The Phillies and Philadelphia

2008-10-02T08:06:07-04:00

2008-10-01T12:39:57-04:00

2008-10-02T08:06:07-04:00

bewilderize

Newark 94164

15 Sports is a "what have you done for me lately" past time. So stop living in the past. Q: What do you call a bunch of overpaid millionaires watching the MLB playoffs? A: The New York Mets and the New York Yankees. 2956812

2008-10-02T01:24:14-04:00

flecktonian

Princeton 572581

14 Oh gee, you would think with the biggest payroll in baseball you might be able to beat oh say the Rays, but how did that go? Oh right. You're not in the playoffs sorry I forgot. Oh and also, what's even more pathetic is your two "superstars" are worth more than tampa's entire roster. yea thought so 2956311

2008-10-01T22:29:26-04:00

Zankie

Rapid City 408153

13 Why all the illiterates out there who don't know the difference between "loose" and "lose". They're the real losers. 2955909

2008-10-01T20:10:07-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/169/410/thumb/1258.gif 134 NJ

New York Rocks

169710

12 I live out in the Philly area. Sorry to say that. I and many of our friends also relocated here with Philly Fans. Major Championships, yet Philly knows who SUCK'S every other team but thier own. I am cool with that. PLEASE. Your a Joke Philly. Beat me up on my grammar next. NEW YORK ROCKS. Bigger, Better and World Champs, For anyone who has a stupid comment. Eagles 3 championships in the next 42 yrs? Phillies 26 championships when? We will all be long dead before we see that. Dallas and Redskins also. You hate me but know what I am talking about. 2955249

2008-10-01T19:54:43-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/169/410/thumb/1258.gif 134 NJ

New York Rocks

169710

11 Alot of new T-shirts out in the Philly area. Bandwagoners 2955223

2008-10-01T19:52:49-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/169/410/thumb/1258.gif 134 NJ

New York Rocks

169710

10 PS Philly soul doesn't count. only true sports. 2955208

2008-10-01T19:47:39-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/571/854/thumb/buttefly.jpg 1 XX

tpgp

No City 572334

9 I have been a long tme Phillies fan since I was a little girl, my most memorable moment was the Phils winning the World Series in the 80's with Tug McGraw closing and winning the game, what a feeling! Although I now live in a different state I am so ready for my Phils to win another World Series, it has been a long time and gosh did it hurt when they lost to Toronto in the 90's. Good or bad I love my Phillies! Go Phils!!! 2955152

2008-10-01T19:39:15-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/169/410/thumb/1258.gif 134 NJ

New York Rocks

169710

8 The Fans are one big Joke. They wish they had teams like The New York Yankees. Do the math, it would take the Phillies 1000 yrs to equal the Yankees. Yet they have so much to say about every sports team. Shut your mouths until you Win the Big Games. 2955134

2008-10-01T15:13:38-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/395/58/thumb/sanford3.jpg 467 DE

Saihung

Smyrna 39738

7 Wait...did that writer just call Phillies fans frontrunners too? >:[ How is rooting for the Phillies being a "frontrunner"? I mean...they are not the best team in baseball by the numbers...and rooting for your team when their doing well is only natural (outside of Philadelphia I have no clue if its natural). Booing someone for taking 3 big hacks, not making contact, while men are on base, and your team is down, AND youre mired in a slump of 2 for 45 or something equally bad.... Anyway, Rollins deserved to be booed. It woke his arse up didnt it? He could be 0 for 100 and then have a double that scores a winning run and I would cheer for him nonstop...till he sucked again. Wait...is THAT front running? Booing the players who play crappy and cheering those who do? I honestly thought it meant you were a Yankees or Red Sox fan. 2952802

2008-10-01T14:31:21-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/542/005/thumb/2654876274_68e2e9f068.jpg 28155 PA

Chaser**WTF

Exton 542445

6 As a life long 4 sporter thanks big fletch dog 2952276

<div class="photo_container image_center"> <div class="photo"><img title="Phillies fans" src="http://i.cnn.net/si/fannation/phils-fan-sign.jpg" alt="Phillies fans" width="615" height="414" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">The misguided optimism of the past (above) has given way to actual expectation of success in the City of Brotherly Love.<br /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">John Iacono/SI</div> </div> <p><em><strong><br />Daniel McQuade</strong> is a columnist for the alternative newspaper </em>Philadelphia Weekly<em> and the editor of </em><a href="http://willdo.pwblogs.com/" target="_blank">Philadelphia Will Do</a><em>, a blog about the funniest city on earth. With the Phillies opening the baseball playoffs in just a few hours, we asked him about the complex relationship between a hard-luck fanbase and its harder-luck franchise. <br /></em></p> <p>It isn't hard for a club to accumulate a lot of infamy in 126 years, but the Philadelphia Phillies just about have the market cornered on it. Baseball futility is not only endemic but clichéd, as much of a part of any national Phillies broadcast as B-roll of the Liberty Bell, <em>Rocky </em>statue and cheesesteaks. The drunken construction worker booing the Eagles may be the Philadelphia fan stereotype, but the Phillies fan is the archetype. He's just too drained to cause a scene most of the time.<br /><br />Consider the team's history. The Phillies traded away <strong>Ryne Sandberg</strong> and <strong>Ferguson Jenkins</strong> (not in the same deal), passed on<strong> Nap Lajole</strong> (allegedly) and had an owner banned for betting on his own team (a bad move, as the Phils went 64-90). In 1922, owner <strong>William Baker</strong> traded Hall of Fame shortstop <strong>Beauty Bancroft</strong> to the Giants. "Just how the Phillies benefit on this remarkable transaction is hard to imagine," the <em>Inquirer </em>wrote.<br /><br />The next year, the Phillies outdid themselves when the team's business manager had an 11-year-old arrested for keeping a foul ball that went into the stands. After the boy spent the night in jail, a judge dropped all charges and chastised the Phils. "Why, I would have done the same thing myself if I had been in this boy's place," he said.</p> <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img title="Phillies fans" src="http://i.cnn.net/si/fannation/phils-fans-rally.jpg" alt="Phillies fans" width="298" height="449" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">Younger Phils fans are enjoying their first real-life contender.<br /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">AP</div> </div> <p>For a large chunk of their history the Phillies were also-rans, nearly 20 years older than the Athletics yet behind in prestige, attendance and pennants. The city has been considered a baseball town, but never really a Phillies one. <em>Sports Illustrated </em>even labeled Philly an <a href="http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1023425/index.htm" target="_blank">overrated sports town</a> in 2001, citing small crowds at Phillies games.<br /><br />Going to a Phillies game post-1994 was a cavernous experience. That year Veterans Stadium drew just under 23,000 fans a game, 24th in the majors. Big crowds showed up for opening day and the Phillie Phanatic's birthday (observed) and not much else. Why not? Fans were discouraged by the strike; the Phillies answered with <strong>Randy Ready</strong> (the official representative of the 1994 team at Veterans Stadium's closing ceremonies). There wasn't much else to do at a Phillies game but play tag in the empty concourses.<br /><br />But it's all about change, as every politician now says. This year, the Phillies successfully defended a division title for the first time since a run of three straight in the 1970s, and finished fifth in the majors in attendance. Going to a Phillies game in 2008 (with a 42,000-fan average) is a much different experience. It's not just the new ballpark. The Phillies' second straight title this year is the first time in many fans' lives the Phillies have made the playoffs in consecutive years.<br /><br />For Phillies fans in their 20s and 30s, the past few years have been the first time the Phillies have really been a contender in their adult lives. The Phillies never contended before or after winning the pennant in 1993; they averaged over 90 losses between 1997 and 2000. Last year's division crown could have been another 1993, another fluke.<br /><br />A lot was made when <strong>Jimmy Rollins</strong> called Phillies fans front-runners earlier in the season. They're probably still complaining about it on the radio. But the nature of the Phillies forces fans to be front-runners; pay rapt attention for too long and the blood vessels burst from frustration. Rooting for a perennial pennant contender is a completely new concept to any Phillies fan under 40.<br /><br />A tourism campaign in the 1970s read, "Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is." The Phillies usually are actually as bad as Philadelphians say they are. This year, though, there's a sense this Phillies team isn't worthy of the franchise's laughingstock reputation.<br /><br />Now watch them run out there and get beat by a 22-year-old. It'd be typical.</p> 10201

The SI Staff

New York City 21244