Monday, April 09, 2007

I'm raising the white flag


YOU WIN!

I really can't take it anymore. I've tried and tried, year after year to be a fan of teams that let me down year after year. I think today's Phillies disaster was the last straw. The team to beat indeed.

24 years and no titles. 96 seasons between the Phillies, Flyers, Sixers and Eagles with only heartbreak to show for it. At some point (very early at this rate) the Phillies will lose their 10,000th game. And yet season after season I, like many fans, have gone back only to be kicked in the head again.
A few weeks ago I was excited for the upcoming Phillies season. We had a nice young nucleus, the reining MVP, and although the division looked pretty tough, I was looking forward to being in the post season when October rolled around. I even liked the swagger coming from Jimmy Rollins and some of the other players on the team. Yea, maybe the Philles were the team to beat. Then the started playing.

Right off the bat things didn't look good. They lost the first game of the season when the Braves' Edgar Renteria homered to tie the game in the 8th and then again in the 10th to win it. Two games later the Phillies had been swept by Atlanta, but with two extra-inning losses you thought they could just as easily be 2-1 instead of 0-3. But then the hapless Florida Marlins took two of three and all of a sudden the Phillies that I had so much hope for were 1-5.

When I got home today I flipped on Comcast Sportsnet with the Phils holding a 5-3 lead over the Mets. It looked like Cole Hamels had pitched a great game, Ryan Howard was getting his swing back and maybe this was the turning point for the season I had hoped for. But I was obviously kidding myself because in true Phillies phashion they gave up seven runs in the 8th inning to lose the game 11-5. Once again grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.

So, I'm done. I'm not a fan anymore. Phillies, count me out. I've finally had enough. The relationship is over. Don't even make me get a restraining order. We are through, finished, finito ... unless you start winning. Guess I'd have to erase this entry. Hope no one grabs this screen.

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