Broad Street Bully: For Flyers, desperate times call for strong bandwagon

BROAD STREET BULLY

believes that these are the times that try die-hards' souls, but all these fair-weather fans jumping off the bandwagon don't know Leino from Leno, and think Pronger helps pull Santa's sleigh.

So let's get psyched up for tomorrow's Game 6 here by tapping our heels together three times and chanting, "There's no place like home."

FLYERS-LIFER GRANDPOP: Grandpop Mike Graziano, 45, of South Philly, sent Bully a photo of his 8-month-old granddaughter, Jaqueline Gianna Senkow, ready to "Broad Street Bully" him upside the head with a huge orange Flyers foam fist.

A Flyers fan since his father, Nunzio, bought 1971 season tickets, Graziano played goalie as a youth and fondly remembers going to hockey camp "where Bernie Parent kept shooting tennis balls at me to make my reflexes faster."

Graziano's favorite Flyers memory: "I took a road trip to Boston with my son, Michael; my friend, 'Donnie Rags,' and his son, Dominic, on May 14 to watch the Flyers - who had been down three games to none - beat the Bruins in Game 7 for their fourth win in a row, the greatest comeback I have ever seen in my life!"

Witnessing that Boston miracle with his own eyes, Graziano is not about to desert his Flyers just because they are on the brink of elimination - again.

"All the fans in my section at the Wachovia Center feed off my energy and call me 'The Horn Man' because I bring an air horn and I use it," he said.

"I will be in section 208, row 7 [tomorrow] with my Flyers headband and my terrible towel. It's time to get the place rockin' for Game 6!"

CANADIAN FLYERS FAN: Ernie Munroe, from Ottawa, has been Flyered-up since 1969, when, at age 12, he saw Bobby Clarke deliver a Philly-style blow to Canadiens' star Henri Richard at the Montreal Forum.

"I hated the Habs and Henri Richard," Munroe said, "so I started loving the Flyers. I have a Flyers tattoo on my right leg. My rec room is basically a Flyers Hall of Fame. I have Flyers T-shirts, socks, hoodies and caps, and wear my colors with pride.

"I take a bit of ribbing when I take my daughter Hailey - all decked out in our Flyers jerseys - to see them play the Ottawa Senators here," he said.

"I'll be honest with you. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get this far this year. And now we are two games away from ending a 35-year Stanley Cup drought.

"I want to be there to see the parade," Munroe said. "If they win these two games, I don't know how I'm going to get there, but I want to be on Broad Street!"