Champ Phils Still Desperate for New Yorkers' Attention

When the Mets' official Web site offered a presale for tickets in April and May, sports blogs in Philadelphia gave themselves Gatorade showers while attempting to cajole hordes of permanently discontented world-champion Phillies fans into organizing a pilgrimage to Citi Field.

Philly sports blog the700level urged locals to "represent." Even our our little-sister site NBC Philadelphia advised fans to wear red, though Mets fans typically think red means Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals might be in town. The Atlanta Braves have some red in their uniform as well.

It's odd to see this volume of smack-talk, this level of proactive chest-pumping from a team (and its fans) immediately after winning a title. After all, winning the World Series is the ultimate action that requires no words to explain or justify; it's a perfect opportunity to show poise and faux-humility.

Unfortunately for the venerable home of the steak-and-cheese hoagie, their lack of post-championship pride serves as testament to the insidious, deep-rooted inferiority complex embedded in the belly of the losingest team in the history of professional baseball. In fact, there are metrics that could argue the Phillies as the losingest franchise in professional American sports, metrics as complex as number of total losses. For a city that has been referred to as New York City's sixth borough, it may be the Phillies' sad destiny to feel like losers even when they win. Aww.

In any event, imploring locals to travel abroad to put money in the coffers of their rival might be appropriate in September during a heated pennant chase, but in April and May it strikes as a sign of pathos. How else can this move be described? Even if you lack a fancy big-city vocabulary, the word "intelligent" would seem one we can quickly scratch off the list of candidates. In today's economic climate, the occasional breeze afforded by yet another swing and a miss by Ryan Howard will offer little comfort for both a lighter wallet and heavier mind.

Patrice Evans writes about post-racial America at his blog The Assimilated Negro.

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