4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

If you walked into a Philadelphia-area sports bar and mentioned the name ”Mitch Williams”, you’ll be rewarded with people hissing about “that bum”. And rightly so. That bum handed Toronto the walk-off home run in the 1993 World Series. That bum is the reason why I don’t have a 1993 World Champions poster next to my 1980 World Champions poster. And more importantly, that bum is a part of a long-time Philadelphia sports tradition of raising the hopes of fans and dashing them expertly.

You see, for us Philly sports fans, disappointment is a chronic condition, with occasional bouts of hope. Philadelphia’s teams are cursed to be trapped somewhere between the perpetual jokes that are the Washington Generals and the uncompromising title-machines like the Torres-era Yankees* The Phils, the Eagles, the Sixers, the Flyers… they’re usually good enough to be competitive, and are almost always playoff contenders.

And that’s where the heartbreak comes in.

It’s one thing to live in a town where you know your team is going to lose, and lose badly, year in and year out. But it’s another to get your hopes up every single year only to have them absolutely shattered time and time again. In 1997, I got to watch the Red Wings beat the Flyers and take home Lord Stanley’s Cup. During the Andy Reed era, the Eagles were always playoff contenders, but never brought home any Superbowl rings. We even had Smarty Jones take us right to the cusp of greatness in 2004 only to come in second at the Belmont Stakes. Around here, we don’t wonder if our favorite teams could go all the way: we ask one another, “How are they gonna blow it this year?” We’ll cheer our heads off for our hometown heroes every season, and we’ll greet one another with fist-bumps and high-fives and say, “This is our season!” But deep down, we’re realists enough to know deep down in a pit of despair every Philly fan keeps festering in the pit of his or her stomach that we’re probably going to be disappointed. Again.

In 2004, sportscasters were ready for riots when the Eagles lost to the Patriots. You see, Philadelphia fans have quite a reputation. We’ve booed Santa Claus (though in our defense, it wasn’t without cause), we had a judge assigned to preside over municipal court on gameday, and we’ve gone after guys in the penalty box. They actually seemed surprised when Philly fans meandered out of sports bars after we lost the Superbowl and didn’t, I dunno, grab nearby cars and crush them into little balls and hurl them in fits of rage?

What had actually happened was that we fans just had our hearts stomped on. Once again, one of our beloved teams had struggled upwards towards glory. Our collective fingers brushed the brass ring, and once again it was yanked away. We all knew, deep down, this that was a likely outcome. I mean, it was the Belichick-era Patriots. We knew it was a long-shot. But the game was so close. The Eagles were competitive with the Patriots the whole game. And they just came up three points short.

Those three points are almost iconic in Philadelphia sports. We compete so darn well, but we come up inches short from greatness every time. We suck it up, take a deep breath, and nod to ourselves and say, “Hey, next season’s looking pretty good. We’ll get it next season.”

And now my beloved Phillies are back in the World Series, playing the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1. As I write this, the Phils are leading the Rays 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth. I’m cheering like crazy and praying for Upton to fly out and end the inning. I want a win so bad I can taste it. Everyone is calling it for the Rays before the series has even begun, but the Phils are performing well when they should be “rusty”.

I hope 2008 will be our year at long last, but if history has taught me anything, it’s that if you expect disappointment in Philadelphia, you’ll never be disappointed.

*Note that I needed to wash vigorously after typing that. Damn Yankees.

Looks like they made it. One game down.

I agree, damn yankees.

Oh, and go Philly. But I’m a Boston fan at heart.

I feel the same way about the sharks.  All the way to the playoffs and bam!  The Royal Canadians or the Pittsburgh Penguins come rolling through like killdozer demolishing a sleepy Colorado town.

Still, you’ve put a lot of thought into Philly’s plight JK.  Enough to write a lot of words.  Schoolwork slowing down?

I’m not a big sports fan.

...but The Damn Yankees are a decent band.

Uncle 13 - 23 October 2008 08:15 AM

Still, you’ve put a lot of thought into Philly’s plight JK.  Enough to write a lot of words.  Schoolwork slowing down?

More that I knew I was getting no schoolwork done during the game whatsoever

Being a North Jersey guy, I can’t say I totally understand your plight.  However, my father is a South Jersey type, so I have to listen to the same grumbling year after year.  Let’s just say, “Thank God for the Yankees and the Giants.”

It’s 10:00, and it’s all over. This fan, once jilted, was just jumping up and down screaming when Lidge finished things off with a K. My entire apartment complex is just echoing with screams of joy. I called my parents, who stayed up to watch it. I’m IMing friends from school who were watching the game. Tomorrow will be an epic celebration during class for the fans.

If you haven’t been following the series, the Phils managed to do the unthinkable. They were up 3-1 going into Game 5, which started on Monday night in freezing cold, which soon turned to rain and turned the field to a swamp. The Phils were leading 2-1 going into the 6th inning, but the Rays managed to step up and tie things up, so midway through the 6th, the decision was made to delay the game until the rain stopped. Had the Rays not tied it up, there was a chance that the game could’ve been called and the Phillies would’ve won things after only 6 1/2 innings in the ultimate anticlimax.

So we go to walk around for two days with the suspense of a game more than half done, all tied up. We spent two days riding on adrenaline, unable to believe that we had come this far. Everyone was telling us, through the whole post-season, that we were not the favorite for every single series. We were told that we should expect to see the Rays win the World Series in 5 or 6 games. If we made it to 7 and made it into a great series, that’d be great. That’d show that the Phils were a great team. That’d show that they were contenders.

And you read what I said at the start of this series. I had come so close and watched the championship slip away time and time again. I was born in 1984, and the last time the Phillies won the the World Series was 1980. I still have the poster hanging over my computer right now. In 1983, the last Philly team to win a championship was the 76ers, one year before I was born.

Things started with a bang in this game, and it was back and forth for the entire final third of game 5. The Phils went up 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th, and the Rays shot back with a run scored at the top of the 7th. A second run almost made it home, if not for an amazing throw and a fantastic tag at the plate. And then the Phils fired right back and scored in the 7th and went back ahead. And then we were all thinking, “Six more outs. Six more outs and we win.”

And in the top of the 9th, we got to see it. Lidge came out. In 1993, we spat and cursed Mitch Williams, whose pitching ended our dreams. Tonight, we’ll sing his praises, among many other Phillies, because Lidge’s pitches finished up the World Series. He’s a closer with a perfect record for this season, and he won the World Series with a strike-out. This city has dreamed and cried and hoped, even with that hardened pit of doubt every single Philly fan carries in his or her belly, we still all hoped. We wanted this so badly, and this time, hope won out in Philadelphia. There are thousands of people dancing on Broad Street right now. You can’t see the pavement through the celebration.

Now, for the first time in my life, Philadelphia has a championship team. I’m having a lot of trouble typing this, because I’m trembling. I’ve cheered and celebrated many, many times before, but not like this. I’m not even sure what to do. I have a bunch of exams on Monday, class at 8 AM tomorrow, and a ton of stuff to learn about Pulmonology in not a lot of time. But at least tonight, my team won. Tomorrow, I’m going to drive home from class the back way. There’s a hill about a quarter mile from my apartment, and if you look west from the top of it, you can see the Philadelphia skyline. You could see the city from the hill in the town just south of my home town, too, and I always loved going that way, because I loved looking at the skyline on a clear day. I always loved the city in spite of all the things wrong with it. My fondest memories are of going to the city and visiting the zoo or the Franklin Institute or the Philadelphia Art Museum. Now I have something else to take pride in my city for. Now I can finally stop wondering how the Phillies can screw it up. Now I can stop worrying about how bad it’ll hurt if we lose after coming so very close again.

Now I need a new poster to hang next to my 1980 World Champions poster.

Congrats on the World Series win!

Now if only the Blazers can keep Oden healthy (and get him in game shape), and make the playoffs this year with a possible championship run in two or three years, I’ll be the one screaming for joy.

And this year, hopefully, my Oregon Ducks can win out and get to the Rose Bowl. They have to win the rest of their games, and USC either has to crack the BCS top four, or lose another game…

Ah, the World Series.  The Tigers came so close a few years ago.  I miss those days.

Kyle, you’d better think twice about the Rose Bowl! Penn State is going to the National Championship, and either we or the Buckeyes are going to roll in there and show you guys how to play some smashmouth, run-you-down, OMG-Javon-Ringer-is-awesome football.

Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions look like they’ll trample everyone.

Oh, and on topic--Yay Phillies!  Now I can stop hearing my uncle, cousins, and father bitch and moan about Philly teams.  Well, except for the Eagles.

Yeah, its not happening for the Ducks this year. They are still trying to find themselves. They lost the turnover battle to Cal and ended up losing a game they could have and should have won.

14 of Cal’s points were from Oregon turnovers that allowed them to take over the ball within 5 yards of the goal line. They only won by 10.

I’m definitely a frustrated fan. We’ll be lucky to get a decent bowl game. We better beat Arizona, Stanford, and Oregon State if we want to go to a bowl game. All three of those games will be tough for us at this point. And now it doesn’t matter what happens with USC.

Ouch, sorry to hear that man.  I’ve been there before too.  Maybe next year the Ducks and the Spartans will square off in the Rose Bowl, eh?

When Texas Tech beat Texas last weekend, they jumped to the number two spot, and pushed ‘bama into first.  Penn State, due to a bye week, stayed in third, which I don’t really agree with.  So, unless the hand of God comes down from Heaven to smite one of the first two teams, it looks like Joe Pa’s gonna take the Nitany Lions to the Rose Bowl.  The only saving grace at this point is that The Big Ten doesn’t have a a game for conference champions other than the Rose Bowl, so there’s a chance that TT or Alabama could lose that last, crucial game.

In that case, OSU needs to drop a game to stay even with MSU after we lose to Penn State.  Since MSU has played fewer division 1-AA schools this year, they’d get the Rose Bowl in the event of Big Ten Co-championship.  The alternative is to beat Penn State, but frankly, I think that’s less likely than the above scenario.

Doombot - 04 November 2008 05:49 PM

So, unless the hand of God comes down from Heaven to smite one of the first two teams, it looks like Joe Pa’s gonna take the Nitany Lions to the Rose Bowl.  The only saving grace at this point is that The Big Ten doesn’t have a a game for conference champions other than the Rose Bowl, so there’s a chance that TT or Alabama could lose that last, crucial game.

Texas Tech still has to play #8 Oklahoma State, #6 Oklahoma, and probably #13 Missouri in the Big 12 championship.  That’s pretty tough.  Texas Tech could easily lose any of those games. 

Alabama has #15 LSU this weekend, and then will probably play #4 Florida in the SEC championship.  As with Tech, those are both games that Alabama could easily lose, especially Florida. 

The chances of both of those teams escaping the rest of the season undefeated are pretty slim.  And only one of them has to lose for Penn State to move up.  Personally, I don’t think that either of them will go undefeated.  Texas Tech will lose at Oklahoma, and Alabama will lose to Florida.  That win will propel Florida into the BCS championship game against Penn State.  Then we hope and pray that Joe Pa and the Lions do better against the SEC than Ohio State did the last two years.

Well, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for the Big Ten.  And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Joe Pa will lead the Lions to victory, especially after the whuppin’ they handed to OSU this year.  Which is even better, since I’m not much of a Florida fan.  Thanks for the schedule info!