On Being a Philly Fan, and a Confession, of Sorts

Sometimes you just need to air things out to admit them to yourself, right? Well, let's see if this works.

I have been a Phillies fan my whole life, having been born and raised in the Philadelphia area.  I was raised to love the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, and Sixers.  As some know, being a Philadelphia sports fan was not an easy thing for many, many years. For some, it still isn't.  We are conditioned to expect heartbreak.  Recent successes aside, I did see the Phillies make it to the World Series in 1993 (Joe Carter's homerun still haunts me), and the Eagles have been pretty good these past few years, but for many years both teams were just average.  These past few years have been lots of fun to watch the Phillies win and make it far into October, and who knew that trading McNabb would have been one of the best moves the Eagles could make?  Watching the Flyers in the Stanley Cup renewed my interest in hockey.

Philadelphia fans have a bad reputation, and somewhat deservedly so.  Of course we have the Santa Claus incident that will never go away, and the more recent tasered fan debacle, and the storied tales of the courtroom below the old Veteran's Stadium. But just in general Philly fans can be pretty harsh to both fans of other teams and the other teams themselves.

Idiot kid who got tasered.

 I was fortunate enough to get to go to Games 1 and 3 of the 2009 World Series, Phillies vs. Yankees.  Game 1 was at Yankee Stadium, Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park.  The friend I went to the games with is a Yankees fan, so we were both wearing garb of our respective teams.  I had on all of my Phillies gear in New York, and didn't really get heckled at all, besides a few boos here and there.  This was after taking a subway ride with hundreds of Yankees fans, and then walking to the stadium in full Phillies gear.  Walking to our seats, nothing.  Walking out after the game, nothing.  Contrast that with Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park, where my friend wore Yankees gear. Heckling like you wouldn't believe.  And did I mention we are both women?

Rainy, but awesome.

A-rod up to bat.

When you are a Philadelphia sports fan, don't think that you can like any other team and get away with it in the eyes of other Philly fans.  All teams except for Philly teams are the enemy, unless them winning will help a Philly team in the standings, or in some sort of revenge thing against the other team they are playing. I suspect it is like this in other parts of the country (I'm looking at you, Yankees and Giants vs. Mets and Jets fans), but I guess it is magnified to me because of what I've experienced.

There is a point to all of this, I promise.

I've lived in a different media market (Baltimore/DC) for years now, and my sports world has been broadened.  I subscribe to MLB.tv so I am able to see every Phillies game, but on local television I get to see the Orioles (wow, they are bad), Redskins (not a fan), Ravens (big fan), and Nationals. When they aren't playing each other, I find myself watching the Phillies game on the computer while I have the Nationals game on tv.

I confess, I have grown to become a Nationals fan.

I'll never root against the Phillies. If they are playing the Nats, I root for the Phillies.  But there is something about this Nats team that is endearing to me, (Nyger Morgan aside).  They try. They care about winning, they hustle, and they have improved.  Although I cannot stand their announcers (thank goodness Rob Dibble got canned, I'll post on him later), I enjoy watching them play.  Plus they play teams the Phillies play since they are in the same division, so I can scout the other teams too.

I've also grown to become a big fan of Stephen Strasburg, who I collect. He is a hell of a pitcher, and a humble guy, at that.  This is a picture I took of him warming up before his last start of the season. I was at the game in Philly where he injured his elbow.
 

Another player I now collect is Ryan Zimmerman.  He has burned the Phillies for a few walk-off homers and big hit games over the years, but he is a great leader, player, and one to be respected.  He seems like a nice guy based on interviews I have seen with him.

Adam Dunn is fun to watch, even though he may not be a Nat next year.  Jordan Zimmerman is an up and coming pitcher.  Ivan Rodriguez brings a much needed veteran presence to the young pitching staff.  Jim Riggleman goes to bat for his players, and is a great manager who understands his team.  I like all these guys.

Picture I took of Pudge warming up Strasburg. August, 2010.

Seeing games at Nationals Park is great.  I am fortunate to be able to see games at Camden Yards and Nationals Park pretty easily, and Citizens Bank is an hour and a half drive up the road. Each park has its own appeal when watching games.  Besides when Strasburg was pitching, it was very easy to get tickets to Nats games.  In fact, many times they literally gave them away, which is sad and nice at the same time.  Washington DC is not a baseball town, but Strasburg mania woke up some slumbering fans to the game again.  2012 should be a fun year, assuming Strasburg comes back strong.  This team is only a few years and a healthy Strasburg away from being competitive in the division, in my opinion.  This is not good for the Phillies, but it is good for baseball, and that I am ok with.

So yeah, I am a fan of a team that is in the division of my favorite team.  And I own a Nationals t-shirt. And hat.  And I'm going to the Ravens game this Sunday.  So yup, there is my confession.

Just don't tell my Philly fan friends.