I wrote the essay below back in early October, 2004 and stumbled on it today as I was cleaning up some old files. As I read it I was first amazed that so little had changed on the Philly sports scene in 2 1/2 year and then I became progressively angrier the more I thought about it.
It's a bit long, but I thought I'd put it up anyway as a touchstone to show how much things stay the same here in Philly
October 2, 2004
My grandfather had to wait 30 years between Phillies’
championships. At least he got to see
two. It was 10 years between World
Series losses to Baltimore and Toronto. It’s been 11 since Mitch gave up the home run.
Another season has come crashing to its end; another manager
fired, another half-full ballpark, another summer of disappointment closes with
no fall baseball. It’s baseball in Philadelphia. It’s the only franchise in history that has
lost near 10,000 games. Yet somehow
springtime always brings the hope that fades in the summer and falls flat as
October approaches.
At the ballpark tonight, it was sticky and raining off and
on. It was a terrible night for
baseball. Kevin thought it was a nice
night, but he also probably had hope that the Phils would win the pennant this
year. I never held such illusions. I saw them add talent, but not change the
attitude. I saw Ed Wade spend the money
he needed to spend to fill the new park, but only because it guaranteed a
greater return.
They didn’t pick up ay pitching in July because it would not
help the bottom line. They might have
made a bit more in ticket sales for the playoffs, but the higher contracts
would have eaten that up. They
calculated the return on investment and decided that they had maxed out for the
year.
They thought that adding three free agents to an average
team would bring the fans into the new park. They looked at the Orioles and the Indians and the other clubs with new
parks and saw the money that those teams brought in. They saw those guys even contend a bit. But each team had more to start with. They had more than a few good players. And none of them really did all that much.
So, like every other year in recent memory, about the time
the Eagles begin practice, the interest in the Phillies dies off. I know the talk that Philly is a football
town anyway, but I remember 1993 when that team took hold of the city and the
Eagles were forgotten. This town likes a
winner, and the Eagles are the most consistent winners in town. At times this is a basketball or hockey
town. It just depends on who is
winning. It’s a baseball town every
spring until the local team melts like frozen custard on the Boardwalk in July.
What really bothers me about the Phillies is that I am
afraid that the futility is contagious. The Eagles can’t seem to get over the hump. They have talent and coaching and seem poised
to do it, but injuries and karma always seem to doom them. The Sixers almost slew Goliath after they
finally got their house in order only to succumb to internal disaster and lack
of talent when they chased a coach away. Hockey is a mystery to me, but it seems to me that the Flyers and
Phillies have WAY too much in common to expect a visit from Lord Stanley any
time soon
Even our college teams are afflicted.
Temple football? Does the phrase “fallen and
can’t get up mean anything to anyone?” St. Joe’s basketball rode two of the best players in the country about
as far as you can, but ultimately two just were not enough to push past the
Philly Phailure complex. Villanova? The annual phone card or alumni scandal
should be announced any time now.
I hear all over the country what a great sports town Philly
is. How we have such knowledgeable fans
and all of that. We are knowledgeable
fans. We know all about every team in
every league because we have plenty of time to study them since our own teams
as so terrible. And I don’t know how
loyal we are. I have never been anywhere
that there are so many Dallas fans, or Denver fans or Yankees
fans. We have been disappointed so often
and so deeply that we have begun to shift our affections and allegiances
elsewhere.
I was 13 when anybody in Philly last won anything. 14 if you count Rollie’s coked-up kids
playing a perfect game. At least when I
was a kid though, there Phillies were good and the Eagles were good and the
Sixers were good and even the Flyers were good. At least I think they were – I never could follow the puck. My interest was cemented early in life.
What about my son? Will he grow up with only the Eagles as a playoff team? Even then will he know that they will never
get to the big game? Will he ever grow
to love sports, given that the local examples are so thoroughly unlovable?
Is there a reason to even hope that he will given how little
these teams offer us on an annual basis? I used to lament the giant toilet bowl they played in. Or the fact that the entire Spectrum actually
smelled like a urinal. Or that the
entire world laughed at the Vet turf. Now I see that those issues were trivial. The real problem is that the leaders of these
franchises, the real powers there, simply don’t care about my son and me. They are big money guys with big money goals
and winning is nice, but money is WAY better.
Are you going to beg Fitz Dixon for another World Series
trophy? Why? He has a pile of trophies. The money pays for the private jet to Palm Beach, not the
trophies.
I've had this thought a few other times, but what has happened in the last few years is that CBP has become a key place to go for the young fun crowd. Monday night, there were SCORES of young ladies who were out at the park as their evening recreation instead of going to a bar. That NEVER happened at the Vet. Of course when the ladies are there, the boys are that much more uhhh ... testosterone-filled.
With cheap prices for the worst seats, good beer and food and a fun team, CPB has become a social destination.Basically you end up with a 40,000 seat nightclub. Stuff's gonna happen. The key here is that the CBP folks need to make sure that they have a fun place for the younger crowd, while ensuring that older folks and those of us who go with our kids are also able to enjoy the environment. More stringent carding by the vendors? Yes. Stepped up security presence in the 300 level? Check. Family sections with no alcohol? Probably a plan.
Whatever the solutions, the Phils have to act now or they risk having the crowds start to stay home if the ugliness escalates.Hat tip to my brother Matt for the post over at TheLevel that got this post started for me.