Ryan Howard left the lasting image of the Philadelphia Phillies season: the burly MVP first-baseman keeling over in pain. A ruptured Achilles tendon ended not only his team’s season but, in all likelihood, a good portion of the slugger’s 2012 campaign as well. Nothing unfamiliar in the City of Brotherly Love.
Expectations have crushed souls in Philly for a while now. The Phillies’ 2008 championship parade was a brief hiatus from the norm. Now everything is back off track. The wheels have fallen off in that town. There’s no spare tire. No AAA in sight.
Quarterback Vince Young described his Eagles as a “Dream Team.” Why the media takes anything a backup quarterback says seriously is beside the point. Defensive end Jason Babin chimed in and said, “I feel like we’re the Miami Heat of the NFL.” Why anybody would want to be the Miami Heat of anything is, once again, beside the point.
Expectations have crippled that city. Repeatedly. I’m not saying the fact that the Eagles have a loud mouth that holds a clipboard is the reason for it. In fact, I’m positive it has no impact. The fact remains that they’re 1-4, sinking further in the NFC East standings by the week.
Nobody with any common sense saw the Phillies’ “Big Four” as anything but a dominant rotation. And it was. But nobody can predict what will happen in October. Five game series are a crapshoot. You can argue all you want about how the Phillies blew their series against the Cardinals. And you’d probably be right. But the Cards were the hottest team in the National League.
When the Phillies beat the Rays in the 2008 World Series, people in Philadelphia assumed the ills that had befallen them in their lifetime of watching sports were over. They thought that nights would be spent on South Street drinking in celebration instead of drowning in sorrows.
But success isn’t a given. And if you define success as being the champion, the city of Philadelphia has had it rough. Since the 76ers took home the 1983 NBA title, the only other team to be crowned was that 2008 Phillies team.
Not that they haven’t come close. The 2010 Flyers made a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to fall in six games at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Eagles made runs to the NFC Championship four straight times from 2001-04. They only played in the big game once, and lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.
And yes, other cities (Cleveland, I’m talking to you) have had longer stretches of disappointment. But what makes Philadelphia’s so unique is that year after year of late they have been competitive. Okay, maybe not the Sixers. But you get the point. They’ve had chances to win titles. And they’ve failed to capitalize on those opportunities.
The fans in Philadelphia don’t help. Who can feel sorry for a fan base that constantly runs on the field, occasionally receiving a tase or two from a security guard at Citizen’s Bank Park in the process? Who can share compassionate, genuine human feeling with a group of fans that throws up on little kids? Okay. I get it. That was one deranged human being. But that’s how we define fan bases. Individuals in your group get noticed. When incidents become commonplace, your fan base is defined by those actions.
Which brings me back to Friday night. The Phillies season has just come to an end. Howard is lying down past the first base bag. In obvious pain. And the Phillies faithful is booing its own. He didn’t come through in a pivotal situation. His personal health was not of interest to those that spent good money to watch their team come through in a decisive Game 5.
There’s a lot to admire about that fan base. They want to win. That’s understandable. There are a lot of pieces of the Phillies offense to boo. Outfielder Raul Ibanez still had a starting job in the playoffs, for Heaven’s sake. But regardless of the situation, you don’t boo your $25 million man in obvious, agonizing pain.
The weight of expectations has made that city even more rabid than normal. And when those expectations don’t hold true, rest assured they’ll let you hear about it.