Philly Flu - urban legend or based in reality?

[Staniowski]

We have these two HFboards users in particular who sound confident that the missing-games interpretation is a real one, and in particular @Canadiens Fan, also known as Todd Denault, is a published author whose research involves interviews with primary sources.

What they don't have is a bead on the original etymology, as Denault is operating in a world where the Philly Flu is already out in the air, and he's presumably asking his source "what's this I keep hearing about", at which point they might be inclined to yes-and him instead of challenging the idea.

If Todd Denault thinks it was common that NHL players were pretending to be sick or injured, and actually sitting out games in Philly because they were scared, then he's out-to-lunch.

The Philly Flu was indeed a real phenomenon, players were uncomfortable and disoriented, and intimidated in some cases. Ken Dryden has talked about, for example, he says playing in Philly was far beyond the feeling of playing anywhere else.

I think part of the confusion about this is that when people say "the Philly Flu", some people are talking about the general discomfort of playing against the Flyers in Philadelphia, and other people are talking about the missing games. And some people are confusing th two

 

[Boxscore]

Growing up about 4 blocks from the Spectrum in Philly, I was fortunate enough to witness the Flyers thuggery in person hundreds of times. While I believe the "Philly Flu" may be a tad overblown, there was a uniqueness to the Bullies brand of brutality. Sure, all teams had tough guys... some more than others. And a bunch of teams had pugilists meaner and tougher than the Flyers.

But, the thing about that Flyers was their wolfpack mentality. These guys were thick as thieves on and off the ice. They did everything together as a group -- dinners, softball tournaments, picnics, and charity events. They even had their sacred watering hole in South Jersey where everyone knew them by name. They were a family of misfit toys who were beloved in Philly... and they fed off that energy.

They were menacing. And because of Clarke, they didn't take nights off. He was the ringleader and had no off switch, which meant everyone to a man needed to be ready for warfare any given night. These maniacs would take a random Tuesday night and turn it into a 3.5-hour bloodbath.

More than the overall fisticuffs, I think the Philly Flu had more to do with the mindset heading into the Spectrum... teams knew the Flyers weren't mailing it in... Clarke wouldn't allow that. So there was no sneaking in, playing ho-hum, and leaving without bumps and bruises... the Flyers were dragging you into the fight whether you liked it or not.

The other advantage the Flyers had was their middleweights and skill guys were willing to dish it out, especially Clarke who was tenacious and downright ruthless with his stick.

So, I'm not sure how many times "players called in sick vs. Philly" but there are many documented stories of players (many tough ones) openly sharing the dread of crossing the bridge into South Philly and seeing the Spectrum appear through the murky, gray Philly sky.

The only other teams I can even think of who could match the Bullies in terms of intimidation, violence, and enforcer power were the Orr-era Bruins, Plager-era Blues, Probert-Kocur Wings, and early-90s Sabres. The difference with the Flyers is that they had the brutes and the pests... and no "break glass in case of emergency" button.

 

[Crosby2010]

It is doubtful that players actually did pretend to be sick. NHLers have pride, there are plenty of minor leaguers that will take your place. I agree there was a general discomfort with the Broad Street Bullies. It was certainly intimidation. But the Orr/Espo Bruins wouldn't have been scared. The Cherry Bruins wouldn't have been nor would the Islanders. Heck, the Canadiens wouldn't have been either. Like I said, definitely a nervousness to it, but enough to pretend to be sick? Nah. Definitely an urban legend I think. Just like the idea that the visiting team bus would shake as it drove into the Spectrum.

 

[MadLuke]

from 1974 to 1976

At home / road, point percentage, home ice advantage was huge for them and the Bruins.
PHI: .845 / .597
BOS: .815 / .529
MTL: .752 / .672

Net penalties home / road

PHI: -246 / -353
BOS: -16 / -97
MTL: +51 / +13

That a lot of winning while giving a full power play a game to the opponent.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Having listened to a bunch of interviews with players, on Spittin’ Chiclets not the least, I’ve heard many stories relating to not ‘the Philly Flu’ specifically, but feeling uneasy, scared, having a hard time sleeping etc, prior to playing certain opponents. Enforcers in particular, they would be well aware of upcoming games and who they might have to fight and feel sick about it. Star players as well, I know Peter Forsberg has talked about it, that he would have sleepless nights worrying about playing this or that team and that they have this goon and this madman and things like that, but for whatever reason the anxiety washed off once playing and he was doing stupid shit that gave him the reputation being ‘fearless’. There’s this sequence of him playing the Blackhawks early in his NHL career where I think first he slashes Bob Probert, and when Probert returns to get even with him, Foppa gives him an elbow to the face. Jeremy Roenick wrote about this in his book, that Probert apparently said afterwards he didn’t get square with Forsberg because he respected him playing so ballsy.

Forsberg has also talked about I think that particular sequence, because he would always be getting lectures from Adam Deadmarsh back on the bench: “lesson 1: don’t elbow Bob Probert”, and so on. And of course it was Deadmarsh who had to take Forsberg’s fights, so it makes sense.

And Salming once did a radio chronicle where he spent a good portion talking about playing the Broad Street Bullies and Dave Schultz. I think very few players at the time relished playing the Flyers, I think many good players would have shrunk under the intimidation and just try to finish their shifts in one piece, but I hardly think the sick days were as prevalent as mythologized.

But because players apparently shrunk against certain teams, many would in time follow the Flyers’ lead and become meaner. I think it was Billy Smith talking about it in his Spittin’ Chiclets appearance, that the Islanders besides being bad in their first few years, were getting trounced on the scoresheets because they intimidated no one. A non-negligible part of them improving and becoming a contender was allegedly first making sure that although you might outscore them, you would pay if you tried to embarrass them.

 

[Staniowski]

Growing up about 4 blocks from the Spectrum in Philly, I was fortunate enough to witness the Flyers thuggery in person hundreds of times. While I believe the "Philly Flu" may be a tad overblown, there was a uniqueness to the Bullies brand of brutality. Sure, all teams had tough guys... some more than others. And a bunch of teams had pugilists meaner and tougher than the Flyers.

But, the thing about that Flyers was their wolfpack mentality. These guys were thick as thieves on and off the ice. They did everything together as a group -- dinners, softball tournaments, picnics, and charity events. They even had their sacred watering hole in South Jersey where everyone knew them by name. They were a family of misfit toys who were beloved in Philly... and they fed off that energy.

They were menacing. And because of Clarke, they didn't take nights off. He was the ringleader and had no off switch, which meant everyone to a man needed to be ready for warfare any given night. These maniacs would take a random Tuesday night and turn it into a 3.5-hour bloodbath.

More than the overall fisticuffs, I think the Philly Flu had more to do with the mindset heading into the Spectrum... teams knew the Flyers weren't mailing it in... Clarke wouldn't allow that. So there was no sneaking in, playing ho-hum, and leaving without bumps and bruises... the Flyers were dragging you into the fight whether you liked it or not.

The other advantage the Flyers had was their middleweights and skill guys were willing to dish it out, especially Clarke who was tenacious and downright ruthless with his stick.

So, I'm not sure how many times "players called in sick vs. Philly" but there are many documented stories of players (many tough ones) openly sharing the dread of crossing the bridge into South Philly and seeing the Spectrum appear through the murky, gray Philly sky.

The only other teams I can even think of who could match the Bullies in terms of intimidation, violence, and enforcer power were the Orr-era Bruins, Plager-era Blues, Probert-Kocur Wings, and early-90s Sabres. The difference with the Flyers is that they had the brutes and the pests... and no "break glass in case of emergency" button.

Yes, definitely a wolfpack mentality. I said in another thread that the '95 Devils were a landmark team in NHL history. So we're the mid-'70s Flyers.

Basically, the whole team played like Bobby Clarke. Rough, aggressive, dirty...but smart, and disciplined in their own way. Very strong defensively, especially in limiting scoring chances.

 

[Gorskyontario]

It is doubtful that players actually did pretend to be sick. NHLers have pride, there are plenty of minor leaguers that will take your place. I agree there was a general discomfort with the Broad Street Bullies. It was certainly intimidation. But the Orr/Espo Bruins wouldn't have been scared. The Cherry Bruins wouldn't have been nor would the Islanders. Heck, the Canadiens wouldn't have been either. Like I said, definitely a nervousness to it, but enough to pretend to be sick? Nah. Definitely an urban legend I think. Just like the idea that the visiting team bus would shake as it drove into the Spectrum.

 

[Staniowski]

Yes, this is good. Chris Nilan describes it correctly - that players (who were playing) were sitting in the dressing room before the game, and they were nervous, uncomfortable, feeling sick....and when they were on the ice, they were timid, afraid to go into the corners, etc.

That's the Philly Flu.

 

[Crosby2010]

I can get behind that, and I think that's what I have always thought was the Philly Flu. Not the players purposely sitting out, but definitely being nervous before the game. That's Nilan saying that, and he was as tough as they came. So yes for sure there was the intimidation factor. I don't doubt Orr and Esposito who were as good offensively as they came, and the 1974 Bruins who were as tough as they came, were nervous playing in the Spectrum. There is a reason Orr and Espo go over and shake Kate Smith's hand after she sang "God Bless America" prior to Gamer 6 of the 1974 finals. It was because the Flyers got in their head and they were trying to jinx them. No doubt they were nervous, and these guys are multiple Cup winners. Let me be clear when I say a professional player can't be scared, yes they can. I was trying to refer to the fact that I can't see a routine where players faked being sick to avoid the game. But there definitely was a level of intimidation. Ask the Soviets. I am wondering if there were players who were sick to their stomachs - literally - and this is how they got sick in Philly and that urban legend grew because of it. But certainly the Broad Street Bullies and the Spectrum and the fans in general psyched out the opposition.

 

[JianYang]

Not that I was following during peak philly flu days, but wasn't the flu more referring to opposing players just being less engaged rather than outright skipping the game?

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Did it happen? Sure

Does the legend far out pace reality? Yup

 

[Staniowski]

Not that I was following during peak philly flu days, but wasn't the flu more referring to opposing players just being less engaged rather than outright skipping the game?

Yes. Uncomfortable before the games, timid during the games. Not skipping games.

It's certainly interesting, though, how the meaning of something gets misunderstood over time.

 

[SealsFan]

George Pesut of the Seals has just written a book and he mentions that a few of his teammates had the Philly Flu in this interview:

 

[Boxscore]

George Pesut of the Seals has just written a book and he mentions that a few of his teammates had the Philly Flu in this interview:

Another point to be made is: that I feel the flu was more contagious for rogue enforcers or tough-guy mercenaries who were being iced solely to throw hands... especially the ones who didn't have an overly tight-knit group or band of brothers willing and able to handle the muscle load.

Teams like Boston were similarly built as the Flyers so those games were just mayhem but far less intimidating for the Bruins than it probably was for other teams. Could you imagine being the one (or two) enforcers on a team heading into the Spectrum when the Flyers were in a bad mood or playing for something? Philly was stacked with layers of tough guys of all shapes and sizes so that rogue enforcer was shouldering a heavy load.

Aside from the Bullies, I saw this first-hand in the mid-to-late-80s. I remember many games at the Spectrum where teams were severely intimidated and demoralized physically by the end of the 1st. Once the 1 or 2 tough guys were neutered, the Flyers made it very uncomfortable for the skilled players to perform, and many of them packed it in or turned into ghosts.

The key to real intimidation back then was not simply having the toughest guy (the Flyers usually had one of the tops in Hammer, Wilson, Brown, etc.) but having a tenacity that extended throughout the lineup with multiple weights of players who were not only "willing combatants" but enjoyed getting filthy... and Philly was that team from the early-70s until the Lindros era really.

One of the reasons I feel the Lindros era ended up crashing and burning in Philadelphia is the disconnect between the brass/coaching staff and the "tough role" Lindros was (or was not) expected to play. Philly was very passive-aggressive with Eric when they should have surrounded him with snarly cats outside of an older Brownie or the eventual "Dan Line." Not adding a Messier, Shanahan, Tkachuk, Graves, Chelios, Nolan, May type, etc. early on was a mistake imho.