Phillies News: Rocky Balboa More Famous than Real Philadelphia Athletes

Philadelphia is an iconic sports city, home to the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, Flyers.

Athletes as iconic as Mike Schmidt, Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, and Donovan McNabb have played for Philadelphia. But ask most people what they think of when they think about Philadelphia sports, and apparently, they’ll say Rocky.

Rocky Balboa, the eponymous title character in the Rocky film franchise, was actually inspired by Charles Wepner, a real-life boxer who fought against Muhammad Ali in 1975. It’s the quintessential Philadelphia movie, complete with the iconic scenes of Rocky training by running up and down the stairs outside the Art Museum, know basically know as the ‘Rocky Steps.’

Sylvester Stallone, who played the iconic Rocky, turned 75 years old on Tuesday. Presumably, this influenced the poll that was put up by Marquee Sports Network, the television broadcaster of the Chicago Cubs. The poll asked, “When you think of Philadelphia sports, who do you think of?”

Rocky Balboa won, and it wasn’t even close.

It kind of makes sense. Fans of the films can go run the steps and pose next to the Rocky statue, feeling for a second like they’re a champion, too. They can’t exactly walk onto the field at Citizens Bank Park and take BP with Bryce Harper, or try to dunk on the court at Wells Fargo Center. It’s fitting that the Rocky experience is so accessible; anyone can ‘do the Rocky,’ because Rocky was just a man with a dream, like all of us.

And of course, Philadelphia really leans into the whole Rocky schtick. The Eagles Super Bowl parade ended at the steps in 2018. Opposing teams’ players often pay a visit to the attraction when they come to play Philadelphia teams. The Timberwolves went over there in 2019, posted a video on social using “Eye Of The Tiger,” and violated copyright. A month later, then-incoming Phillies manager Joe Girardi participated in the Rocky Run, which raises money for the Special Olympics. Heck, I’ve even run the steps before, on a trip to visit family.

The Rocky legend is so enormous that back in 2017, when Shohei Ohtani was being courted by various MLB teams, he expressed interest in coming to Philadelphia.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, all he cared about was going to see the Rocky statue:

"Ohtani: The Rocky Balboa statue, I want a picture of that.MLB.com: Philadelphia has a baseball team, you know.Ohtani: No, I just want to visit there."

Strong unintentional burn, Sho.

Honestly, I kind of get everyone picking Rocky. Fans of different generations have different favorite players, which splits the real-life contenders’ votes. But people have watched the Rocky films for almost half a century now. His training inspired countless people, a philanthropic event, and countless parodies and tributes, and his words are those to live by:

"“Going in one more round when you don’t think you can. That’s what makes all the difference in your life.” – Rocky Balboa"