I can't believe we actually got to sit and watch a nationally televised game from Philly without the announcers ragging on the Philly fans. It's a truly historic occasion. Of course, everyone knows the Philly fans are awful, horrible, despicable. They throw snowballs at Santa Claus, vomit on little girls and, uh, well, aren't a couple of high profile incidents in 25 years enough?
You can tell how bad the Phillies fans are because they've only sold out, what, 130+ straight games? How pathetic. And the nerve of them, booing. In fact, they booed the umpire after he called a ball after Halladay had started the game with 18 straight strikes. Disgusting. You'd almost think they cared about every pitch the guy makes.
And really, that's my point here. I went to a game a couple of weeks ago when Cliff Lee was pitching. The crowd was hanging on every pitch, reacting to every ball and strike call, even when the game was well in hand in the 7th inning. At that point I remember thinking, that's why Lee, and Halladay, and Oswalt want to pitch here. If you're a professional athlete who's proud of what he does and loves the game, how can you resist playing in front of 45,000 people who feel exactly the same way and are right there with you every step of the way?
Media types love to go on about how "knowledgeable" the fans are here or in New York or Boston. But knowledgeable isn't the point. Why would the players care about knowledgeable? You think they care if the fans understand the infield fly rule? What they want is fans who care and who appreciate effort and performance. And I'm proud to count myself one of them.
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