Photo by Michael Heiman/Getty ImagesYes, I will finally break down and blog about the Phillies, since I can't jinx them (at least this year) by doing so. As you might imagine, I am very happy that my favorite Major League team won the World Series. I've been watching and following the Phillies since 1995, when they were pretty crummy. Yet my own experience of frustration with Philadelphia teams pales in comparison to what older fans have gone through.
The Phillies just finished their 126th season in Major League Baseball. In that time, they have won the World Series exactly twice (both actually in my lifetime, but I was very young in 1980), and lost over 10,000 games (while winning over 8,000). Don't feel too bad for Philly as a whole, since the Philadelphia Athletics won four World Series titles before moving to Kansas City, and later Oakland. The Phillies have played in six World Series - 1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, 1993, and 2008.
Still, there was a 25-year title drought for Philadelphia's big four sports teams, the longest such drought for a city with a team in the four major pro leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). Fans of the Philly teams have felt somewhat cursed, as they watched each of the four teams reach the chanmpionship series or round since 1983 and lose. Even a locally bred horse, Triple Crown hopeful Smarty Jones, couldn't catch a break. Things got to the point that Philly's biggest sports hero became Rocky Balboa, who of course only exists in the movies.
This brings me to the title of my post. Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies' shortstop, said those words after the game, now infamous for its rain-casued suspension. "It's over. It's over, man." I have no doubt Mr. Rollins referred to more than the mere conclusion of the game, or even the World Series. Rollins has been a Phillie for about ten years, and understands all too well the fans' longing for a title. It is the end of all the above that he refers to. Now a new generation of Philadelphia sports fans have a real, bona fide championship to celebrate. Now they have real sports heroes to reminisce about. That's all you can really hope for in following professional sports - some exciting games, and hopefully some memorable victories.
2 comments:
Having forgotten Daylight Savings is still going (British Summer Time ended last weekend), I still made it up at 0100 GMT for the last 18 outs on UK Channel 5. Not quite as great as my own Boston glamour boys winning, but this Phillies win is better in its own way.
One of the great things for me with the Philadelphia Phillies 2008 is that the lineup has kept those same four guys from the past years' success and late season/postseason failures. Burrell/Howard/Rollins/Utley finally won it all, along with the rest of the team. Sure, Victorino, failed former Astro Lidge and 45 year old Jamie Moyer are good stories too, but if any core of a lineup deserved to win it all, it is those four batters.
I must agree, Fred, on several points. 28 years of waiting hardly compares to 86, but at least Boston had the Celtics and more recently the Patriots to tide them over, so this Philly win is special in its own way.
It has been noised about much in the last 2 seasons or so that Jimmy Rollins has long been trying to change the attitude of the Phillies to that of winners. It would seem that his goal has finally been achieved, and I agree that finally getting over the hump is quite an accomplishment for those four.
Post a Comment