Sep 30, 2007
Is This What It Feels Like to Have a Successful Sports Team
As a Philadelphia sports fan I have been especially bred for skepticism. If there is a way to mess things up, rest assured that a Philadelphia team will find a way to do it.
In the world of baseball many eyes were turned to the Phillies today. With one win they could almost assure themselves a play off spot. I figured it would be too good to be true, and expected a big loss.
Without cable TV at my disposal I checked up on their game throughout the day, and I’ll be darned if they didn’t win. This wasn’t a nail-biter, see-saw battle. The Phillies won in a big way, strutting into the play offs as if they belong there, as if they aren’t really a Philadelphia team.
This is a shock to my system. A Philadelphia team just won a big game, and I don’t know how to handle it. I mean, I’m sure they won’t win the World Series or anything that big, but still . . . I can’t wrap my brain around it.
Philly has this tradition as of 1983 for having horrible sports teams who cannot win championships. It’s our own secret little identity, and we like suffering quietly while others rave about the poor Cubs who can’t buy a World Series, unlike the Red Sox.
Now I need to cope with success and frankly I don’t know what to do about it. Skepticism exercises its grip, telling me that it can’t last. It has been my friend for so long. How far should I let myself enjoy the success of my home town’s sports team?
You may need to find some Red Soxs fans to counsel you through the difficult process of accepting success. They had to do this when the Soxs won the World Series.
Never fear. disappointment is on the horizon.