MUSCLE MAGAZINE
THE ROCKY STEPS
The Rocky
Steps is the nickname given to the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of
Art. They are well known for the role they played in the film Rocky and
several of its sequels in which the eponymous character runs up the steps to
the accompaniment of the song, "Gonna Fly Now".
Don't ask me why but in the 30 plus years of the Rocky
franchise I never had the desire to visit Philadelphia to run up the Rocky
Steps. That all changed on Sunday, September 9, 2007, when I got the itch to
create another online video and wanted to include the Rocky Steps in it. It was
my 52nd birthday that day and I took the ride to Philadelphia with
my fiancé Aida to first visit Liberty Square and then the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. Liberty Square was full of American history and pride. We first took
the tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence had been
signed in 1776, and than visited the Liberty Bell itself as well as the Betsy
Ross house which was a few blocks from the square. After spending several hours
at Liberty Square both Aida and I felt a renewed sense of patriotism and
respect for our country which offers so much to those that are willing to work hard
for it.
After
visiting Liberty Square we drove to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and were in
awe at all the commissioned statues and works of art in front of and
surrounding its main building. Across the street from the museums steps was a
monumental bronze statue of George Washington riding a horse with other huge
bronze statues of moose, bears, and other wildlife encircling the first
commander and chief. It must have been at least thirty feet high and
seemed wide enough to hold a 747. The view from the top of the Rocky Steps
offers a commanding view of Eakins Oval, the Washington Monument, the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, and Philadelphia’s City Hall. 
One
special work of art commissioned by Sylvester Stallone and created by A. Thomas
Schomberg in 1983, that stood at the bottom right grassy area of the Museum was
the two ton Rocky Statue. After seeing the statue in several Rocky films I was
glad to have finally paid tribute to the character that inspired me so greatly
since 1976. The ten foot tall bronze statue of Rocky Balboa was an awe inspiring
site as it stood there with its arms raised victoriously while greeting the
many visitors that came to pose with it.
I
also had the good fortune to meet the winner of a national Rocky Balboa look-alike
competition who was dressed in full Balboa fashion wearing grey sweats, white
hand wraps, and the Rock's trademark black converse sneakers. At first glance I
thought he was some crazy dude who believed he was Rocky Balboa but soon
learned that he was a guy named Mike Kunda who was hired to portray Rocky
Balboa to visitors at the museum. After mixing a few words with Balboa's
younger looking and sounding twin I was energized to accomplish what I had mainly
traveled to Philadelphia for and walked over to the steps.
As I looked up to the top of the climb I saw huge Roman
type columns that stood proudly at the art museums entrance. The steps
themselves are no great task to run as dozens of Rocky fans did so in my two
hours there. Visitors to the museum can often be seen mimicking Rocky's famous
run up the front steps. The climb symbolically represents the ability of an
underdog, or an everyman, to rise to the occasion and is 72 steps high with
several large standing levels along the way. What I did do that was different
from the rest was explode up them while skipping two, three, and sometimes four
steps with every stride I took. Every time I ran up the Rocky Steps I felt a
rewarding and gratifying experience as I felt my heart pounding in beat with
the tune "Gonna Fly Now" from the Rocky series. I could have run all
day if time would have allowed me as I felt at home on the steps while seeing
others give their best to make the climb.
Filming
me run up the steps actually proved more difficult to record than the effort to
run itself. Aida was in charge of capturing the action on video and found it
extremely difficult to keep the lenses on me because of the high rate of speed
I was running. It took about forty takes to get enough video for editing and by
the time we were finished my legs felt a little wobbly from the tremendous
amount of energy they had expelled. Running up the steps and hanging out on the
museum grounds was a heart warming experience for me that I will always
remember. It was truly a labor of love that I surely will return to do many
times again in the many decades to come. Yo Adrian…I did it!