Villanova Fans Get the Crisco

Man, is 2018 a great year to be a fan of Philadelphia sports. First the Eagles ran away with the Super Bowl, and now Villanova University’s basketball team has clinched the NCAA championship. Last night, the Villanova Wildcats defeated the University of Michigan, 79-62, to secure the national title in San Antonio, Texas.

Villanova fans were triumphant, even in the face of greased light poles. Image: WNEP ABC 16

And God bless Villanova fans back home in Philadelphia… they celebrated the win the only way that Philadelphia sports fans know how to. Rowdily. Villanova fans and students took to the street, cheering and clamoring. The city, anticipating a championship win and the nature of the celebration that would follow, preemptively greased the light poles surrounding the college. In a tremendous surprise to no living human being, fans managed to climb them and swing from them anyway.

The pole-greasing in Philadelphia has become something of a national joke. It started when the Eagles won the NFC championship in January and police smeared Crisco (the baking ingredient used for shortening, yes) on the light poles of Center City in an attempt to keep revelers from shimmying on them and potentially breaking a limb or a neck. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work. Images of the pole-swinging fans filled the national eye. For the evening of the Super Bowl, the city stepped their game up and coated the poles in hydraulic fluid, which I suppose is meant to be more slippery. I’m sounding like the narrator of “The Three Little Pigs” here, but that didn’t work, either. Despite the headline, I’m not sure what they used to grease the poles around Villanova, but it seems that no substance created by man can stop the willpower of a sports fan high on a championship win from channeling their inner Gene Kelly.

Adding to Villanova students’ excitement was news that there would be no classes today, so there were no self-imposed curfews on pole-swinging late into the night. A couple of bonfires were started in the streets but were quickly extinguished by Philadelphia’s finest. The city will hold a parade to fete the Wildcats’ homecoming, details TBD.