Philadelphia Sports Fans Should Wrap Their Arms Around Villanova
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For 26 years, Angelo Cataldi has been fielding your phone calls on SportsRadio 94WIP.
Recently, he has gotten the sense that many Philadelphia sports fans -- often Temple or Saint Joseph's graduates -- are not actively rooting for the city's best basketball team: the Villanova Wildcats.
Related: Complete Villanova Coverage
Jay Wright's squad is headed to the South Regional Final after three dominating victories in the NCAA Tournament. They'll take on the No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday night (8:49 p.m. tip off on CBS3), with the winner advancing to the Final Four.
"I would like to announce, hereby officially, I am a main big-time Villanova fan," Cataldi exclaimed at the beginning of his show on Friday morning. "I am back on the bandwagon Al [Morganti] and I plan to stay there throughout the next through-- a week from Monday. That's the championship game [Regional Final].
"They're gonna play tomorrow night against Kansas, that may be the biggest test they have left."
94WIP's and CSNPhilly's Reuben Frank urged Philly fans to wrap their arms around Nova -- a team that embodies the city -- regardless of your Alma Mater.
Listen: Reuben Frank on the 94WIP Morning Show
"Watch the way they play basketball," Frank told Cataldi on Friday. "Who cares where the student body came from? Watch the way these kids play. And by the way, there's nobody on that basketball team that is from the main line...but the way they play embodies what this city is all about. If people don't pick up on that and don't understand that, I don't know what to tell them. They play the game the way we like sports to be played. They work hard, they're tough, they're physical, they don't quit. They always play hard, they always hustle, they dive for loose balls, they defend. They do everything that we want in our sports teams.
"People have got to behind this team. Watch the way they play. They embody the spirit of what we want in our sports teams. Get behind them!"
Merrill Reese is the most iconic voice in the city. The 73-year-old highly respected play-by-play radio announcer for the Philadelphia Eagles, a Temple grad by the way, also does not understand why any Philly sports fan would not be all-in with the Wildcats.
"It makes no sense to me," Reese said, when Cataldi explained that some fans are not rooting for Nova. "When you see what Jay Wright has done. When you see the way these kids have played. They have put on clinics over the past couple of games.
"I'm proud of this team. I am not a Villanova alum, but I'll tell you I will not miss a game. And I will scream and yell at the television and be totally invested in everything they do."
