To my knowledge, “Phillies” doesn’t really mean anything. Every team has some icon to represent themselves, like Red Sox, Cardinals, or even the Orioles. Phillies has no meaning, and the mascot, the Philly “Phanatic,” doesn’t resemble any real animal or has any symbolic meaning either. So how could fans root for a team that already doesn’t know what it’s talking about?
Well, any real fan knows that it’s all in the Philadelphia mentality. We’re freakin’ Philadelphia. What other questions do you need to ask? Giving everything a “ph” at the beginning of our words just exemplifies the city spirit we Philadelphians have.
A lot of people outside of this glorious city, whom we’ll simply call non-Philadelphians, just don’t understand the emotional connection with the city. We’ve always had it. We always will.
To non-Philadelphians, the in-your-face “red, white, and amazing” mentality of the Phillies may seem overwhelming, or even flat out obnoxious.
They just fail to realize that this is how we’ve always been; it’s just because the Phillies have won the World Series last year that non-Philadelphians have become aware of it.
And that’s what makes this specific World Series a memorable one. The dedicated and adamant beliefs of Philadelphia contend with the Big Apple. A New Yorker (ahem, a “non-Philadelphian) could be reading this right now saying, “Are you serious? Have you seen Yankees fans?”
Yes, I have seen them, and I respect your belief about a having a more emphatic fan base, but my fellow non-Philadelphian, you’re ultimately wrong.
This simple skirmish has most likely already occurred in the stands of the Bank or in the non-Philadelphia stadium at least 1000 times. The contention will transcend the test of time. Yankees versus the world of Philadelphia. My heart skips a beat just thinking about it.
Well if the games of the 2009 World Series keep including routine home runs from Chase Utley or catches behind the back from Cliff Lee, it won’t be so much a competition as much as a _____ (insert your favorite word here for “blowout”).
It’s just what Philadelphia does. We sleep with our red and white jerseys and invent our own mascots.
We can do whatever we want, including winning yet another World Series.
