Hailing from the suburbs outside of the City of Brotherly Love, I have experienced my fair share of heartbreak and excitement, and then heartbreak again. I’m talking about something near and dear to the Rocky loving, cheesesteak eating, Art Museum steps climbing people: Philadelphia sports teams. Between the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers, being a Philly sports fan is downright tough and there’s no doubt about that, here's why:
I recently read an article that proved Philly is considered the city with the “worst sports teams in North America.” So obviously, I swiftly rejected this notion, but proceeded to click the link only to be stunned. In cities that have at least three franchises out of the four major sports (football, baseball, basketball, and hockey), Philadelphia is literally dead last. And when I say dead last, it’s not by a small margin. Your attention can be drawn to the sad truth below:
Photo courtesy of PhillyVoice.com
Despite our sad 0.297 average winning percentage, there is one thing I can proudly admit: we are the most passionate fans this side of the Atlantic. Sure, go ahead and bring up how we boo our own players and how we once threw snowballs at Santa Claus (that was in 1968 and you need to get over it). But we certainly are a no nonsense city when it comes to our sports. We defend our team and our city like it’s our family, and we only boo them because we know and expect better. We don’t just accept poor effort on a play or a terrible coaching decision; fans in the stadiums going to let you know about it. We hate Dallas and New York, and yes, Veterans Stadium (aka “The Vet”) was notorious for housing a jail for when fans got out of control. The feeling inside the Wells Fargo Center or "The Linc" is one that you really can't describe. And just like Adrian asked Rocky, we only want our teams to do one thing for us: "win."
So PhillyVoice.com, your numbers may be right. But one thing you know you can’t quantify is the emotion and love we have for our city and it’s teams. So we beg you, Eagles and Flyers (deliberately leaving out the other two because our football and hockey teams aren't completely beyond repair) to get it together. It's been taking an unhealthy a toll on the sanity of Philadelphians and I don't know how much longer we can take it.
