Favorite Sports Moments: Philly Style

by Mike Lunsford

When I was talking about my favorite sports memories, specifically baseball memories, I mentioned that I have a certain amount of love for the Philadelphia Phillies. The rest of the sports teams from the “City of Brotherly Love?” Not so much. The Flyers are guys who like to fight who happen to skate as well. The Sixers, well...I'm not a huge basketball fan anyway so they're just background noise as far as I'm concerned. The Eagles, I do hate them, but I don't have a good reason other than I grew up a Washington football fan. Oh...and they boo'd Santa! And threw snowballs at him!! What a bunch of jerks! 

"I asked youz for a new bike Santer and youz never brought it to me!! BOOOOOOO!"

Let's look at the facts though for just a moment: From an outsider's point of view, Philly fans may seem obnoxious and loud, but you can never question their passion. They live and die with their teams and as long as you're wearing their teams colors (and playing well haha) they will root for you until the bitter end. As much as I love the Washington teams, our reputation as fans is that we're passive and nice. All of our stadiums might as well send out flyers to opposing teams' fans that says "come see a game at our stadium! It's not a hostile environment at all! In fact, because so many of our population comes from other parts of the country, you'll have a pretty large cheering section to join!"

"Dan Snyder told us that if we sell out the stadium, that's all that matters!"

When it comes to baseball (for reasons I still can't fathom other than baseball is still new to us DC natives), a lot of the Nationals fan base is kind of stuck up and prissy. They get mad at passionate fans who boo the home team when they're not doing well by saying things like "we're not Philly!" You're damn right we're not! They've won a World Series and all we got is Sports Illustrated saying we should have won the 2015 Series! We didn't even make the playoffs! Their fans are passionate! They have a home field advantage! We have a bunch of cry babies who don't even stay for the whole game!!!

"I don't want to have to pay extra for that parking garage! Loyalty is over-rated anyways, I have to get 8 hours of sleep or my 'go to work when I feel like it' contractor job will be unbearable!"

Look, I get that some of you work "important jobs" and have to be up early. I do, too. During that Mets-Nats series I wouldn't have been caught dead leaving that stadium until it was over. You think a Phillies fan would leave when their team was in a dogfight for NL East Pennant? HELL NO! Go ahead and turn up your noses at being passionate about something, or giving a crap about 25 grown men who are getting paid to represent YOUR city. What a Gen X mindset. “I’m too cool to care about things!” As much as I love DC, this has always been my biggest gripe; a complete lack of excitement or passion from a great deal of its inhabitants. You only get heated exchanges when you talk about traffic on 95. 

All that being said, my loyalty is still with the Nationals because of my Dad and even though my peers often embarrass with their shenanigans, DC is my town. When it comes to baseball, Philly is a close second because of my cousins Jocelyn and Jeremy. I also love that city's passion. I also love their cheesesteaks and pretzels...but that's another article. 

New article coming soon: Mike's justification for obesity!

The Philadelphia sports scene often is one of heartbreak. There was a statistic that if a city's sports success was based on their teams getting to the "final four" of their respective leagues, Philly would be number 1. They just can't seem to get over the hump often times. Most recently, they did find a way to succeed in 2008. The Phillies brought home the World Series Championship against the Tampa Rays. It was a magical season full of great performances but I'll let Jocelyn talk about her memories of it.

Well... I think they stopped the final game because of weather (they did) and then picked up play the next day. Brad Lidge got the save with Ruiz behind the plate. (I remember) Jamie Moyer digging up the pitchers mound, yes he was still pitching then. I was pregnant with Charlotte but managed to watch all those games with my jersey on. The energy in this area was not something to be reckoned with.

thanks Philly.com for the great picture!

People can knock cities like Philly, New York, and Boston for being a bit rough around the edges but their passion can not be questioned with their sports teams. DC should aspire to be a sports town like this, not an elitist place full of people lecturing others about standing up and blocking their view during a sporting event. You come to a sporting event to share your passion with others, to be at the exciting event, not to sit down and have conversations about investments. 

I ended up getting a Phillies World Champs hoody. I kinda had to, I remember sitting on the couch in the basement with my cousin Jeremy (Jocelyn's little brother) when Joe Carter crushed that homer off on Mitch Williams in 1993 and being heartbroken. When I was visiting Philly after their World Series win, rocking the hoody, it automatically gained me a smile and a high five from people.  I'm pretty sure at one point when I was at New York Comic Con wearing it, it got me a free pretzel from a vendor who was from Philly. You gotta love that kind of shared happiness. 

and I got a picture with Mario :)

Keep these great sports articles coming! I love hearing about people's love for sports. I got a soccer article coming up soon, but I still need more memories. If you're a soccer fan (or football for our non-American readers), send me your memories and I will add them to my growing article.