career. To paint her as a racist, 36 years after her death, is an injustice the Flyers must correct immediately.

History Lesson: No Settling Scores With Ghosts

From a superb column by Mark Hendrickson in The Epoch Times:

The tone underlying the banishment of Smith from Yankee Stadium and the Flyers’ Wells Fargo Center are ominous and McCarthyesque. The Flyers actually took down their statue of Smith. Is the intent to turn her into a nonperson as the Soviet communists did to their enemies? Will those who agitated to ban Smith launch a new Inquisition, summoning thousands of dead Americans before their self-appointed tribunal to determine, “Did you ever use a racially derogatory term or hold any racist opinions at any time in your life?”
And what about those people in the Yankees’ and Flyers’ organizations who caved in so readily to the complaints of a small number? Why didn’t they show respect for their fans by polling them about whether they wanted to keep or replace Smith’s “God Bless America”? It seems to me that they acted on the basis of shortsighted expediency.
Why give positive reinforcement to people who apparently want to wield power, not only over the present and the future, but even the past? Such characters can’t be appeased. On the contrary, their success in banning Smith will encourage them to embark on a quixotic quest, going around tilting at windmills as they try to settle scores with ghosts.

On The 'Bogus Pretense' Of Virtue Signaling . . .

Whitlock: The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers decision to eliminate Kate Smith’s rendition of ‘God Bless America' doesn’t improve race relations. @WhitlockJason pic.twitter.com/LCSMAihPUm

— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) April 20, 2019

Wildwood Mayor: Here's Why We Want Smith Statue

From the broadcast:

He started investigating who Kate Smith really was. Something the Flyers and Yankees should have done before they did what they did. What Troiano found was that, "She was under contract and required to sing those songs, After that I looked at the over 520,000 miles she traveled entertaining the troops, she brought in over 600 million dollars worth of war bond money to help finance the war and all of the proceeds from Smith's 'God Bless America' go to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, That song has no racial overtones to it at all."

Hmmm . . . We May Have To Rename EVERYTHING!

From a fine column by our dear friend Christine Flowers which appears in the Delco Daily Times:

Well, about 50 some years ago, a young gay man (they were called homosexuals then) wrote a letter to the civil rights leader and explained how he was troubled about his sexual orientation. The Reverend King did not tell this young man that he should accept himself and glory in his identity as a homosexual. King actually implied that the young man was psychologically ill, and needed help. He did it, of course, in the kindest of ways.

So who's ready to rename Martin Luther King Drive back to West River Drive?

And then you have Richie Ashburn, who apparently acted in a racist and deeply disrespectful manner toward Jackie Robinson back when Number 42 was the first black man to integrate the majors. Who's ready to help me remove his statue at Citizens Bank Park?And President Obama used to have a problem with same-sex marriage, until he checked his polling numbers and decided that he was all for the wedded bliss of Adam and Steve. Can we pull down that weird portrait of his from the White House? (or is it too early?

And George Washington held slaves. Want to take up a collection for the dynamite to blast Mount Rushmore to smithereens?

You see the idiocy of these attempts to whitewash history and the dishonesty of the people who are on that simple-minded crusade?

Don’t let the Poobahs of Political Correctness lead you to believe that it is a good thing that Kate Smith’s statue is gone. Don’t give them that respect, unless each and every one of them is willing to rename a river drive, exile a Hall of Famer, cover up a portrait and detonate TNT on the side of a famous mountain.

Click here to read the entire column.

Flyers Reap MORE Scorn For Banning Smith!

Of all the stories we've reported on this blog over a period of more than ten years, few have generated the interest (and, quite frankly, the outrage) as the story of the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Yankees banning Kate Smith and God Bless America.
From the minute we first commented on this story nearly 10 days ago, the reaction has been overwhelming. In fact, our post defending Kate Smith (and its various updates) have generated more than 11,000 page views.
But it's not just us.
This story continues to gain nationwide attention -- most of it negative -- day after day. If the Flyers and the yankees thought this would be a one or two or three day story, they were wrong, wrong, wrong!
Here are some excerpts of the latest negative feedback from various news outlets that we've been able to gather:

From David Maialetti at the Associated Press:

. . . she [Kate Smith] has been posthumously singled out and put on trial like a Salem witch – without a chance to defend herself or her motives – as both the hometown Flyers and New York Yankees, a team so reluctant to sign black players that they reportedly passed on Willie Mays, have taken steps to make sure the singer of “God Bless America” is vanquished from history.
Truth be told, the Flyers winning the Stanley Cup in 1974 – and again in 1975 – was a highlight of my wayward youth. The whole Kate Smith thing – the playing of “God Bless America” and her showing up in person before Game 6 of the finals in 1974 to belt out the song – was a bit silly to me (and I was the ripe old age of nine).
The fact that the Flyers erected a statue of her was embarrassing, but taking it down – now – is beyond mortifying.
Left in the place of where the statue once stood, we have yet another downright blatant case of political correctness run amok.
In the final analysis, this is more about what is or isn’t fair when dealing with what I regard as the most valued possession any person has, that being their legacy. . . .
These ignominious events caused me to research Smith a bit more, and I found nothing – as in zero – that the woman held any racist views.

From Doug McIntyre of the Los Angeles Daily News:

There is zero evidence Kate Smith was anything other than a wonderful person, a great American who served her country during an epic war and put her popularity on the line by inviting the controversial (and brilliant) Josephine Baker to appear on her television show. Of the 3,000 songs Smith recorded, two have been exhumed from eight decades ago and have been used to ruin her reputation for eternity. Yes, eternity. Vegas has nothing on Google. Once something is on the web it stays on the web.
So, “Kate Smith” and “racism” will pop up in search engines forever. The same way “McIntyre” and “bad hair” will show up. If it can happen to someone as benign as Kate Smith it can happen to anyone. . . . .If we are to excommunicate artists from other eras of history because they made the mistake of being born when and where they were born then we will become the very people we claim to despise: book burners. . . . . As we strive for a fairer, freer, less judgmental world, a good place to start would be to stop judging men and women of the past by the standards of today. If the social media-driven cybermob continues to pull down everyone and everything that fails their ever-changing wokeness litmus test, “God Bless America” will soon become “God Help America.”

From Phillip Morris of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

One day, Smith rested comfortably in her grave, renowned as a musical genius and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The next day, her favorite hockey team had covered her head with a sheet.
In February 1976, Smith performed a weeklong series of concerts at Cleveland’s Front Row in Highland Heights. Her health was already declining, and she would soon stop her national tours. But the sold-out audiences connected with the aging musician. She closed all of her sets with “God Bless America.”
Jane Scott, the venerable Plain Dealer Rock Critic, attended the Wednesday concert and wrote a glowing review. She noted Smith’s “majestic voice” and “booming, hearty manner.” She described her as “old fine wine.” . . . .
Kate Smith had a catalog of hundreds of songs. Two of those songs have come back to haunt her from the grave. Nonetheless, the body of her work stands. God blessed America with Kate Smith.

From Newt Gingrich at Fox News:

Smith was an iconic pop singer with more than 3,000 recordings to her credit.
As the Smithsonian Magazine reported:
“‘God Bless America’ was her most iconic hit. In 1938, Smith was reportedly searching for a song to perform on her CBS radio program on the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day. She reached out to composer Irving Berlin to find out if he had anything new to offer, and Berlin decided to finish a song that he had started writing one year earlier. ‘In a short time, the song supplanted ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as the nation's most popular patriotic song,’ the Times reflected in her 1986 obituary, adding, ‘There were attempts—all unsuccessful—to adopt it formally as the national anthem.’”
She was such a symbol of patriotism that, to quote the Smithsonian Magazine again:
“In 1982, President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“‘Kate always sang from her heart, and so we always listened with our hearts,’ Reagan remarked. ‘It's been truly said that one of the most inspiring things our GIs in World War II, Europe and the Pacific, and later in Korea and Vietnam, ever heard was the voice of Kate Smith.’”
Despite decades of patriotically serenading our military – and having sung the most popular patriotic song in American history – Smith could not survive the judgmental hatred of the modern left.

Maybe We Need To Change The Song Title . . .

Still, Flyers Universally Condemned Nationwide!

Based on all the facts that are surfacing and what we are learning did Flyers/Comcast make the right decision in banishing Kate Smith and God Bless America?

Well, the answer would seem to be obvious as now, more than a week later, the Flyers and Comcast continue to garner nationwide condemnation -- and from the highest levels. There really is no end to it. The jerks at FlyCast have made a blunder of gargantuan proportions. Here are some excerpts from major commentators and outlets:

From San Antonio columnist Maria Anglin:

Kate Smith, the singer best known for “God Bless America” — and, most recently, for “That’s Why Darkies were Born” and “Pickaninny Heaven” — died in 1986.
Therefore, she can’t issue a tearful, public apology for singing those songs or songs such as “Blue Tail Fly” and “My Old Kentucky Home” before the lyrics were changed to make it more palatable for the Kentucky Derby crowd. She can’t explain that the 1931 hit song “That’s Why Darkies Were Born” — a song that says someone had to pick the cotton, plant the corn, laugh at trouble and be content with any old thing — is satirical. Not was satirical, mind you. It is as satirical today as it was the day it was recorded almost a century ago.
She also can’t explain that the “Pickaninny Heaven,” a song written by Broadway and film composers Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow, was featured in the 1933 motion picture “Hello Everybody!” In her corny role as a radio personality who lived on a farm with her slimmer, cuter sister, her character dedicates the song to a group of black orphans who listen as the lady on the radio describes a place twice as high as the moon, where watermelons get in your way and a Swanee River flows with real lemonade. . . .
She can’t point out that had her career tanked after “Hello, Everybody!” — which cost around $2 million to make — bombed at the box office, “God Bless America” might not have been recorded in 1938. And she can’t defend or distance herself from the objectionable songs she sang in the past, although she might point out that nobody seems to be making a peep about the men who wrote those songs, some of whom are highly acclaimed and are in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Like her, they are all dead.

From Steve Cuozzo at the New York Post:

The New York Yankees’ bold decision to ban Kate Smith’s 1939 recording of “God Bless America” from the stadium over two racist songs she once performed surely calls for further brave steps by the team.
Stadium-goers in the seventh-inning stretch will no longer be forced to listen to the strains of Smith, who recorded the 1930s song “That’s Why the Darkies Were Born” — a number that was also performed by black entertainer Paul Robeson for satire’s sake.
But if the Bronx Bombers are serious about standing tall against racism, they must next ban the national anthem, which is sung before every game.
Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814, owned slaves — at least six of them, as a matter of historical record. Isn’t “ownership” of human beings a more grave offense than merely ridiculing black people in a song that a 24-year-old Smith had to perform at the behest of her record company?
Key even refers derisively to slaves in the anthem itself. The forgotten third verse includes the lines, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave/from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave” — a warning to blacks not to seek freedom (as some did) by escaping their white masters to fight with the British in the War of 1812.
Oh, say can you stomach it? . . . . 

From the TV show, Inside Edition:

Kate Smith's family says they're heartbroken over the uproar that’s resulted from two sports teams banning her version of the classic patriotic song “God Bless America" from playing in their arenas.
A statue honoring the late singer stood near the Wells Fargo Center where the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team play. It was removed under the cover of darkness and without any public announcement.
Smith’s niece, Suzy Andron, was being interviewed by KYW-TV when she found out the statue was gone.
“They took the statue?” she asked, visibly shocked. . . . .
Bob Andron is married to Suzy. He appeared on Fox News Thursday to defend the late singer's reputation.
He said that his wife and her aunt were very close and that Smith was not a racist.
“She never was a racist and my wife’s reaction was she was heartbroken,” he said.

From Griffin Kelley at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise:

Adirondack Diversity Solutions, a regional consulting firm whose goal is to diversify the workforce, has a take on the Kate Smith controversy different from that of many Lake Placid residents.
A popular 20th-century radio star, Smith was a staple of this community for nearly 40 years.
She spent her summers here, was baptized into the Catholic Church at St. Agnes Church, hired local kids as caretakers for her camp on Buck Island and would sometimes help work the register at Flora Donovan’s Lavender Shop on Main Street.
She’s buried at St. Agnes Cemetery off Sentinel Road.
Many locals were dismayed when the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers stopped playing her rendition of “God Bless America” in light of two other songs she sang, in the 1930s, that featured racist lyrics.
The Flyers also removed a statue of her that had stood outside their arena.
In a day, the Enterprise’s Facebook page received more than 40 comments in regard to an article about Smith, with the majority praising her and bemoaning modern political correctness.
The Press-Republican Facebook page saw similar activity, with most respondents' posts indicating they considered the issue a tempest in a teapot. . . . . 

From Andrew W. Klavan at the Daily Wire:

The recent banning of old-style singer Kate Smith from several sports venues is a travesty. Smith’s rousing “God Bless America” was a wonderful corny staple of Yankees games and others. The fact that she also sang some songs that were appropriate for their time and now seem unacceptably racist is no matter, none whatsoever. In the words of L.P. Hartley: “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” . . .
I have no doubt the banning of Kate Smith was a commercial decision, a kow-towing to the nine or ten “activist” voices who threaten boycotts and get their mugs on the news and are thus constantly ruining things for the rest of us. But the Yanks and others should have resisted. They embraced the political stupidity.
Banning a beloved entertainer for living in her time is just dumb. It involves a complete misunderstanding of how history, humanity and true progress really work. It cheapens our conversation, lessens our pleasure and disrespects our past. . . .

Outrage At Flyers Continues To Grow . . .

It's hard to imagine a dumber public relations move than the Flyers recent banishment of the beloved singer Kate Smith and her classic rendition of God Bless America.
And now, one week on, the outrage over this continues to build.
Here are excerpts from a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer from Cory Steiner:

It’s very rare that I get riled up any more about much of anything, but the picture of the covered up statue of American super-icon Kate Smith (on the front page of the April 20th Inquirer) blew my mind; a statue which has since been removed. The emotionally crippled elite of Philly have declared Kate Smith a racist based on a song sung 90 years ago whose actual purpose was to mock racism. The 2nd song of concern was also sung by black cultural super-icon Paul Robeson. I’m a Jewish former full-time Active Duty Marine so I know a thing or two about real racism and a lot about the real America. . . . This terrible and destructive behavior has to stop with The Flyers departure from my consciousness not a bad place to begin. Not sure why The Flyers would fall prey to this next installment of the anti-America agenda, but they don’t exist anymore so I don’t care. Many, regardless of which end of the political spectrum they reside, are critically concerned about the direction some are trying to take our nation. We need look no further than moral obscenities like this to find the root cause.

And then there's this from Dennis Malloy at radio station NJ 101.5:

It looks to be yet another case of a knee jerk reaction to what seemed like a horrible occurrence. Once it came to light last week that Kate Smith recorded songs back in the 1930's that were racist, the NY Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers both took immediate action to remove her likeness from their arena and delete her rendition of 'God Bless America' from their playlist. Through some careful thought and easy research, information has come to light that Kate was a pioneer in working with and helping black entertainers of the day. One of the songs in question was actually a parody and a mocking of white supremacy and was also recorded by our own Paul Robeson, a pioneering African American civil rights leader.Just like in the Covington Kentucky High School kids that got misrepresented in the media in D.C., and the Jussie Smollett fake racial attack back in January, this seems to be another hasty rush to judgement before the facts were in. At the slightest hint of misbehavior when it comes to race, the mob jump in to judge and organizations fall all over them selves to create distance from the controversy. When the dust settles and the facts come out, in some cases the damage is already done.

And this, excerpted from a column by Paul Dougherty at the Cincinnati  Enquirer:

Once more, to make sure we have this right: Two sports teams are blackballing a dead singer for a song she sang 80 years ago that wasn’t called God Bless America. In a less enlightened time. When it was OK to do so. So OK that Paul Robeson, an entertainer who happened to be African-American, performed the same song.
There is a difference between hate speech and saying something unwise. It’s not a subtle difference. It’s the difference between Charlottesville and Kate Smith. The more we jump on Kate Smith, the less we take seriously Charlottesville. The line becomes blurred.
Vigilance is a good thing. Constant moralizing isn’t. . . .
When everyone is afraid to speak, no one will. Where will that leave us?
We’ve been a nation of robust discussion that allows for the flourishing of ideas. The ongoing erosion of free, reasonable expression is troubling. Everyone is offended by something, all the time. One reaction is Stepford Politeness. That’s not good for any of us.

Or this, from Flyers Fan Ken Giusini at the Courier-Post: 

Son Of Late Flyers Owner On What's Been Lost

Below the photo of former Flyers owner Ed Snider, Kate Smith and Bobby Clarke you will find excerpts from an op-ed written by Craig A. Snider, Ed Snider's son.

The entire column, which appears in the Philadelphia Inquirer is just beautifully written. 

I’m not a sports fan but what Craig has written remains very meaningful to me because it captures the sense of team-spirit that fuels America and propels us to succeed. I don’t think that Americans have lost that because I see it every day in so many big and small ways in interactions between ordinary people -- the people who do the work, pay the bills, follow the rules and make America work. 

But the big corporations and billionaires referred to by Craig don’t seem to see that because they’re huge international conglomerates that are largely disconnected from it all; insulated from it. THAT’s why people like Ed Snider are so sorely missed.

When the dust settles, Kate Smith’s name may well be cleared of the recent charges of racism leveled against her. However, the fallout from the Philadelphia Flyers’ swift and unceremonious dumping of her into the trash bin of history; the haunting image of her statue--covered head-to-toe in black sheets, ropes tied around her body--will not be soon forgotten.

But obscured by the headlines is a hidden dimension of this story. It’s about the sense of community, common cause and goodwill that a team forges among its fans in both good and bad times. We wear the same team jerseys and t-shirts. We check our gender, race and class identities at the door. Win? We laugh, hug and high-five. Lose? We grouse and curse together. A shared identity among 20,000 politically and culturally diverse people is precious and rare in today’s deeply divided society. Born in the late 60’s and lifted by the rising tide of rock and roll in the 70’s, the modern arena has become a city’s center, the crossroads of culture. . . .

For fifty years, The Spectrum was my family’s second home, its people my people. Nobody saw the other as rich, poor, black, white, gay or straight. Inside the arena we were like Switzerland, politically neutral. What’s happens out there, stays out there. We have a game to win, a star to admire, a family to get home safely.

People are asking what Ed Snider would have done? Having gotten to know Kate Smith personally over many years, I suspect he would have taken time to learn the facts before rushing to judgement. As a beloved member of the Flyers extended family, she deserved a full hearing. But times have changed. Teams and arenas are owned today by corporations and billionaires who made their names and fortunes elsewhere. When Ed Snider died three years ago, the family ethos was buried with him. . . .  .

17 Things You May Not Know About Kate Smith . . .

Obviously, the Flyers and the Yankees never did their homework before deciding to banish legendary entertainer and American patriot Kate Smith from their midst.
Here are 17 things they didn't know (or chose not to acknowledge) about Kate Smith:

• No other entertainer raised more to support the US war effort during World War II. Kate Smith raised more than a half-BILLION dollars. And that was in 1940s dollars.
• During a time when African-American entertainers were rarely seen on TV, Kate Smith welcomed black entertainers such as the Billy Williams Quintet on her nationally-televised TV program.
• After the untimely death of Nat King Cole, Kate Smith joined entertainers Dionne Warwick and Sammy Davis, Jr. at a benefit concert to raise money for the Nat King Cole Cancer Foundation.
• Kate Smith performed more than 200 times at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, the center of African-American life in America.
• Kate Smith was recognized by the nation as a patriot and presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.
• No other performer introduced more songs than Kate Smith. She recorded more than 3,000 songs, introduced more than 1,000 and saw 600 of them make the hit parade.
• At the height of Kate Smith's career she repeatedly was named one of the three or four most popular women in America. In 1942, a nationwide poll listed the three most popular women in America as Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Hayes and Kate Smith.
• Kate Smith made more than 15,000 radio broadcasts and, over the years, received more than 25 million fan letters.
• President Roosevelt once introduced her to King George VI of England, saying: ''This is Kate Smith. Miss Smith is America.''
• For a time, Kate Smith had exclusive rights to perform ''God Bless America'' in public -- a song written by Irving Berlin which she introduced on Veteran's Day, 1938. She relinquished that right when it became apparent the song had achieved a significance beyond that of just another new pop tune.
• Kate Smith and Irving Berlin generously donated all royalties from God Bless America to the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. To this day, those two groups benefit from the song.
• At one point, popular sentiment strongly favored replacing The Star Spangled Banner with God Bless America as the national anthem. But Kate Smith refused to endorse the effort, deferring to tradition.
• Communists and socialists hated Kate Smith. In 1949, The Daily Worker, the official newspaper of the American Communist Party lambasted Smith after she called out repressive communist-controlled regimes in eastern Europe. Smith was undeterred and wore the criticism as a badge of honor.
• Kate Smith suffered the slings and arrows of fat-shaming most of her life but she never let it get to her. Still, there were days she cried quietly in the privacy of her dressing room.
• In 1962 Kate Smith fell into a long period of depression following the death of her mother, Charlotte and her long-time manager, Ted Collins. She did not emerge from this period until 1965.
• Kate Smith wrote two autobiographical books, 'Living in a Great Big Way'' in 1938, and ''Upon My Lips a Song'' in 1960. Both were huge bestsellers. 
• In 1965, after attending Roman Catholic services for 25 years, Miss Smith was baptized into that religion at her local church in Lake Placid, NY.

You can make a difference on behalf of the legacy of Kate Smith. Call the Flyers now at 215-218-7825 and let them know how you feel!

Well, Just Cogitate On THIS For Awhile . . .

They are worried about Kate Smith signing songs in 1939 yet this guy is still the governor of Virginia pic.twitter.com/iTwzZq9ZVW

— Alisa Murphy (@AlisaMurphy) April 22, 2019

Expanded Edition: Kate Smith? You Don't Know The Half Of It!

By popular demand, this commentary has been enhanced and expanded:

One of my earliest recollections is the sound of Kate Smith's voice.
Her late afternoon TV program, The Kate Smith Hour, was a daily ritual in our house while dinner was being prepared.
My father adored Kate Smith, as did the entire country. She was an entertainer who was literally and figuratively bigger than life. In fact, she described herself best when she said: "I’m big, and I sing, and boy, when I sing, I sing all over!”
But Smith was more than a singer. In post World War II America, she was a national hero. 
Her fame and her fortitude began early. As a child she had not only entertained troops who fought in World War I but later, her songs of hope and inspiration captured America's heart and helped us get through the Great Depression. Then, during World War II, she traveled nearly 520,000 miles to entertain troops and sold a record $600 million in war bonds in a series of round-the-clock radio appeals. One of these, a 24-hour marathon on Feb. 1, 1944, raised a record $110 million in pledges.

Kate Smith's inimitable rendition of Irving Berlin's God Bless America became so popular and so intertwined with our national culture that a movement began to make it our national anthem, replacing The Star Spangled Banner. In fact, to this day many sports events open with it instead of The Star Spangled Banner.

Oh, wait. Now the Flyers and the Yankees have banned the song and the Flyers have covered up a statue of Kate Smith outside their arena. But wasn't Kate Smith the "good luck charm" who helped the Flyers win the Stanley Cup and didn't she lead the Broad Street Bullies to countless wins? Indeed she did -- often in person, right in the center of the rink!

But she's been banned now because nearly 90 years ago when she was in her 20s she recorded two songs that are now considered racist. One was clearly meant as a satire to mock the racism of the Jim Crow era and the other was a song also recorded by Paul Robeson, the black cultural icon from New Jersey. Yes, that Paul Robeson -- the one Rutgers University called "a pioneering scholar, athlete, renowned international entertainer, and visionary human rights advocate," while recently dedicating a plaza to commemorate his 100th birthday.

So what's this really all about. In a word, it's nonsense!

A couple of gutless sports behemoths who know nothing about politics, history, patriotism or culture are engaged in the latest round of cheap virtue signaling. For the record, The Yankees didn’t have a black player until 1955 and the NHL didn’t have a black player until 1957. They are hardly paragons of equality and inclusion. And they certainly have no standing to lecture others on the topic.

Kate Smith was an American through and through. She and Irving Berlin dedicated all of the proceeds from her rendition of God Bless America to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. After September 11, 2001, the song was heard throughout the land once again as the nation sought solace in the aftermath of a harrowing atrocity -- the worst foreign attack on our soil in our history.

How much of an icon is Kate Smith?

When President Franklin Roosevelt introduced her to King George VI of England, he said, “This is Kate Smith. Miss Smith is America.’’ Later, Kate Smith was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. and her image image appeared on a US postage stamp. And when she passed away, President Reagan declared: "Kate Smith was a patriot in every sense of the word."
Is there anything in Kate Smiths's background to indicate that she was a racist? Absolutely not!
To the contrary, her niece (her closest living relative, who cared for her in her final years) says her "aunt Katherine saw people's character, not their color." And there is ample evidence of this as Kate Smith showed a real spirit of compassion and inclusion in her professional life.
For example, on April 15, 1945 Kate Smith hosted a special prime-time nationwide memorial radio program where she joined with Philadelphia's own Marion Anderson to "bring the nation together" following the death of President Roosevelt. Kate Smith and a great African-American heroine. Is THIS the Kate Smith that the Flyers are accusing of racism. Is it?

And again on April 28, 1957 Kate Smith presented the Billy Williams Quintet on her ABC-TV show which aired nationwide, marking one of the first appearances by African-American entertainers on prime time network TV. That was 62 YEARS ago. How much do the Flyers know about the REAL history of Kate Smith? 

And this, too: On October 3, 1965 Kate Smith appeared at Carnegie Hall with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dionne Warwick in memory of Nat King Cole to benefit the Nat King Cole Cancer Foundation. Is THIS the racist Kate Smith that the Flyers have banished? Is it?

No, Kate Smith was no mere good luck charm -- no quick gimmick to win a game here and there.
She was all about so much more than a puck or a bat and a ball.
She was way bigger than all that.
She was a genuine Soldier of Freedom. She was a certified trailblazer. She was the Real Deal.

And by comparison, the Flyers and the Yankees are mere lilliputians, with pea-sized brains and guts made of squid.

Kate Smith's legacy is intact. It's the Flyers and the Yankees that need to worry. 

Or as Norma Desmond said in Sunset Boulevard: "I am big. It's the picture that got small."

We're Sorry We Have To Make This Announcement

Do you know how many years ago it was?

Do you? Really?

OK, so here's a special message to Iggles fans:
When oh when will you learn that Philly is a Hard Luck Town? When?
This is Rocky's city.
It's the city where the Phillies totally blew (in my lifetime) at least two "sure shots" to be world champs.
It's the town where the Sixers said "we owe you one" and that was decades ago and we're still waiting.
Plus, it's been 42 years since those Flyers won the Stanley Cup.
And yes, I do remember the last time the Iggles won it all. It was 57 l-o-n-g years ago!
So . . . just calm down, everybody. 

It may still work out. 

But get your priorities in order.
And don't break out the streamers and the confetti just yet. NOTHING comes easy -- nothing! -- in Hard Luck City, USA!

A Grandson's Poignant Tribute To His Grandad

Ed Snider, the founder of the Philadelphia Flyers, was honored during a celebration of his life Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Here, Ed Snider's grandson, Jacob sings 'What a Wonderful World'.