Philadelphia (A Fan’s Notes)

Mark Bryant
May 11, 2003

"...Which brings to the forefront a question that has haunted our town for over a decade now. We've got the Betsy Ross House, the Spirit of '76, the hallowed Independence Hall, the equally grandiose City Hall, and perhaps the most demanding, pedantic, engaging and vocal fans in the world. We're the most patriotic, passionate American city. So why does out pro basketball team...for lack of a better word...suck?"

"Other teams have boasted by far more talented and superior rosters. Other teams have boasted more players considered among the greatest in the game's history. Other teams have garnered more championships. But for the scant number of years that Philadelphia pro basketball was in the limelight, this was a team for the ages...It was a team built not on flashy talent, ubiquitous endorsements, household notoriety, but on the premise of hard work, camaraderie, teamwork, togetherness, love and devotion. Qualities that seem vastly unattainable in today's me first "supa-star" driven pro hoop world, where every time you turn around, a "supa-star" is sauntering into practice, fifteen minutes late and having the gall to take offense if a coach dares upbraid him for it. Every time you turn around, a "supa-star" is hit with a paternity suit, hit with a drug charge, hit with the police blotter.

"Drugs, alcohol, massive sexual promiscuity and misconduct, and domestic discord has become so widespread and common that seldom do we show shock, or even give thew illusion of disillusionment anymore, when a "supa-star" is taken to task for his offending deeds. But then there are those who argue that this mega-ego era is not wholly different from seasons past. Them, the media covered up most of the dirt and swept it under the rug. In the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, the residue of the free-love, me-,and he-who has the most toys generation, a lot of the booze, drugs, partying and uninhibited bed partnership was considered okay. Are we, in the pursuit for nostalgia, crying out for old-school values by maintaining a politically correct veneer of smog?"

"Let's see, what else? I like deep dish east coast style pizza, good dark ale, enjoying the dives around the city, Allie's Jazz Bistro, Eagles at the Vet on Sundays, catching up on reading at the Free Library, taking in a movie and of course visiting the crumbling Spectrum for what we call "squeak-ball". Not much different from other red-blooded males in the City of Love, I guess."

"Fans here in Philly have long been characterized as bleeding-heart working class Joe Schmoe-esque fanatics, but the reality is that many of them are ugly drunks."

"Philadelphia is a coagulating working-class/lunchpail city combined with city slickers and yuppie types (see: "Trading Places"), not without the disdain on both sides. It is also a city fraught with underlying racial tension. Inner city blacks and Italian-Americans have long been notorious for various fracases. Hence, the (Philly) fans, which consist of all these various elements, unleashes a barrage of steam at the games, channeling their insecurities and frustrations into cheering, harassing and heckling both teams with equal fervor...Philadelphia is also a hard luck city, possibly the city with the least to show for it in all its' years in the annals of American professional sport. The Eagles last championship came in 1960, and the Phillies' baseball team has managed to capture one, and only one World Series in 1980; during the rest of their existence they have been traditionally a low-tier team...The psychological reaction of this has taken its' toll on countless Philadelphians, but our tendency, while overbearing and tough-love-esque, is also to hope. Underdogs are revered. Rocky Balboa, the mythical underdog Italian Stallion of motion-picture boxer fame in the incarnation of Rocky Marciano, has a statue here. This fact has not failed to piss off Joe Frazier, another long-odds champion who is black. Richie Allen, a former Phillies star, had his troubles with fans who he felt criticized him too severely and game underperforming white players the benefit of the doubt. Curt Flood, a black standout player for the St. Louis Cardinals, was suddenly traded to the Phillies and flat out refused to play here, which eventually created baseball's free agency system (You have to think Curt knew something...)...Such is the City of Brotherly Love"