Phillies

Posted by on . 8 comments.

It seems to me that many of my friends here in Washington were rooting for the Phillies in the Series. I can see the logic by which they might have arrived at that decision, but I don’t find it convincing. Having been to see the Eagles play at FedEx and the Phils play at RFK and Nats Park, I can safely say that I do not enjoy being around Phillies fans. Next year’s Nats-Phils games are going to be totally unbearable. And besides, The Rays gave me hope for the Nats. Even perpetual bottom-feeders have their day.

I was thinking though–does this put Washington in the hot seat as major sports town with the longest championship drought? (And to United fans, I deeply, deeply apologize, but we can’t taunt folks from Philadelphia and Boston with our MLS cups). The city’s last title was a Superbowl victory in 1992. Since then, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Houston, Dallas, St Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have all won titles. So have Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, San Antonio, and Toronto. And most of the major sports cities have won multiple championship since then.

Minneapolis and Cincinnati have both gone a year or two longer than us, but they’re smaller cities. Seattle and Cleveland, I guess, are technically the most due. But for a metropolitan area this size, on the sports mad east coast, we really ought to be doing better.

Comments

  1. Tom says:
    October 30, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    Although I’m clearly biased, I admit that you have a point — the Philly sports fan remains a problematic figure. Still, the Rays’ underdog status seems to distract from the fact that they’re from Florida. That means that to the extant such a thing as a Rays fan exists, he or she will be a Floridean. And while Philly residents may drive down and ruin our sporting events, Florideans have nearly ruined our entire country.

  2. ryan says:
    October 30, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    Yeah. That’s a good point.

  3. EdTheRed says:
    October 30, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    Cleveland called. What it said was not printable, but they *did* mention something about 44 years…

  4. Mayor Wilson Goode says:
    October 30, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    From all of us in Philly, who are nowhere near as rude as the Mets fans, a hearty and nurturing F.U. Seriously, Phillies fans may be problematic, but really – with the Mets fans in the world, we are not the problem.

  5. ajw_93 says:
    October 31, 2008 at 8:58 am

    I’ll leave aside what the Mayor says about Mets fans…in the spirit of brotherly love or whatevs. (Kiss Kiss!)

    I personally have no beef with Phillies fans. Eagles fans I’ll take or leave…in my experience it’s the Flyers fans who are truly sent from Hell to torment us.

  6. BeyondDC says:
    October 31, 2008 at 9:39 am

    I was torn. In the end I rooted for the Rays, but can’t say I’m too broken up about the Phillies having won.

    On the Nats front: I don’t know where he saw it, but my friend swears that in the news yesterday there was a story that the Nats will unveil new uniforms next week.

  7. Reid says:
    October 31, 2008 at 11:12 am

    I was somewhat torn. I agree that as a phylum, the Philadelphia sports fan appears to be just about the lowest of the low. They put a good damn courthouse and jail in the Vet, for christ’s sake.

    Having grown up around NYC, I can admit that that the outer-borough Mets/Jets fans are pretty damn close in boorishness. Just check out the whole Girls Gone Wild at Gate D during Jets games. But I still think they’re not quite as bad as Philly fans.

    But all that said, when it comes to the Phillies-Rays it was pretty easy. I hate every single Florida team. From their sham college programs to the pros, I simply detest them. Particularly the Rays. I mean they play in a god damn DOME! A new dome that will be with us for a long time. When I ask my Miami friend why they play in a dome he says that it’s because it’s alternatively too hot and too rainy to play outside. Maybe that’s a sign from God that the only time baseball was meant to be played in Florida is in March.

    Plus, I normally root for the older traditional cities and teams over the new “hotshot cities” who have yet to prove their long-term viability (particularly if they are sprawling wastelands like Tampa).

    But all those rules are thrown out if a Dallas team is playing. They could be playing for my life and I’d still root against them.

  8. Cavan says:
    October 31, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    “And to United fans, I deeply, deeply apologize, but we can’t taunt folks from Philadelphia and Boston with our MLS cups)”

    But we can. The NE Revolution have been to the the MLS Cup four times and have lost all four. Now, how many people in Boston actually care is admittedly a different issue, sadly. But at least as a United fan I can taunt Revs fans.