Call it what you want-- a curse, a jinx, a plague, an evil eye even-- whatever it is, it has been haunting the city of Philadelphia since 1987 when the statue of William Penn was no longer the highest point in the city, standing tall for all to see. That is, until now...hopefully.
The newly built Comcast Center topped off their 975 foot building (A.K.A a really, really tall building with 57 floors) in June of 2008 with a mini William Penn statue that faces northeast just like the real statue on City Hall. Now, they say, no building in the city of Philadelphia is taller than the top of Billy's hat.
It's the old Billy vs. the new Billy. Who will win? Philadelphians sure hope the curse is broken and the new guy prevails because no mainstream, professional Philadelphia sports team has won a championship since 1983 when the Sixers swept the L.A. Lakers. That's 25 years ago people!
Here's some history of the curse: a gentleman's agreement that stated no structure would be built taller than the "main man" himself was broken and One Liberty Place Skyscraper took the thrown in March of '87.
Since then, other structures have been built and Billy Penn has become miniscule in the city he founded back in 1682 resulting in the "Curse of William Penn."
Philly sports fans have been talking about the "curse" for years. One local, sports fan blogged all about it in a post back in July of 2007 reminding us all of how much that "curse" has affected us, and our teams: A Sacrifice to the Philly Sports God....William Penn.
Go Phils!!!
