The Philadelphia Flyers will forever be defined by The Broad Street Bullies, their championship-winning teams in the 1970s. But why has one team taken on such an outsize image in the team and city’s mythos? Why has its violent image been embraced by so many?
An explanation might be found in the team’s attitude, which reflected the city’s blue-collar image:
It was the old ‘Us Against The World’ theory. The refs are trying to screw us, the league was trying to screw us, but screw them, we’ll beat them anyway.”