PHILADELPHIA  This is the best of times for Philadelphia sports fans.

The city has crowned few champions, and to find a dynasty you must excavate back to the days of Connie Mack. The current Phillies, winners of one World Series, two pennants and four division titles in four years, stand out against the city’s other sports accomplishments. There are only these Phillies, the Broad Street Bullies (the Flyers, winners of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cups), a few one-and-done champions, and decades of bitterness.

No wonder hundreds of fans braved a steady autumn rain Thursday for a pep rally at the Citizens Bank Building, across the street from Philadelphia City Hall and its statue of William Penn, the city’s founder. Philadelphia is still adjusting to the idea of rooting for a perennial contender: after one playoff series, water in the city fountains has been dyed red (actually bismuth pink), and banners of Cole Hamels and Jimmy Rollins line Market Street.

The rally’s structure  or lack thereof  revealed how inexperienced Philadelphia is at staging championship-related events. There were no platforms, microphones or speakers. Hosts and guests stood in the middle of the crowd, addressing fans through a bullhorn. Subwoofers from nearby cars sometimes overpowered the presentation with hip-hop. Except for rally towels and Phillies caps, the scene looked more like a wildcat strike than a pep rally. It was spontaneous, boisterous, heartfelt and disorganized  words that could be etched into the city’s seal.

Tom McCarthy, a Phillies announcer, warmed up the crowd, promising an easy defeat of the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series. As McCarthy spoke, Greg Luzinski, the guest of honor, draped a rally towel over his head. Luzinski was a star of the 1980 team, which won the Phillies’ first world championship with the exhaustion and finality of salmon reaching the upstream spawning grounds.