Do It For The REAL Fans
For Seamhead Gypsy
For Seamhead Gypsy
The Philly Phanatic - They’re standing to see his team in PhiladelphiaI kind of alluded to my preference in this week’s Mug Shot. Edna figured it out correctly. I hope to see the Phillies bring the pennant home to Philadelphia.
I want to see the Devil Rays, yes, DEVIL Rays, DEVIL-DEVIL-DEVIL Rays lose about as much as I wanted to see the Cubs win it LAST year or any year before that and absolutely not THIS year.
Superstitions are fun to play with, but they aren’t real. The “curse” on the Cubs was that there would be 100 years between their last World Series victory and the next. 100 years would have been this year. I wanted to see them get bounced out in September, but losing the Division series was good enough. The validity of the curse is now proven nonexistent. The Cubs have officially undermined their entire organization for over 60 years. The curse is over. The team was great. What happened? Subconscious, psychological cancer that has festered for decades. It’s just a baseball cold sore, right? A curse? Whatever. Now they need a new scapegoat for failure on the north side. Wait a minute. Goats were where that all started!
So, now we have the DEVIL RAYS. They changed their name at the beginning of the season. There seems to be so many opinions and documented “reasons” for the name change. Of course, not one of them has anything to do with the players or coaching staff. It’s just more superstition, or worse, kowtowing to PC extremists who aren’t even fans, just picked on the team as the cause of the day.
A popular excuse is that a fanatic religious group demanded they drop the “devil.” Okay, why was it okay for 9 years and then suddenly not okay? Wasn’t Satan a bad guy ten years ago? Did I miss a church memo?? And if it is true that extremists wanted the change, who cares if they did? Attendance figures don’t show any increases for changing the name. The religious zealots are still not fanatics about the team!
Okay, how about this one? Equal time for all those species of the ray family in the Florida area? Somehow, I just don’t think so. But organizing 500 representative fish to file a grievance does make sense as to why it took 9 years to make the change. Wow, I didn’t even know the fish HAD an organizer! That organizer is as awesome as Gary Sheffield’s agent when it comes to selling new clothes to the Emperor!
I love this excuse. The principal owner, Stuart Sternberg, says of the change, “It’s ‘The Rays,’ as in rays of sunlight.”
Okay, if that’s the case, where are the rays of brain power in marketing, who took the Devil off the jerseys, BUT NOT THE FISH! Oh, and if it’s sun rays, why do they block out the very thing they're named for with a domed stadium??
I did a little attendance stats comparisons. Here are the sample games I took:
The Phillies are selling past capacity, which means they are selling SRO tickets. Phillies fans will pay to stand for 9 innings of baseball and neither of the Devil Rays’ fans can even bring enough friends to fill the park for a World Series game.
I have heard references made to “long suffering Rays fans” by the media. WHAT? The Phillies haven't won World Series in 28 years. Whatever the sports media guys are smoking, I wish they'd share it with the powers that be who can't agree on why they changed the team's name in Tampa Bay. The Phillies fans have been “suffering” longer and there are one HECK of a lot more of them! Baseball is 137 years old as a professional sport. The Devil Rays are TEN years old. Neither the team nor either of their fans are long standing anything, not even in the bathroom lines at Tropicana Field!
True, that I’m more of a National League fan. Like Gypsy, I can easily do without the designated hitter, and generally I do, watching more Reds than anything. But look at the numbers, the fair weather fans didn’t even show up until mid September.
The Phillies fans deserve this more than the Devil Rays fans, even if they’ve both been there all ten years, there are Phillies fans who’ve waited longer.
GO PHILLIES!
1 comment:
You GO GIRL!!!!
at first I was indifferent as to who wins. however, after watching the first two games and seeing some of the idiotic looking hair styles, and the fox cameras panning the stands showing just how silly all those people look, i started to lean to the Phillies. Ok, maybe that last comment is because I'm still sore that they beat the Red Sox. So how here's another reason I'm pulling for the Phillies.
... of my scoresheet (fantasy) baseball teams (which i have 3 of, 1 AL and 2 NL) my AL team, made the playoffs and had 3 DEVIL rays on the roster. one of my NL teams made the playoffs and had 4 Phillies' on the roster. now, not only did that Phillie's lead team make the playoffs, but won a championship. Soon, my fireplace mantle will be graced with a trophy, though I'm not sure how the trophy being displayed will go over with mrs. gypsy..... but she'll get over it!
and yet one more reason to root for the Phillie's..... in the summer of 1999 my brother I and took off on a road trip visiting 6 minor league parks/games in 7 days. one of those stops was in Harrisburg, where the home team was hosting the reading Phillie's. a very young Pat Burrell started at 1b and then later in the game switched to LF. I also remember the hometown crowd booing every move Burrell made. his reputation as a highly paid top prospect had preceded his arrival in Harrisburg. and playing ss that night for reading? none other than jimmy rollins!! And my brother nearly got into a fight going for a foul ball hit my Burrell. Apparantly the guy in the next section over didn't care much for Tim sliding over and knocking the guys popcorn to the ground. I thought it was funny!
So.... while i don't have a Phillie's flag to fly in place of my red sox flag i'll still cheer, clap, root, pull, for the Phillie's this year!!
Besides, Philadelphia isn't that far from Boston!
GO PHILS!
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