Phillie Fanatics, Yankee Fanatics too

The 2009 MLB World Series

I don’t think I have ever dedicated a Sports Blog to my opinions on the hype, focus, and attention that takes place outside the baselines. But here I am devoting a Blog to the Phillies and Yankees, their fans, and the media coverage upon the dawn of the 2009 World Series.

How is it that the Philadelphia Phillies are the defending World Series Champions, and yet they seem to be the team that has nothing to lose, and everything to gain? The Phillies are the one’s defending their title and yet the perception in Philadelphia is that they are underdogs that crave to beat the gold standard in professional sports in order to be justified and legitimized.

Everyday I work out of an office that sits almost exactly half way between the 108.38 miles that separate Yankee Stadium from Citizens Bank Park. I lived for nine months of my life in Center City Philadelphia, and I grew up in New York. So I tend to see both fans prospective and I get an even amount of media coverage from both teams. If I had one word to sum up the growing rivalry between the two World Series contestants, that word would be- brutal. The articles written on the internet have been raunchy, senseless, and poorly expressed. The articles in the news papers have been only slightly better. The talk radio, and television media- out of control! But the fans, in these two rival cities, they have been the most brutal of all!

Even before the ball landed in Shane Victorino’s glove for the last out of the 2009 National League Championship Series, there was a chant gaining huge popularity at Citizens Bank Park. It is a call that infuriates me like no other. It was a battle cry coming from 46,214 Philadelphia fans. The Chant was of course “Yankees Suck”.

It’s such an ignorant mantra!!!

Wikipedia defines the word suck as- a slang term for failure. Surely the word “suck” doesn’t represent the very best of the 2009 World Series! A Professional Sports franchise can’t win 26 World Series Championships in a remarkably rich 96-year history and suck. A team can’t win 103 games in the 2009 regular season and suck. A team can’t make it to the World Series and suck. Period. As a Yankee fan, I would never I cry out “Phillies suck”! Of course they don’t suck! You know who sucks? The Kansas City Royals suck. The Pittsburgh Pirates suck. And yet, those were the calls from ignorant blue-collar Philadelphia fans that had the upper hand last Wednesday night.

But what the fan’s chant really represents is a desire by Philadelphians to bring on the best. “Bring on the Yankees, so we can beat them down in the World Series” is the common thought among Phillies fans. They are simply calling out the most formidable and worthy of opponent, to justify their second Championship in as many years.

After last year’s historic and memorable victory over the Tampa Rays, ending a 26-year drought of Championship-less baseball in Philadelphia, you would think Phillies fans wouldn’t change a thing. Yet the impression I get from most, is that they would trade it all back for a chance to beat the dreaded New York Yankees in this year’s version of the fall Classic. Even as recent as yesterday, Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said “We have to beat the Yankees...we wouldn’t want to be playing any other team.”

So how do I feel as a Yankees fan? My thoughts were best expressed by Charley Steiner.

Former ESPN announcer and baseball commentator, Charley Steiner called Yankees games on the radio for a very brief period from 2002 until 2005. When asked why he was leaving the Yankees after such a short period, he gave the most eloquent quote about the Yankees I have ever heard. He said, “I want to cover a team whose players and fans react to winning as fun, and not as a relief”. I use that quote at least once a week as a Yankee fan. Charley said it almost five years ago.

Winning in New York is not fun, it is simply a relief. Why?

Because every single team in baseball approaches the Yankees the exact same way. It’s the way the Phillies are coming into this World Series. Weather it is a Spring Training game in March against the Pirates, or game 7 of the World Series, everyone wants their piece of the Yankees, and everyone is the underdog. (And the media takes extreme measures to support these fan feelings.) All baseball fans want to see their team beat down the Yankees more then anything else.

To prove my point, if you compare the Yankees and Phillies position by position, the only clear advantage the Yankees have is at third base. Almost everything else about these two World Series teams is dead even. Truthfully, as an honest Yankees fan, I could see this series going either way. Yet Las Vegas has the Yankees favored by 2 to 1 odds. And Las Vegas sets the ideology for the rest of the world. After all, they control the all mighty dollar.

As a fan this idea that the Yankees are always the best (even when they are not) leaves me only relived when they win, as opposed to excited or happy. Even the Yankee players themselves don’t celebrate like other teams. The Yankees haven’t engaged in a dog pile (a victory celebration of ecstatic euphoric proportions) since the 2003 ALCS. Why? Because they are suppose to celebrate all the time. They win so much that they are supposed to be jaded by it.

And sure the Yankees bring these problems on themselves with all their acquired talent.

The Yankees went out and acquired top players to build their team. A-Rod, Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and Burnett are all acquired free agents whose asking price was embarrassing. Their costs were then turned over to fans who were asked to pay as much as $2400.00 for tickets.

But are the Phillies really that different?

In the last five years no team with a pay roll of less then 75 million has won the World Series. The Yankees are first in payroll, while the Phillies are sixth. To put that in prospective- half of baseball’s team’s this year had a payroll less then 75 million. Meaning half the teams were most likely out of World Series contention before the season even got started. The Phillies went out and acquired Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez, Brad Lidge, and Raul Ibanez. And truth be told- neither team would be in this World Series without their high priced acquired talent.

But just like the Yankees, the Phillies have a ton of homegrown talent too. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Shane Victorino are as wholesome and genuine to the Phillies, as Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano are to the Yankees. And those core players are the ones I like to focus on going into this World Series.

I guess the only real conclusion I can draw is that “Its good to be the king, but it is lonely at the top.” When the day comes that the Yankees win their 27th World Series title, their will be more baseball fans enraged then those who will be ecstatic throughout the country. And as for the 2009 World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies are in the driver’s seat. They are the team with nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Yankees in six.