If you will allow me, I would like to borrow the above line from
the fans of the Cleveland Indians who have come to know and love
it so much.
"Wait 'till next year," is the consolation to the fan who has
given up. So yes ladies and Gentlemen, it's been a wild three and
a half months. But with those words, I officially declare the
Phillies to be a tried and true lost cause for the 2004 season.
How have we arrived at such a low point? Maybe it has to do with
the fact that they cannot consitently beat any of the teams in their
division. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they have only
beaten the Florida Marlins once this season. I think the main
problem is just that I am getting tired of getting let down. They
seem to give you just enough hope to get you interested, and just
when you think there is hope, they kill it with one swing and a
miss. This visious cycle perpetually repeats itself. I think it
is pretty safe to say that they have done a good job letting the
city of Philadelphia down.
Of course, we should have expected this; should have seen it coming
from the
very beginning of the season when they went 1-9 in the first 10
games (again they were swept by the Marlins). Yes, we should not
be suprised that the losingest team in American pro sports, which
plays in the chokingest town in the U.S. has let us down. I never
should have let them get my hopes up this high. Thinking they
were actually going to win seems now as silly as thinking that
George Bush would admit to mistakes that he's made as president.
All this pessimism which is turning me into a hardened baseball fan
has led me to some introspection about sports. Why is it that I
should draw such happiness and grief from sports? Why should 25
shmos making a million a year control my mood for that day? Is it
the companionship? The joy of celebrating with fellow fans when
something good happens, and commiserating during the bad times?
People like being part of a team, they like to band together, it's
part of human nature. By picking a sports team, and following it
closely, they can feel that they too are part of the team. That is
why poor performances hit sports fans hard. The team that they have
spent a log time getting close, and feeling that they are a part of,
is doing poorly, and there is nothing they can do about it. They
cannot get up to the plate and take a bat for the pithcer, they cannot
go out there on fourth and short to take a pass fromt he quarter Back.
Its this futile feeling that drives the pessimistic sports fan in me.
Of course, it is also this feeling that drives me to be optimistic in
the spring. That gives me hope beyond hope that the Phillies will
actually perform up to expectation this season. For without this hope
sports would indeed be a very dull form of entertainment to watch.
And it is this hope which, at the end of the season after things
have gone horribly wrong, allows us to stand up, dust ourselves off
and say, "Wait 'till next year."