One of my favourite sports sites is deadspin.com. I have its blog roll at the bottom of my page here, but I feel the need of promoting this story they ran yesterday.
The Angryville Chronicles is a compilation of stories from Deadspin readers discussing various encounters with Philadelphia sports fans over the years. Some of it is disgusting, some vile, some offensive...well mostly all of those things. But it's also hilarious in the "thank God it didn't happen to me" kind of way.
It makes me understand what my friend Kris was saying when he said he can't get excited for the World Series this year. He hates the Phillies with every fibre of his being. While I don't get his loathing for Jimmy Rollins or Pat Burrell, the Philadelphia fans by and large have a history of ass-holish behaviour.
Tampa Bay is a horse of a different colour. The Rays have no fans, or at least very few. It doesn't matter that game one sold out in 61 minutes. Of course it sold out! It's the World Series. Now if the Rays have more fans than their visiting opponents regularly in the regular season, they are a legitimate fanbase. The team deserves its spot in the World Series, the fans do not.
That stadium was a ghost town all year and with the team's depressing history, who can blame the fans for staying away. At least in the beginning. But as the season wore on, no one showed. Similarly, the Florida Marlins have won two championships and still can't find a consistent crows at its games. For some damn reason, baseball doesn't thrive in Florida.
Game one was a decent affair, but I'll admit I watched more of the movie Trading Places with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in their prime. I've seen it before and yet I was more involved with that movie than the first game of the World Series. It's a shame, because I was amped for it beforehand, but then I got easily distracted as Scott Kazmir pitched sloppily and the Rays bats couldn't generate much of anything. Watching Dan Aykroyd go from a snooty millionaire to a degenerate drunken Santa Claus waving a gun was much more entertaining.
What will be most disappointing is if this series goes out with a whimper. A four-game sweep that everyone forgets and writes off. I'm a Cardinals fan but even I can agree the series where St. Louis defeated the Tigers in five games was a dull series. It could be the championship series games for each league will be more interesting than the World Series...which has been the case the last few years.
