Is the Feel-Bad Era Back?

Are Philadelphia sports fans just negative by nature? Last weekend I was expressing my frustration with several of our local teams and Steve said something to the effect that I was pessimistic. I replied that I’m a Philly sports fan and this is just how we are since we’ve seen a bunch of crap over the decades. Maybe it’s just me being negative, which is part of my personality. (Sometimes when I’m a pessimist, events later prove me right.)

I’m trying to be positive here. All four teams have had relatively good runs since around 2000 and I’d like to remember that and keep the faith. After the Phillies won the 2008 World Series, I had thought the era of negativity was over because the albatross of not winning the big one was gone. But was that just a momentary reprieve from fans being Debbie Downers? Is the feel-bad era back?

I am trying to have faith in my Phillies but it has been a frustrating month. After five seasons at the top, it’s mortifying to be in last place. I know, I know: It’s early and it’s still a tight division. But the team just doesn’t look good. I was especially disgusted with Monday and Tuesday night’s games with the way they blew leads. The team used to have regular late-inning comebacks but now they just roll over. I can be positive and join people in hoping that the return of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard will right the ship but I think management is foolish if that’s their strategy. People forget that when Utley comes back, we’ll still be getting back a player with two chronically bad knees. I really hope Howard and Utley hit one home run after another and make me look like an idiot but I just can’t look at this season with rose-colored glasses and assume they’ll win the division again just because they have since 2007.

At some point, the Phillies’ run will end. I believe they’ve changed the culture in that now players want to come here, so the team won’t ever be mired in the basement in the National League East forever, like they were for periods of time in the past. I think they’ll be in contention for some years to come but we have to face the fact that they won’t win the division for 20 years in a row.

And I think I’d be OK with that. It would hurt to see this run end eventually but I’ve been a Phillies fan for as long as I can remember so I certainly won’t stop if the division titles stop. I went to a lot of games at the Vet when nobody was even considering they would make the playoffs so I’ve seen worse than this and still managed to root for them.

I’m irritated with several of our other teams. Last season was the first in many years that I felt like I wasted my time with the Eagles. There were no playoffs and even though in previous years they didn’t go all the way, I at least had some fun memories for my troubles. There were no memorable games last year, unless you count all the catastrophes. I don’t have much technical knowledge so I don’t know how to fix the team but I also have no faith at all anymore in the Eagles’ management, especially not after that farce where Jeff Lurie said everything about Andy Reid’s performance was “unacceptable” and he still retained him. If my job review said “unacceptable” 17 times, I’d expect to be fired at the end.

Even if a team doesn’t win the playoffs, you can look back on your memories and smile. Despite their season-ender last night, there were plenty of fun moments of what I saw of the Flyers’ season so I feel it was worthwhile. I also was disappointed at how the Phillies’ season ended last year but it was very enjoyable regular season so I tried to focus on that. Still, it’s awful when your team goes out of the playoffs early, especially when you look back through the years and see how often it’s happened. You follow them for months and they climb almost to the top and then get knocked off the ladder. Then you have to start the slog all over again the next year. I was livid when the Phillies lost the NLDS because they excelled over 162 games, had the best record in baseball and couldn’t score one lousy run in the final game.

One thought that really gets me is this: In my adult life, exactly one of our team’s seasons has worked out: The 2008 Phillies. All the other teams have played in their respective finals but since I was 9 years old, the Phillies have been the only ones to seal the deal. It’s enough to depress a fan if he dwells on it.

So I guess I shouldn’t dwell on it. I should take the games for what they’re meant to be: Games that are a pleasurable way to fill a lazy summer afternoon or a snowed-in winter night. I don’t want to go back to being the typical Philadelphia sports cynic who assumes that disaster is always around the corner and that my team will blow it in the end.