This South Philly Mummers Bar is the Secret to the St. Louis Blues’ Winning Season
“Isn’t it epic? We’re playing BAWSTON.”
Mike Montecalvo bleeds Green, stays faithful to his Phils, Trusts the Process, and fights for the Orange and the Black. That was made obvious when 5 members of the St. Louis Blues walked into his clubhouse last January. Mike and his fellow members of the newly formed Mummers Brigade, The Jacks NYB, greeted the players with a warm, ‘LET’S GO FLYERS’ chant.
“It was funny and broke the ice!” Ten minutes later they were all best friends and cheering on the Eagles in a 16-15 victory over the Bears. During the game, the DJ played the song from the brigade’s 2019 New Year’s Day Routine: Laura Branigan‘s song, “Gloria.” The energy in the clubhouse was off the charts, everyone was having fun and the Blues players started shouting, “Play ‘Gloria!’ Play it again!”
At that moment the Blues were ranked the worst team in the league. A few days later the team had a shutout against the Flyers and that lead to total turnaround for the team. They started winning and credited it all to that night and the 1982 hit, “Gloria.”
The song was played in the locker room, then became the stadium song every time a goal was scored. Once the Flyers were knocked out, The Jacks NYB fully embraced their connection with the team and transformed their club house into a Blues bar. You may think, that’s cute, couple guys watching the game together, reminiscing about that one crazy night. Nope! Think Philly fans pouring their whole heart into a new team that could really win this thing.
Just try not to get chills from this video below of the end of the game last night and its caption, “we’re going to Broad St!” Check out our interview with club co-founder, Mike Montecalvo in the clip above (he’s hilarious).
These guys grew up together. They’re like Matt Damon’s crew in Good Will Hunting, except there’s 40 of them. – Ed Barkowitz for Philly.com
