Houshphandzadeh wrote:Couple things:
I think you guys are in sort of a "can't talk" position because it's not like you are interested in fairness for the Philly teams, you want more Phillies because the Phillies are your favorite. I'm saying this as a huge Sixers fan. This summer, the Sixers made the biggest free agent acquisition in terms of team impact in Philadelphia since..... since.... ever? And it was third on SportsNite. I didn't hear any Phillies fans standing up for us, saying, "Hey guys, that's a big deal, way more important than a July baseball game, so let's give them the floor for a second."
I rarely watch SportsNite --- I prefer to get my news from the internet/newspapers --- but the Elton Brand signing was only third that day as a story? WTF?
When I was younger, going to the Vet for the first time by myself (i.e., without Dad) --- in 1997, 1998, 1999, etc., I used to complain and worry about how the Phillies were just the red-headed step children in this town, and how nobody liked them, etc., even though, in 1998 and 1999, they fielded teams that were competitive through much of the summer. At the time, of course, the Sixers were on the rise, and I was a "young" fan of the team (I had taken up the Sixers mantle in 1998, in an arrangement I made with one of my few sports-fanatic friends: he would become a more conscientious Phillies fan if I would become a conscientious Sixers fan), and tickets wer every hard to come by. I assumed it was always like this.
Then I moved to Philadelphia, and got my first partial season plan in 2004-2005.
And suddenly I realized: if the Sixers don't have an absolutely marquis player, like AI or Dr. J, nobody gives a damn. I realized that it's not like it was with the Phillies, even in the darkest days of 1996 and 1997; the city was ANGRY about baseball from the strike, and with Phillies ownership for being what they perceived to be terribly cheap. Anger is an emotion you feel if you care. When AI was no longer a new act, and people perceived that the Sixers had reached their peak, they weren't angry. They were totally apathetic. I remember reading on here once when someone counted a period of over 30 days where the Sixers went without a single mention in the Inquirer. The Sixers had a good, young team last year that played extraordinarily well down the stretch and who were always very exciting to watch. And still, they had trouble pulling in more than 15,000 a night. And they were hardly ever the lead story in the paper or elsewhere. Because the Sixers are the true red-headed step child in this town: an afterthought.
This, of course, has dialed up my support of the Sixers. I used to say my three favorite teams were, in order, the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers. But, for the last two years at least, it's been the Phillies, Sixers, and Eagles, and is likely to stay that way. The Sixers need me as a fan; the Eagles would have me killed if it would make them an extra $20.
