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TABLE TALK: "No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story" with Pat Taggert · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Podcast Show, the longest-running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the world, over 13 and a half years strong. We've
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: got a great Table Talk discussion coming your way this
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: week as we dive into the history and.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: The lore of.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: wing bowl yes folks we are going to be talking
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to our friend of the podcast here pat taggart director
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of no one died the wing bowl story that documentary
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you can find on amazon uh apple tv as well
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and my friend pat great seeing you thanks so much
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: for taking the time to jump on.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Here Jeff, it's my pleasure. You know, you said history
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: and lore. You could have gone with so many other
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: adjectives as well. We're going to get into the reasons why.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The craziness, the amazingness, the awfulness, the everything that Wing
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Bowl was for years and years. So, Pat, I really
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to get into Wing Bowl's historic roots within Philadelphia.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: And it was simply more than just a chicken wing
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: eating contest. And I'm wondering, to get this conversation started here,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: was there a specific moment where you actually had thought
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to yourself, I really have to help make this movie.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I have to make this. I have to tell this story.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: And what made you believe that there was just a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: bigger story here than just a crazy chicken eating contest?
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we made a film called Billboard Boys. This was pre-pandemic.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: And Angelo Cataldi saw it and had us on the show.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: And while we were on the show, this was in
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: the latter days of Wing Bowl, he said, you guys
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: have to make the wing bull dock one day. Yeah.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: And we all laughed on the air and we said, well,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: obviously it's going to get made and it's going to
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: be incredible one day when someone does it. Well, the
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: dust settles from COVID and we're looking and we're like,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: how the hell has nobody told this story? Like, right.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Please find me one more real story where there's this
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: many vibrant characters. That's this unique. That's this one of one.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: And so we needed one. Yes, Jeff, we needed Angelo's. Yes.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: And so we met him on the beach and see, I'll,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: he said, I'll be under a blue tent reading a book.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: And sure as hell we get there and he's under
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: a blue tent reading a book. And he said, everyone
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: says they're going to tell the story, but no one has.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And I said, I promise you, if you sit for
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: what's going to be a very long interview, there will
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: be a movie on the other side. And he did.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: And that just began this this incredible journey of 40
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: interviews and 26 years of archival photos and videos of
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: what we believe is the most unique event in the
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: history of media.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: It really is at.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: The end of the day and sifting through all of that.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: from a logistical standpoint. And I wanna talk about some
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: of the logistics there as well. You mentioned 26 year history,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you had over 40 interviews here. How do you tell
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that within a 90 minute period of time on the screen?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And even where do you actually begin Pat with having
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: those 40 interviews and just so much archival footage?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Where do you start?
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The hard part is there's a lot more that
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: you want to put in that just simply can't make
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: the cut. Right.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: One of our barometers was we can't get so parochial
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: that people from out of town won't be able to
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: enjoy this movie. So I put everything through that filter,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: but of course you have to serve the local audience.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is the core audience for wing bowl, right?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: So you do these 40 interviews. My, my process is
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: you have to cut each of those 40 down into
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: what you consider to be usable clips, Jeff.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: And then from there you can organize them into subjects.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: So there might've been a whole subject on eating stunts
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: to qualify and And then a different bucket for each
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: of the 26 wing bowls. And I treat them all
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: like short films. So I edited probably 50 short films
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: on all these topics. And then you figure out, okay,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: where do they fit chronologically in order to make this
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: thing feel cohesive? Yeah. The truth is documentary filmmaking. Isn't
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: like narrative filmmaking or scripted filmmaking, because there you have
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: a blueprint, right? And so for an editor to, that
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: editing a scripted film isn't nearly as difficult with a documentary.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: It's here's 40 interviews. Here's all these archival photos and videos.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Good luck. Yeah. Find structure in that somewhere. And we
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: wanted to make sure that first and foremost, this thing
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: had laughs, you know, at least every two minutes.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Because at the end of the day, this for me
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: was a comedy, right? Yes. There were, there were some
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: darker elements to it. And I know we'll get to that. Yep.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: But man, when I think of wing bowl, the two
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: times I was there, man, I laughed and everyone around
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: me laughed. And so I said, let's not get so
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: hung up in some of the ugly that we're missing
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: what made this thing so fun and so hilarious for
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: so long.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: And look, as somebody who I have my master's degree
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: in electronic media, audio and video production. And in terms
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of watching this and just our discussion right now, Pat,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I think to myself, you know, where do you actually
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: like start? How do you know you want to specifically
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: start with a particular narrative that from a particular individual
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: who was part of this and, you know, whether it
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was Angelo and we're going to get to some of
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the talent, the quote talent, you know, that was in
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: this documentary. Um, how do you know where to actually
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: start and with what specific individual?
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: That's a great question. I wanted to drop people right
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: into the madness of wing bowl. Yeah. And so, know,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: one of the, the really pivotal moments or most memorable
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: moments in the history of wing bowl is this final
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: two minute, they call it a two minute sprint or
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: eat off between bill. I'll wing a door Simmons and
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Sonia Thomas, Bill Simmons is, you know, six foot five,
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: 300 pounds. He's the local guy. And then you have
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Sonia Thomas, who's maybe a hundred pounds, this small Korean
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: woman and they're going wing for wing. in an arena
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: packed with 30,000 people at 7am on a winter Friday morning.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: And so I thought, listen, we'll set it up in
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: minutes two, three, and four. And where did this come from?
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: But minute one, we need to drop people right into
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: the madness. And so that's what we did.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember attending one wing bowl and I'm standing
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: outside the Wells at the time, the Wells Fargo center.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: And I'm thinking to myself, what in God's name am
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I doing here right now? At this point, I'm with
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: some of my college buddies and we get inside the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: festivities start Pat. And I say to myself, this is
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: something special. This is something special. Not again, not just
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: because of the chicken wing eating aspect of this, but
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the spectacle that it was. And I know we're going
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: to talk about community today, In more detail, but that
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: moment of actually getting to my seat and seeing everyone
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: around me in the arena, you had a feeling of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: this is something here that is historic because of how
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: long it had been going on. And we also, my
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: buddies and I thought to ourselves, let's just take it
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: all in for what this event actually is. when you
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: talk to people who weren't necessarily affiliated with wing bowl,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you know, how, how did you see that it affected
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: them in particular?
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Everyone has a story. Yeah. Right. Like it was, it
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: was you, you can ask a lot of these people,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: you know, what did you do yesterday? What'd you have
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: for dinner? Where'd you go? You know, what'd you do
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: on your anniversary last year? They can't tell you, but
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: they will tell you details unless they blacked out at
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: some point, which did happen. But yeah, They will tell
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: you in detail the feeling of arriving there, what the
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: parking lot was like, what the weather was like, who won, right?
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Who was their favorite wing at that year? It's burned
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: in people's minds. It was not a chicken wing eating contest.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: It was an experience. This started as an outlet. for
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: frustrated Eagles fans because we weren't that good back then.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Right. And it was really something that took on a
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: mind of its own, became a runaway train, and it
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: was dictated by the fans. That's the cool thing about it, right?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Like this thing morphed over the years into what the
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: fans thought Right. What they wanted to see. They were
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: just as big a part of this as what was
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: happening on the floor. And sports teams say that all
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: the time. We're nothing without our fans. No, this really
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: was nothing without the fans. Right. Like the fans were
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: an integral, integral part of making this thing what it was.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: The fans dictated everything. However, you did have well-known sports
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: figures in the city. Like you mentioned, Angelo Cataldi. Jason Kelsey,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Eric Badlands Booker, and John Dorenbosch, just to name a
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: few that were a part of this film, a part
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: of this documentary to tell that story and lore here.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering, Pat, did anyone get into any stories,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: any one of these people that you had interviewed that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: completely changed your understanding of the actual event itself?
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, interview one with sitting with Angelo Cataldi,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: wing bowl was. And I left there just completely blown away.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: First of all, the dude's recalls insane.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, he can speak about everyone over the course
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: of those 26 years in such detail. What I didn't
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: know because everything, when you listen to it on the air,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: it was so well orchestrated. I didn't know how little
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: control there, the radio station had of this. Really? Okay.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Like they were absolutely, despite their very best efforts holding
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: on for dear life. Wow. So much so that when
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the event ended and the dust settled, they would say,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: another year, no one died. Congratulations. That became the barometer
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: of success. And that's why the movie was titled what
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: it was. But like, you know, you talk to guys
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: that were plumbers that were involved in it. Some guys
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: who were unemployed in one day a year, they got
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: to go do this. Or you talk to a guy
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: like Jason Kelsey and John Durenbos and it's just smiles. Yeah.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Like hearing them reminisce about it. They're like, it was insane.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: There was nothing like it. There'll never be anything like
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: it again. Nobody talks about Wing Bowl and just says
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: that was okay.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: And I don't think there's any other sports fan base
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: in America that can actually say that they held events
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: such as this. And I don't care what Buffalo Bills
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: fans say. They're the greatest fans in the world because
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: they're jumping off of their trucks onto tables and all
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: that crap.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I don't care what they say.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: This particular event this particular event year after year, because
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: of what it was, what it meant to the fan
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: base is much more than I think than any other
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: fan base really cares about in terms of their particular teams.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, this, this was about the Philadelphia Eagles also
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Pat, you know, not
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: getting to the Superbowl cared that much best fan base
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: in America, of course.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: By far, by the way, others fan bases tried to
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: copy it. Yes.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: No success. Zero.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: They just tried to do it in Vegas this past year.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Didn't work. If it could work anywhere, it could work there. Right. Right. Yep.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't have worked in New York. Wouldn't have worked in Boston, Buffalo.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Our women are more beautiful. Right. And they were a
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: huge part of this. So sorry, Buffalo, you didn't have
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: that element.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: And that, that was one of the keys to this
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: whole thing. Yep. So yeah, it could only, it could
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: only happen in Philly. Philly's one-on-one.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, gosh, man.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Again, folks, Pat Taggart here, director of the amazing documentary,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: No One Died, The Wing Bowl Story. Buddy, before we
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: go to break here, why don't you let everybody know
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: where they can find you on the interwebs out there,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: social media, get some of those promos out there.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Funny enough. I am not on social media personally.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: You can find me on LinkedIn. So I'm on LinkedIn,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: but there's so much content out there on Instagram and
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: on Tik TOK. Somebody's running our, our no one died
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: kind of page in conjunction with Frank Peck of the
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: producer and they do a brilliant job. So there's so
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: much you can see there beyond what you'll see in
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: the doc. All right.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Very good folks. We're going to take a break. And
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: when we get back, we're going to be talking more
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: about wing bowl.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: It's history. The documentary again, no one died. The wing
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: bowl story. Stick with us. We'll be back in just
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: a bit.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: We are back with our buddy, Pat Taggart here. And, uh, Look,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: as we are moving along here, talking about the documentary,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: talking about Wing Bowl as well. And I guess specifically
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: with the documentary itself, Pat, I want to get into
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the balance that you had to strike between celebration and criticism,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: because Wing Bowl certainly had. plenty of controversies over the years. Again,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: there were some dark elements of this event on occasion.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: How did you decide how much of the darker or
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: more controversial side of Wing Bowl actually belonged in the film?
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: It's a great question and you have to show it.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: You have to show it and you have to tell
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: it or else it's a fluff piece, right? And so
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: if you didn't include you know, the people that were
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: so drunk, they couldn't stand up. If you didn't include
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: the fights in the stands and sometimes down on the floor, right.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: If you didn't include people naked in the stands, which
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: happened a lot, right. It wasn't just people on the floors.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: You have to show that for me, it was be fair.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: and show enough of it for people to understand that
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: it existed, but don't dwell on it. Right. And I
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: will say that we believe if someone that wasn't born
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: and raised here that didn't grow up amongst the wing
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: bowl told this story, it would have been probably 75
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: to 80% that. Yeah. And then, oh, by the way,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: there were a couple of funny things that happened because
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: watch TV right now. Everything's about somebody getting murdered or
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: something controversial or negative, you know? And for us, it
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: was like, man, paint the picture, but let's stick with
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: what's entertaining because at the end of the day, we
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: really wanted to entertain with this thing. The other point
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: I'll make on that, Jeff, is that when I talk
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: to people about it, specifically the wingettes, so people from
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: the outside said, my gosh, this is misogynistic and this
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: is terrible what you're doing to these women. I think
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: it's really important to note that all the gentlemen's clubs
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: in the area had an allotment of wingettes they were
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: allowed to bring to Wing Bowl. typically about six, they
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: brought about 12 a piece. Oh, wow.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Because the women fought over the right to go to
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: wing bowl because for them, just like the fans, just
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: like the eaters, it was adult Halloween. It was one
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: day a year that they absolutely did not want to miss.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: And so sometimes you have people on the outside that'll
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: judge something and try to fight for people that don't
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: want to be fought for. as one wing at put
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: it to us, she said, I pulled in and there
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: were signs saying, this is someone's daughter. And I thought, yeah,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: I am. And I chose to do this. So leave
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: me alone. Right. Right. Right. You know? Yeah. And so, Hey, listen,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: it was easy to miss wing bowl. If you weren't
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: a fan of it, don't listen to the radio for
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: four hours that morning and don't try by the arena
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: and wing bowls gone.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And look, there were so many stories from those who
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: actually participated in wing bowl, of course, during the course
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: of the documentary and, and, You know, there were so
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: many people who traveled so far to get there as
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: well because, I mean, people wanted to be a part
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: of the experience overall. So I'm wondering, Pat, what's the
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: one story that you desperately wanted to put into the film?
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: But you just weren't able to do it. Can you
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: tell us anything there?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have like a G rated one and like
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: a borderline R rated one. Which which one do you
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: want or do you want both?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Start with the G. I'd like both. Start with the
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: G and then we'll get to the R rated.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: We'll start with the G. So one of the coolest
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: aspects of Wing Bull was that people had to qualify
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: to get into the contest. OK, so you'd call up
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: the station and propose an eating stunt. So one guy
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: proposed he's going to come in and eat a bunch
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: of grilled cheeses in a certain amount of time. Well,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: his time allotment comes, and he's not there. And so
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: they move on. Next commercial break at the station, the
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: door busts open. Here's this guy in the doorway. He's bleeding.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: His clothes are torn up. Here he was walking to
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: the studio and got attacked by a pack of stray
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: dogs because they could smell the steaming grilled cheeses from
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: his backpack. Now, that didn't make the cut. in the
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: eating section. Right. Imagine what did. Yes. That's all I'll say.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Imagine what did, if that didn't make it because it
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: was just a bit too long and I had to
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: cut things down a bit. We want it to be
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: at 90 minutes.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: You have to do that when you're a filmmaker.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: You do.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely do. Let's get to, let's get to the
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: R rated one here.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Okay. I'll keep it fairly clean. Okay. So there was
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: somebody we really wanted to be in the documentary. He's
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: one of the most memorable characters. I can't reveal his identity.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: But at the last minute, he agreed to do the doc.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: At first, he couldn't do it because his wife overheard
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: him telling us a story before we shot that he
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: was told by the producers at the station, hey, we
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: know you're going to be in the contest. Call in
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: and say you're going to come in and eat pizza
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: for 10 minutes. And he said, okay. So he shows
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: up and there's a beautiful wingette waiting there. And they said...
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: He said, who's this? They said, this is pizza. So
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: his wife overheard that. Obviously, they didn't do anything, but
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: it was all for the show of it. The point is,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: this had nothing to do with chicken. Yes. There was
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: four or five guys every year that were women that
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: had a chance to win this contest. Right. Otherwise, they
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: filled the 30-person field with the wackiest people they could find,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: this guy being one of them.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: I love these stories. Fantastic. And again, folks, you got
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to check out. No one died.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: The wing bowl story documentary and get it on Amazon,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Apple TV, and, uh, just search it out online and, and,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and you're going to find some really, really great stories
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and just watch the doc.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Fantastic.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: So buddy, before I let you go here, um, you know,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: despite all its craziness, the film seems to really have
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a larger theme, which I alluded to a little bit earlier,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: ordinary people getting their moment, uh, And as we're closing
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: out this discussion here, I'd kind of like to take
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: a step back to talk about really why people cared
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: so much about this event, which led to about 30,000
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: or so folks showing up to this event annually in
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Philly's well-known arena in South Philadelphia.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: What was Wing Bowl really about at the end of
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: the day?
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Not chicken. Yep. It was... about freedom of expression. It
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: was about the opportunity, as you alluded to, for people
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: that were completely anonymous in society for 364 days a
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: year to know what it's like one day a year
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: to come through a tunnel and have 30,000 people on
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: their feet screaming their name like they're a sports star
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: or a rock star. that experience is so unique. And
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: for so many of those people that we talked to,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: they are still riding that high all these years later,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: that was their moment in the sun. And it was
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: community for so many people, people that would look forward
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: to this every year, the same group of buddies from
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: college that would meet every year for wing bowl. Maybe
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: that's the only time they saw each other. And for
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: these eaters and wingettes that form these fraternities and sororities
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: for one day a year. And again, it really, really
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: touches the hearts of Eagles fans because this was a journey.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: It was 26 years building up to 2018, right? And
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: that was the close of Wing Bowl when we finally
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: got what we wanted. And Wing Bowl was really a
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: part of that ride and it kept fans engaged during
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: years when, man, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer for.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I will go to my grave saying that this Philadelphia
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: sports fan base is the best fan base in the
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: entire world And because of that, Wing Bowl was something
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: so very special.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: It was about community.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: It was about folks coming together at the end of
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the day. And you were able to highlight that fantastically.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Yes, folks, again, No One Died, the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Wing Bowl story documentary. Search it out on various streaming platforms,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: mainly YouTube. Amazon, Apple TV. He is Pat Taggart, the
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: director of this great film. My friend, thank you so
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: much for taking the time to jump on. I absolutely
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: loved having you on.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: And you know what? I'd love to have you on
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: at some point down the road.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: We can talk sports. We can talk filmmaking. We can
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: talk about anything you want. Come back and join us
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: down the road.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I'd love it, man.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: You hit like the only three things I know anything about.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: So I'm happy to talk to you about those. Jeff,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: I'm so grateful for you shining a light on the film.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Table
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: fans in general. We thank you, our listeners, for being
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: part of this online community with us and within this space.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Please make sure to.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Check out our website, PhiladelphiaSportsTable.com for all of our podcasts
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and follow us on our social sites over on Twitter
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: at Philadelphia PST, threads at Philadelphia Sports Table.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And over on Instagram as well. Take care and we'll
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: catch you next time.