I Am A Philadelphia Sports Fan...But I Don't Want Your Pity

This is an appropriate way to start my blogging career: to rant about the current situation of Philadelphia sports. If you know any of my close friends, you can be rest assured that sports, particularly those that involve the four Philadelphia teams, is a big part of my life. Living outside of a city that hasn't won a championship in any of the four major sports is quite a challenge for a sports fan such as myself because I want my team to win. I see so many teams make it to their respective title games/series and continue to wonder when one of my teams will not just make the championship, but also win it. Obviously you will hear people who aren't from the general Philly area that we are a bunch of cry-babies whose only national exposure is to pelt jolly ol' Saint Nick and Jimmy Johnson with snowballs. We can make it to the title game, but there just never seems to be enough juice to seal the deal.

Like I said before, it is a hard thing to deal with not winning championships and being such a sports nut. But it helps to realize that there are special moments buried beneath all of the terrible anguish that we as sports community have gone through over the past 23 years. When I was a young lad around the age of 9, my favorite sport was baseball and the Phillies were the center of my universe. It was so exhilirating to see a team I rooted for to play in a major championship. My love for the Phillies has returned these past few seasons with them knocking on the door of the playoffs. Having my Eagles, with number 5 and number 20, make the playoffs over these past few years has been great. Watching Donovan mature into an elite quaterback has been a great treat.

The Flyers have always been my dark horse to break this championship drought. Their conisistency in making the playoffs for so long has been incredible. While that playoff run may come to an end this season, I hope that we can start to retool the franchise to keep up with the style of play that has taken over the game. And the Seventy-Sixers. Allen Iverson says it all. He's been to only one championship series in his career, but God, that first game against the Lakers was unforgettable.

While hard times have been hanging in Philly for awhile, I still hope. I still believe, and will not stop believing in my sports teams. No matter how much I pout, flip out, or curse my, players/team/referees/management, I still love my teams. It is a tough love because you want them to succeed so much. I will keep coming back to watch them year in and year out because you know, that somewhere down the line, one of the teams is going to do it. And all of this will have been worth it.

P.S. Here's a link to a great Philly sports fan website: http://www.the700level.com/. The video of the most recent post (at least at the time of this post) is entitled "The Life of a Philadelphia Sports Fan." It basically sums up everything I just said. Cheers!