Broadway, meet Broad Street

Video from the streets of Philadelphia was streaming live across my desktop last night.

I grew up in Boston and spent most of the last 18 years in Philly. So, I have two favorite baseball teams, who fortunately play in different leagues, as well as some conflicting favorites in other sports.

It was tough enough to be so far away in 2004, when the Red Sox finally won a World Series while I embedded in Ramadi and the Eagles went to the Super Bowl while I was in Mosul. I would probably have had some part in covering the latter if I hadn’t been on leave from my newspaper.

Then, I left the Daily News last year, just weeks before the Phillies won the city’s first championship in a quarter of a century. At least I got to cover the celebration on Broad Street.

This year, I am teaching at the University of Missouri, in Columbia. It seems like I am the only Phillies fan in town (How did Missouri get TWO baseball teams?) and I live in a building so old that the cable company won’t wire it.

So last night, I came into the office to watch the Phillies dispatch the Dodgers, but like many events in Philadelphia, I knew the best part would be the after-party.

In 2004, I would get up at 6 a.m. in Iraq – which is about 8 hours ahead of east coast time – and call my brother or sister on my sat phone to share the last inning of the World Series games.

Last night, I came back into the office to watch the end of the game on TV, though it was sort of anti-climactic in comparison with some other recent Phillies wins.

But next, I was thrilled to find live video streaming online from the street celebrations – with the real fans – from all four of Philly’s major news stations. (3,6,10,29) Yet, most came from sterile, silent chopper shots.

It was something like being there, but not quite. Comparatively, the Twitpics from the street level much more intimate, but not so live.

The Red Sox fan in me would actually prefer to watch the Phillies curse the new Yankee Stadium by taking the Series up there, but either way, I hope somebody streams live video from Broad Street when it’s all over.

Go Phillies!