Facing one of the NHL’s perennial Stanley Cup contenders, the Flyers hung tough but ultimately fell 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime.
The Flyers are now 2-4 in games decided in the extra session. Philly has also lost three of its past five games.
Travis Konecny fanned on the puck in the Flyers’ zone during the extra period, and Vegas’ Jack Eichel got it before ultimately finding Mark Stone crashing backdoor for the overtime game-winner.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead 6 minutes, 7 seconds into the game on a goal by Zach Whitecloud. The play started when Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin poked the puck away from Christian Dvorak as he skated down on a two-on-two with Konecny, and it went right to Eichel. Vegas’ center, who has already been named to the U.S. Olympic squad, got the puck and sent a stretch pass up to Braeden Bowman at the Flyers’ blue line.
A former teammate of Jett Luchanko’s at Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League, Bowman pulled Emil Andrae out of position and dished the puck to Ivan Barbashev. The Russian winger found Whitecloud splitting Konecny and Jamie Drysdale, and the defenseman flipped the backhand past Dan Vladař.
But, as it usually happens, the line that gave up the goal tied it.
Travis Sanheim knocked away an Eichel pass attempt in the neutral zone, and the Flyers got to work. They got the puck deep and kept it in the offensive zone for the next 38 seconds. It ended with Sanheim skating to the top of the left face-off circle and threading the needle to Trevor Zegras at the right post for the goal.
Flyers center Trevor Zegras scored his team-leading 11th goal on Thursday night.
Zegras now leads the Flyers with 11 goals. He is one off his total from last season, when he scored 12 in 57 regular-season games with the Anaheim Ducks.
Vegas retook the lead in the second period on a power-play goal by Stone. The Golden Knights’ captain scored on his second rebound attempt after Pavel Dorofeyev put a shot from the high slot on goal off the rush.
But the never-quit Flyers tied it again. Carl Grundström put pressure on defenseman Brayden McNabb, creating a turnover along the boards in the Vegas zone. Dvorak scooped up the puck and skated around the right circle and up in the zone before feeding Noah Juulsen for the one-timer from the left face-off dot. The goal is Juulsen’s first with the franchise and registered at 92 miles per hour.
Breakaways
Former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, who was the World Series MVP in 2008, was at the game in a Tocchet jersey; however, Tocchet was misspelled as Tochett. … Actor David Boreanaz, who grew up in the Philly area and is a noted Flyers fan, and Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly were also in attendance. … The Flyers did not have a tribute video for former goalie Carter Hart, who returned to Philly for the first time. Contrary to what was reported on the ESPN broadcast, a source told The Inquirer there was no extra security behind the Vegas bench. It was the normal NHL-required security.
The Flyers play a home-and-home with the Carolina Hurricanes beginning on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP). Sunday’s game is at the Lenovo Center (5 p.m., NBCSP).
Doylestown Hospital was not cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for any safety violations between November 2024 and October of this year.
Here’s a look at the publicly available details:
Nov. 6, 2024: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.
Nov. 14: Inspectors followed up on an October 2024 complaint and found the hospital was in compliance. The hospital had been cited for not following protocol for admitting mental health patients.
Nov. 20: Inspectors followed up on a July 2024 complaint and found the hospital was in compliance. The hospital had been cited for not following protocol for identifying patients prior to surgery.
Jan. 10, 2025: Inspectors visited for a special monitoring survey and found the hospital was in compliance.
July 24: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
The semiquincentennial year in Philadelphia is set to start off with a bang.
The city’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of America will begin on New Year’s Eve with a free concert in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps.
The lineup includes LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff, bassist and bandleader Adam Blackstone, and Los Angeles rock band Dorothy. Technician the DJ, who has toured with the likes of the L.O.X. and Ghostface Killah, is also on the bill.
Afterwards — at midnight — there will be fireworks.
“Philadelphia is thrilled to welcome everyone to our vibrant city as we celebrate New Year’s Eve and kick off the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement.
“This free concert and fireworks showcases the incredible spirit of our community and the cultural legacy that Philadelphia embodies … Join us for Philly’s first ever New Year’s Eve outdoor concert as we kick off 2026 in America’s Birthplace — this is truly the place to start our celebration of this historic anniversary!,” she said.
Jeffrey Allen Townes, better known as DJ Jazzy Jeff, poses for a photo in the recording studio section of his home in Bear, Del. in 2023. He’ll perform on New Year’s Eve on the Ben Franklin Parkway as part of the free concert and fireworks dispaly.
For LL Cool J, the New Year’s Eve concert will be a makeup show.
The “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” rapper, actor, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was scheduled to play on the Parkway along with Jazmine Sullivan as part of the city’s July 4 celebration this year, but canceled in solidarity with striking municipal workers.
“Philly, don’t call it a comeback,” he said in a statement. “We’ve got unfinished business. Shout out to the Mayor for the invitation! Meet me on the Oval this New Year’s Eve as we bring in 2026 — live.”
Blackstone, who won a best musical theater album Grammy last year for his work on Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen, plans to debut “Brotherly Love,” a song he’s written with Curtis Mayfield’s cousin Cedric Mayfield, at the New Year’s Eve show.
Gates for the free concert open at 6 p.m., and the music starts at 8 p.m.
Around 2 p.m. Gold spoke with police by phone, and demanded President Ronald Reagan — who first ran on the Make America Great Again campaign slogan — resign from office.
And turn over leadership of the country to Gold,who said he wanted to be called the Antichrist.
In a statement that was read to the press, Gold wrote:
“Either choose my leadership, or accept the death of America.”
Back then, the Catholic high school was separated into two segregated schools: the boys’ school in the south wing, and the girls’ school in the north wing.
Gold took the hostages in the boys’ wing. Shortly afterward, the 1,950 male students were dismissed. They walked out just as the 2,150 female students were leaving for the day on a shortened schedule. Together, boys and girls filed calmly out of the massive, three-story school building at Academy Road and Chalfont Drive.
About an hour into the standoff, Gold let the secretary go after learning she was a mother of four. Shortly afterward, he traded the assistant dean for a food order, leaving only three male students as hostages.
Around 7 p.m., a police negotiator briefly entered the disciplinarian’s office.
As student hostages (from left) Patrick Hood, 15, Raymond Smith, 16, and Mike Wissman, 17, meet the press, Smith estimates the size of the captor’s knife.
Gold told the negotiator on the phone that he would let two of the students go, and then the officer heard “a commotion and a lot of screaming” on the other end of the phone.
The students decided the gun Gold was brandishing was a fake.
So in good, old-fashioned Northeast Philly fashion, they jumped him. And it turned out they were right: The gun was a starter’s pistol, and it was loaded with blanks.
The students overpowered Gold, and held him down until the stakeout officers rushed in and put an end to the more than seven-hour standoff.
The average commute in Philadelphia takes longer than in most large U.S. cities — and it’s gotten slightly worse recently.
In 2024, commuters spent on average 33.2 minutes getting to work in the city, according to a new report from Yardi Kube, a digital management platform for coworking spaces. That’s more than the national average and a 2.1-minute increase from the previous year.
The increase in Philadelphia also reflects a larger national trend, according to the report. The average American’s commute time inched up in 2024 by nearly half a minute, to 27.2 minutes. Still, that’s less time than the average worker spent in transit to their job in 2019.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia faced some of the worst traffic congestion in the country last year, and public transit has confronted several challenges this year that caused disruption for commuters.
Commuters at a bus stop at 15th Street and JFK Boulevard on a cold December morning in Philadelphia.
The increase in Philadelphia and beyond comes as employers have increasingly called workers back to in-person work, reversing trends toward hybrid or remote arrangements during the pandemic. The report notes that as the number of Americans working from home has decreased, the average time spent commuting has inched up.
“Across the United States, how people get to work — and how often they do — continues to evolve,” the report reads.
“The rise of remote and hybrid work dramatically reshaped commuting habits, leading to sharp declines in travel times during the pandemic years,” it said. ”Yet as more employees return to the office, commute durations are climbing again, in some cases more quickly than before.”
The report is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. It took into consideration the 50 largest cities based on the size of their population and evaluated the time spent commuting for a one-way trip, regardless of mode of transportation.
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While Philadelphia’s average commute lengthened from 2023 to 2024, it’s still shorter than the average of 34.3 minutes in 2019.
But the region’s public transit system has seen a series of significant challenges this year, rankling commutes for many.
And SEPTA‘s Regional Rail system has encountered significant disruption and delays this fall, as the transit authority was ordered to inspect all of its 50-year-old Silverliner IV train cars following five train fires this year.
This week, SEPTA averted a worker strike, after coming to an agreement with Transport Workers Union Local 234 over improvements to the employee contract. The union represents some 5,000 SEPTA employees including operators of buses, subways, and trolleys.
Commuters waiting for SEPTA Regional Rail at Jefferson Station on Oct. 7.
Other cities with long commutes last year include New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. New Yorkers spent an average of 40.6 minutes getting to work in 2024, nabbing the worst commute time in the country. Chicago ranked second, with an average of 33.5 minutes in transit last year.
All of those cities saw an uptick in their commuting time in the past year.
Among the 50 most populous cities in the country, the places with the shortest commutes are Tulsa, Okla.; Omaha, Neb.; Memphis; Tucson, Ariz.; and Kansas City, Mo. Those cities had average commute times between 19.7 and 21.8 minutes last year.
It is ridiculous to think that the Eagles might consider benching their Super Bowl MVP quarterback with four games left in the season and a division title all but assured.
Yet, Sirianni and his coaching staff have a long list of equally ridiculous things they must consider.
It is ridiculous to think that an offense with the defending Super Bowl MVP at quarterback could go five straight games failing to score more than 21 points.
It is ridiculous to think said offense could score the fifth-fewest points in the NFL during that five-game stretch.
It is ridiculous to think that the four teams that have scored fewer points than the Eagles since Week 9 are all teams that have either A) benched their quarterback (Saints, Vikings), B) played with a backup quarterback (Washington), C) or continued to start Geno Smith at quarterback rather than benching him.
It is ridiculous to think that the Jets have outscored the Eagles by seven points over the last five games while shuffling Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields at quarterback.
In his weekly interview on Eagles flagship station 94.1 WIP after the team’s 22-19 loss to the Chargers on Monday, Sirianni dismissed the notion that he might make a change at quarterback.
“No, I think that’s ridiculous,” Sirianni said. “I know every time I go out on that field with Jalen Hurts as our quarterback, we have a chance to win the game. That’s something that’s been proven. We’ve won a lot of football games.”
But you know what’s really, truly, magnificently ridiculous to think? That any quarterback could play as poorly as Hurts has played in back-to-back losses to the Bears and the Chargers without prompting some level of discussion about whether or not he should continue to start. As good as Hurts has played in his two Super Bowl appearances, that’s how bad he has played over the last couple of weeks.
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo is shown with A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts against the Chargers on Monday night.
In the Eagles’ loss to the Chargers on Monday, Hurts did something that only 10 other quarterbacks have done over the last 10 seasons. Here’s the list of names of quarterbacks who have thrown four interceptions on 40 or fewer pass attempts with no touchdowns while averaging six or fewer yards per attempt:
Max Brosmer (2025)
Sam Howell (2023)
Trevor Lawrence (2021)
Davis Mills (2021)
Jake Luton (2020)
Sam Darnold (2018 and 2019)
Nathan Peterman (2017)
Andy Dalton (2017)
Apart from Lawrence, all of those guys eventually either lost their job as starter or never really had it to begin with. It took a couple of years for Darnold and Dalton. But it certainly wouldn’t sound ridiculous now to know that people were talking about benching them at the time. In fact, the two words that might best describe all eight of those players are, “Eminently benchable.”
The rebuttal from Sirianni, et. al. is as follows. None of those eight players have been to two Super Bowls, and they’ve certainly never won one. None of those eight players have ever come close to factoring into an NFL MVP discussion. With the possible exceptions of Lawrence and Darnold, none of those players have ever come close to the quarterback Hurts was in the first nine weeks of the season, let alone at his peak.
If you are going to ding Hurts for throwing four interceptions in his most recent start, you have to credit him for throwing only one in his first nine starts of the season. The Eagles offense didn’t set the world on fire in those first nine games, but it was the kind of unit that plenty of NFL teams would be thrilled to have. They scored 30 points three times, twice against potential playoff opponents (Rams, Bucs). We’ve seen this offense be plenty good enough with Hurts under center this season.
Nobody was talking about benching Patrick Mahomes in 2023 when the Chiefs lost five of eight games and averaged under 20 points per game between Weeks 8-16. It’s a good thing, too. Mahomes recovered to win his last five starts, four of them in the postseason, the last three of them on the road, including a 25-22 victory over the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Again, so the argument goes.
Sirianni’s head is in the right place. No team in modern NFL history has benched a quarterback this late into a season and gone on to win a Super Bowl. Nick Foles and Jeff Hostetler caught lightning in a bottle, but they were injury-related replacements. It’s absolutely ridiculous to think that the Eagles’ Super Bowl odds would improve with Tanner McKee at quarterback. That’s true even if you limit the discussion to the aptitude of each player. When you broaden the scope to include the ramifications within the locker room and the organization of benching a player of Hurts’ caliber, the discussion does seem more than a tad silly.
What isn’t silly is the thought process of those fans and media members who have floated the prospect of a switch to McKee. The Eagles aren’t going to win a Super Bowl with Hurts playing as he has in recent weeks. Something is broken, and Sirianni and his coaching staff need to figure out a way to fix it. Hurts doesn’t need to be a world-beater to be a quarterback who can lead these Eagles to a second straight title. But he needs to be functional.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni defended his quarterback this week when asked about the possibility of benching Jalen Hurts.
“You always praise the things that they do well, and you correct the things that you want them to improve,” Sirianni said on Wednesday when asked about his approach to coaching Hurts. “That’s our job as coaches. The tone or the energy or whatever you do, won’t get too much into that. You may not coach everything exactly the same as far as demeanor. There’s a time to yell, there’s a time to bring [it] up, but it always goes back to, and I think there’s an art to this, it always goes back to the standard. Did you meet the standard, or did you not meet the standard? Then there’s an art to how you correct it in the sense of that. But it always goes back to the standard. Did you meet it? Great, and you’re going to praise that. Did you not? Then you correct it.”
They need to correct it fast. The Raiders and Commanders are two opponents who won’t offer an opportunity for any excuses. These next two games are an opportunity for Hurts to quiet the noise and get himself back into a rhythm that can carry over into the postseason. If that doesn’t happen, you’ll only need one word to characterize the thought of the Eagles in another Super Bowl.
This is the get-right game of all get-right games. The Raiders are the final boss of get-right games. If you can’t win Sunday, then you’re never getting right.
That’s a little bit hyperbolic, but the Eagles can’t lose this one, can they?
The Eagles-Cardinals New Year’s Eve game in 2023 would like a word. The 2023 comparisons with me will stop there. I think it’s kind of silly to compare the two seasons. But the Eagles are obviously sliding.
The two-win Raiders, however, should be the perfect remedy for all that ails the Eagles.
I can’t see the Raiders scoring enough points to win the game, even with all the troubles the Eagles are having on offense. Kenny Pickett is likely to start, and his best pass catcher, tight end Brock Bowers, should be a manageable opponent for the Eagles. They have one of the best nickel players in the league in Cooper DeJean, and two linebackers, Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun, with coverage chops. The Raiders don’t have enough offensive talent besides him to make you worry. Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty has been mostly a nonfactor in the running game, although he’s been dangerous as a pass catcher.
Pickett, meanwhile, should face a swarm of defenders. The Raiders allow pressure on 36.9% of their drop backs, tied for ninth in the NFL. Geno Smith was pressured on 56% of his 25 drop backs in Sunday’s loss to Denver, according to Next Gen Stats, while Pickett was pressured on 38.5% of his 11 drops.
Expect the Eagles, who generated a 68.3% pressure rate against Justin Herbert Monday night, to get after the quarterback and disrupt Vegas’ offense.
On the other side, I think the Eagles did enough positive things offensively Monday to convince me they won’t have trouble moving the ball Sunday. They just need to avoid turnovers. Easier said then done, of course.
Prediction: Eagles 27, Raiders 11
Can Saquon Barkley keep up the momentum of a 100-yard game in Monday’s loss to the Chargers?
If the Eagles can’t win this game against the Raiders, don’t expect them to win a playoff game this year.
This is a game the Eagles should win, even in the offense’s current state of disarray. But don’t expect it to be a blowout. It’s going to be cold and windy at the Linc (remember how the Eagles fared in those conditions against the Bears?), so it seems unlikely that this game is going to be high-scoring if the weather gets ugly. Perhaps that works to the Eagles’ advantage, seeing as they’ve been practicing in an icebox all week and the Raiders are living it up in temperate Las Vegas.
Pickett is likely capable of keeping the Raiders offense more competitive than GenoSmith could if he were healthy enough to start. In a brief showing to end the Raiders’ Week 14 loss to the Denver Broncos, Pickett went 8-for-11 for 97 yards and a touchdown. He has some trusty receivers — Bowers is one of the best receiving tight ends in the league and rookie receiver Jack Bech has been coming on over the last couple of weeks.
But the Raiders’ running game, led by Jeanty, has been one of the worst in the league this season. The Eagles should be able to contain them on the ground, forcing Pickett to drop back and throw.
The Raiders defense, led by TFL machine Maxx Crosby, will likely look to do the same to the Eagles offense. They’ve had a rough last couple of weeks against the run, conceding 344 rushing yards (172 per game), tied for third-worst in the NFL in that span. Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley showed some flashes in the loss to the Chargers, especially on his handoffs from under center.
Could you imagine the reaction if Pickett beats his former team? I wouldn’t expect that to happen, but crazier things (e.g. two Jalen Hurts turnovers on the same play) have occurred this season.
NEW YORK — Pennsylvania’s political elite will return this weekend for the first time in seven years to where the annual out-of-state glitzy gathering all began: the Waldorf Astoria New York.
The Pennsylvania Society began in 1899 in the Waldorf Astoria, after historian James Barr Ferree invited 55 fellow Pennsylvania natives living in New York to the iconic hotel to talk about how they could better their home state. Early members of what was originally called the “Pennsylvania Society of New York” included industrialist titans like Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, both of whom began their empires in Pennsylvania.
In the 127 years since, the society has evolved into a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has raised millions of dollars for student scholarships and hosts the annual dinner in New York, in addition to events around the commonwealth each year.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is slated to deliver a speech at the dinner, as is tradition for Pennsylvania’s governors. Another tradition: honoring a notable Pennsylvanian, and this year that person will be former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, a Philadelphia stalwart whose long career includes stints as an executive at Comcast, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees, and five years as Ed Rendell’s chief of staff during his mayorship.
President Donald Trump waves in 2015 to a crowed outside Trump Tower in Manhattan as he heads to the nearby Republican luncheon that kicks off Pennsylvania Society during his first campaign for president.
Why does the Pennsylvania Society meet in New York?
The society hosted its annual dinners at the Waldorf for 119 years, until it was forced to find a new home while the iconic hotel was closed for prolonged renovations.
“This is where it started: a group of Pennsylvanians living in New York who wanted to come together around their shared love of Pennsylvania,” said Trish Wellenbach, president of the Pennsylvania Society. “There’s no place like home.”
But that home is not in Philly or Pittsburgh.
Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, decked out for the Pennsylvania Society dinner.
The dinner has faced scrutiny for decades for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be spent within Pennsylvania to a different state, as well as often being a tone-deaf showing of wealth while many Pennsylvanians are struggling.
A standard ticket to attend the black-tie affair cost $1,000 per person, with lower rates available for emerging leaders under age 35.
Wellenbach acknowledged the longtime criticism, but she said she believes that the weekend away from Pennsylvania helps form new relationships among lawmakers that otherwise would not be forged.
“New York’s a kind of neutral territory,” Wellenbach added. “No part of the state has a brighter light shining on it than another. … Sometimes you have to get out of your own home territory to think more expansively and strategically.”
Shapiro, a first-term Democratic governor up for reelection next year, has delivered a speech at the Pennsylvania Society each year of his governorship, breaking from his immediate predecessor, Tom Wolf, who skipped the event during his tenure.
Shapiro’s likely 2026 opponent, Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the state Republican Party’s endorsed candidate, will also be among the officials attending the annual dinner, where politicians try to position themselves for higher office or reelection.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) will also be among the officials turning up for this year’s dinner. McCormick attended last year’s event just weeks after he ousted longtime incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in November 2024.
Then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, left, talks with David Cohen at the Pa. Society dinner in 2013. Cohen, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, will be honored at this year’s dinner.
The former Comcast executive has been attending the Pennsylvania Society, the place where his career paths in politics and business merged, for nearly 40 years. Getting the award this year is a “huge honor,” he added.
“I’ve been [to the Pennsylvania Society] almost 40 times. I’ve seen 40 gold medal winners,” Cohen said in an interview this week. “I never imagined myself being a gold medal winner.”
After spending four years away from Philadelphia as an ambassador, Cohen said, he has become keenly aware of the importance that the city and Pennsylvania hold internationally as the origin of modern democracy, ahead of America’s 250th birthday next year.
“There’s a common perception in the world that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania was the birthplace of democracy,” Cohen said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’d get stopped and asked, ‘You live in Philadelphia? Does that mean you can see the Liberty Bell?,’ just marveling at living in a place where there was so much history relating to the founding of democracy.”
Guests mill about during cocktail hour at the New York Hilton Midtown before the start of the Pennsylvania Society’s 121st Annual Dinner in 2019.
Cohen will be honored for his decades of contributions to Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.
He said his personal proudest achievements include his ambassadorship in Canada, his work during Rendell’s administration to improve the perception of the city, and his work at Comcast to improve internet access across America.
Soon, the distinct smells of the Pennsylvania Farm Show will waft through Harrisburg, everything from manure to hay to the ubiquitous milkshakes.
The shakes, sold by the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, are a Farm Show tradition, along with looking at the enormous butter sculpture and watching live calf births.
Kaitlyn Groff from Lancaster is visiting a kiss a cow with a Highland cattle at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Thursday, January 9, 2025.
Traditionally, the flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but this year, to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the shakes are getting patriotic. The “America250Pa Milkshake flight” will now be red, white, and blue thanks to the addition of blue raspberry.
The farm show is the country’s largest indoor agricultural exhibition, and it starts on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, with the massive food court opening on Friday, January 9th. You can get mushroom burgers from Chester County and baked sweet potatoes douses in butter and cinnamon.
Pennsylvania is second nationally in the number of dairy farms with 465,000 head of cattle on 4,850 farms. The state’s dairy industry provides 47,000 jobs across the Commonwealth and generates $11.8 billion in annual revenue.
Attendees visit the the PA Dairymen’s Association milkshake booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg Jan. 10, 2022.
In July 2024, Tim Hampton was working his shift at TGI Fridays when he spotted a familiar face.
It was longtime Sixers player and coach Billy Cunningham. He was eating lunch with La Salle coach Fran Dunphy and two other Sixers alumni: former forward and coach Doug Collins, and former executive John Nash.
Hampton smiled. Seeing the group brought back memories. There was a time, not long ago, when the chain restaurant on City Avenue hosted everyone from Charles Barkley to Maurice Cheeks to Moses Malone.
This particular Fridays, which opened in 1981, was down the street from where the Sixers practiced, first at St. Joseph’s, and eventually, at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. It became the team’s unofficial hangout spot, a place where they could grab meals in the afternoon or dinner and drinks at night.
By the late 1990s, when Hampton was hired as a host, it had a long list of NBA clientele. Then, a rambunctious rookie named Allen Iverson came to town, and everything changed.
TGI Fridays was incorporated into Philadelphia’s nightlife scene. People called it “Club Fridays.” Women would wear their shortest dresses and their highest heels. Men would don collared shirts and expensive jeans.
Allen Iverson’s famous booth became part of the City Avenue TGI Fridays lore.
At the center of it all was Iverson, who had a designated booth — “Table 70” — a special back entrance, and his own security detail.
“It was exactly like a club,” said former Sixers forward Jumaine Jones. “They would come there with their best outfit on, like they was going to a party.
“We gave Allen the nickname Mick Jagger. Because he was like a rock star. People wanted to be around him.”
There were nights when wait times lasted for hours. Fans would line up around the block, all the way to the bus stop on City Avenue and Presidential Boulevard, just to catch a glimpse of the superstar. Those who were lucky enough to enter would hand napkins to their servers in the hopes that Iverson would sign them.
And most of the time, he did. Despite the chaos, Hampton said that Iverson treated the employees and patrons of TGI Fridays with respect. He became friendly with the general manager, Jeff Tretina, the kitchen manager, Jerry Shott, and the rest of the staff.
When the point guard was traded to the Nuggets in 2006, the longstanding relationship between the Sixers and the chain restaurant faded. But Iverson never forgot it. And neither did his Fridays “family.”
“He could’ve chosen anywhere else to go,” Hampton said, “but he chose us.”
TGI Fridays manager Tim Hampton remembers a time when “Club Fridays” would produce lines around the block.
‘Club Fridays’
Hampton grew up at 33rd and Diamond in North Philadelphia, raised on Dr. J and George McGinnis. He studied business administration atBurlington County College in New Jersey and started working at the restaurant in 1999.
The lifelong Sixers fan climbed his way from a host to a waiter to a cook, and eventually, to a general manager. He quickly realized that this was no ordinary Fridays.
Employees would share stories of Barkley, Darryl Dawkins, Bobby Jones, and more. Players who’d patronized the restaurant during their careers, like Cheeks, would return after they’d joined the Sixers’ coaching staff.
A big part of this was convenience. Fridays was an easy place to stop after practice, and had plenty of parking for big groups.
There also wasn’t as much of a social barrier between players and fans as there is now. This was true even among some of the team’s celebrities.
While Allen Iverson gets much of the credit for launching the Sixers-Fridays legend, Charles Barkley was a loyal patron of the establishment first.
Barkley and center Mike Gminski would go to the movies together in Philadelphia. They’d attend Phillies games and would sit out in the open, rather than a suite.
Eating at a chain restaurant was not uncommon. And in the 1980s and 1990s, it looked a lot different from it did when Iverson was in town.
There was no security at Fridays, no separate entrance, and no reserved table; just a group of extraordinarily tall men, squeezed into a four-person booth.
“Pretty much everybody on the team used to go there or go somewhere,” Gminski said. “If anybody, it was probably Charlie [who went the most].
“And after a while, it wasn’t really a thing seeing us. There were no cell phones. There were no pictures, no selfies.
“We never really thought about shying away. We ate where everybody else ate.”
Most of the players and staff would go to Fridays for lunch, and Bridget Foy’s in Society Hill for postgame drinks.
It wasn’t until Iverson arrived in 1996 that Fridays turned into a nightly haunt. At first, people barely noticed he was there. Iverson would sit in his booth, eat his favorite dish — Cajun shrimp and chicken pasta — and lay low.
Jumaine Jones, who was drafted by the Hawks in 1999 and traded to the Sixers shortly after, usually accompanied him. Iverson quickly gravitated to the small forward, loudly proclaiming that Jones was his “rookie.”
Jumaine Jones (with fellow draft pick Todd MacCulloch and coach Larry Brown) was a familiar face at the City Line Fridays.
They started hanging out off the court. Jones estimated that the two players went to Fridays “every day for two years.” Sometimes, he would go home to take a nap, and wake up a few hours later, only to realize that Iverson was still at the restaurant.
“We probably spent more time at Fridays than we did at the gym,” Jones said.
The rookie wasn’t complaining. If anything, it made Iverson seem more relatable.
“I’d just come from being this broke college student,” he said. “So, to go to Fridays, it was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s cool. He likes Fridays too!’
“But it was funny that somebody who was making so much money liked Fridays. The fact that he didn’t change what he ate, and the things that he enjoyed doing, really made him human to me.”
After the 2001 NBA Finals, when Iverson famously stepped over Lakers point guard Tyronn Lue, his celebrity grew to new heights. People started flocking to Fridays not to eat, but to see Iverson.
The restaurant had to hire its own security for crowd management (in addition to Iverson’s detail). It changed its hours and staffing arrangements to accommodate the influx of people.
“If it was a game day on a weekend, you pretty much figured he was coming,” said former manager Elan Walker. “We were closing at like 1 a.m. on weekends. So we were open late.
“At most businesses your dinner is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and you’re down to a skeleton crew by 10 o’clock. That wasn’t the case for us. We still had a full staff on at midnight. Because we were expecting a crowd.”
Even though it was a foregone conclusion that Iverson would be at Fridays after a home game, he still liked to give the staff a heads up.
So, he’d call the restaurant, or Tretina and Shott directly, to let them know he was coming.
The point guard would roll up in his Rolls-Royce or his blue Bentley and step out with anyone from Jadakiss to Fat Joe.
Allen Iverson’s magnetic presence helped make the City Line Fridays a destination.
“You never knew who was going to be with A.I.,” said Jamilah Lawry, a friend of Iverson’s. “So that was really a huge element of surprise. Who does he have with him? Who’s going to get out of that car?
“You didn’t know who was going to be in there. And you had to look good, because the man of your dreams could walk in. You know?”
Lawry’s uncle, Jeff Lawry, owned Luxe Lounge and Club Roar at the time. Jamilah was familiar with Philadelphia nightlife.
But to her, Fridays was the best of both worlds; a place where they could be themselves, in an exciting environment, without too many rules and regulations.
“We’d watch the game, we’d talk loud,” she said. “We’d play too much. Those type of things. You know, you can’t go to Ocean Prime and do that. They’ll be like, ‘Hey, get out.’”
“It was more of what we would call a Greek picnic type thing,” Lawry added. “There was nothing like Club Fridays. Except for Club McDonald’s on Broad Street. And that’s a whole other story.
“If you didn’t want to go to the club, you’d go to Fridays, and that’s what would be going on.”
TGI Fridays manager Tim Hampton is presiding over an establishment that might be undergoing a renaissance in the days ahead.
‘City Line Love’
After Iverson retired in 2013, he rolled out a special-edition sneaker, in collaboration with Reebok and the Philadelphia-based retailer Ruvilla. It was called A Day in Philly.
The tongue had a maroon and gray stripe along the top, as a nod to his favorite restaurant. He held the release party in November 2014 at TGI Fridays on City Avenue.
The staff rolled a red carpet onto the sidewalk. Fifteen security guards roamed the grounds as police officers stood nearby.
At one point, employees had to close the doors, because the restaurant had reached its occupancy level (475 people).
Jadakiss and Styles P gave a surprise performance and a DJ held court after that. To Hampton, it felt like old times.
“It was like a Renaissance moment,” he said. “I felt like I was part of history.”
Now, over a decade later, he’s trying to recapture the magic. In November, Fridays’ corporate branch introduced a membership program called “Club Fridays,” that offers discounts and other perks.
Hampton has asked Iverson if he’ll help the restaurant promote it. He has also reached out to a few current Sixers players to forge some new relationships.
“We’re working on trying to get VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey to come here,” Hampton said. “Because we want to extend that City Line Love.
“That’s our goal. To get the new Sixers in. We want them to know about the legendary 4000 City Line Avenue, because it is a legendary location.”
