I Got 99 Problems But Being A Yankees Fan Ain’t One

One thing I certainly got tired enough of during the World Series were shots of celebrities in NY.  The only place worse than New York is LA.  To combat the in-game agitations I did not watch a single second of the pregame shows.  In fact I actually missed the first pitch to Rollins in Game 2 because I wouldn’t turn the TV on until I was sure I wouldn’t be wasting any additional time watching the non-baseball parts of the coverage.

While I know I’m in the ever shrinking minority, I do not want or need any of the “fluff” that comes with professional sports coverage.  I would love to be able to go to a game and hear nothing but the crowd noise instead of random rap songs in between pitches.

So this year I had to resort to turning the volume down to 0, which had the bonus effect of also not being able to hear the commentators.  It’s become increasingly easy to bash them, which should tell Fox something about the quality they are putting out there in front of a national audience.  This year, I even heard people complaining about them who aren’t really baseball fans.  That’s when you know it’s time for a change.

Back to the title of this article.  I could talk about a lot of things but I pretty much covered everything I hate about the Yankees in the last post.  All I really wanted to add is that I do not think I would want to be a Yankees fan.  I’m not sure I would be able to root for a team who, year after year, tried to buy championships.  What enjoyment can you take in rooting for a player in the playoffs who you’ve only since pitch 20 or 30 times for your team?  I know we brought in Lee and Ibanez late in the season this year, but knowing they will part of this team for a few years makes it easy to root for them.  And when you trade for a player instead of just overpaying him to bring him to your club, there is definitely a sense of appreciation you can have for what your club was willing to risk giving up to get him.

Anyway, maybe I’m just bitter.  Maybe if I grew up in NY I would be a Yankees fan.  Maybe I would hate myself, too.  Or, maybe I would be lucky enough to move to Philadelphia and be adopted by this great city so I could root for the teams who go out and work hard to earn everything they get.

What’s Not To Hate About The Yankees

Position players:

SS – Derek Jeter – he is the poster boy for New York.  All through the World Series we had to watch that annoying commercial for razors of him diving into the stands and getting bloody, while Cole Hamels was standing on the mound when some random guy came out of the stands who thought he was a manager.  Hate him.

The Split in New York

After 2 games, the Phillies certainly sit in a comfortable position, having taken 1 game and home field advantage from the Yankees.  But, are you satisfied with the split?  I am not, nor should the Phillies be either.

4 Reasons why the Eagles will NOT trade for Boldin

1. Draft Picks – The Cards are asking a steep price for any player to be traded in the NFL. A first and third rounder, really? They will probably be willing to negotiate if a team is very interested, but the Eagles usually aren’t that friendly with that sort of thing.
   

In the neighborhoold again

Another AWESOME Philly Sports blog is Phinally Philly. They are constantly rolling out great articles on everything going on in Philly Sports. I’m following them on Twitter (@Phinally) and recently responded to them asking for questions. My question was, “Which Phillies starter will win the most games this year?”.

Here is their response to my question. They picked Hamels – here’s my comment on their site:

Thanks for answering my question, that’s awesome! My pick is Brett Myers, mostly because we NEED him to be consistent and hopefully he won’t get sent down to the minors this year if he can keep his head on straight!! Not Hamels just because of injury questions, although he would be my second pick assuming he gets and stays healthy. I also have questions about Moyer’s age, but I think the main reason he won so many games last year was great run support. Blanton should fit in nicely in the 4th spot, and who knows if Park will even remain the 5th starter all year? I’d love to see Happ back in that role at some point. Here’s my breakdown (completely random guess):

Wins by starters:

Myers: 16
Hamels: 14
Blanton: 11
Moyer: 10
Park: 7

And hey if you want another question, How likely is it that Lidge will be perfect again this year? Looks good so far.

Make sure you leave a comment and let them know what you think about your team!

Editorial: Are you too busy to care?

It’s not that I don’t care, I just don’t have the time.  Do you?  This holiday season brings with it a million extra things to do, and while I do still find the time to watch a lot of games, it’s not quite the same as those lonely summer days when you can dream about Game 7’s and mini-camp.

This is it for the Eagles.  Win or go home 3 times in a row.  Each game gets significantly more difficult, culminating in the finale at home against the Cowboys.  Can we get a Jeff Garcia repeat and have Donovan wish us a Merry Christmas after he lead his team to victory and possibly the playoffs?  Just thinking about it now is amazing considering everyone thought we were toast just before Thanksgiving.

So we have the potential to have a very exciting December.  The Flyers are playing better and moving up in the standings.  The Sixers are struggling to find their identity but also have some tough games ahead before the New Year begins.  The Eagles are still in the mix for a Wild Card, which is significant considering that last year’s Super Bowl champs came out of our division in the same exact way.  All that is just to say, anything is possible once you get there.  I don’t think anyone in this town has expectations of another title out of any of the other 3 teams.

Speaking of the Phillies, isn’t it great to just sit back and not really care if the “Winter Meetings” (ps – it’s still technically the fall), produce any significant trades or signings?  Sure, there are questions that need to be answered.  Will we resign Moyer?  Who will fill in at left field next year?  What do we do if Utley isn’t ready for opening day?  But really, it’s almost comical now watching the New York teams try to one-up each other by grossly overpaying for “the best available guys”.  In the Yankees case, it means paying $163 million to one of the best starters in the game.  But to those desperate Mets, it means taking their chances on a guy who has lost some velocity, and another one who is coming off an injury and doesn’t want to be a setup man.  Even with all their moves, they still seem to have the same basic team that can’t finish a season by winning when it counts.

And, for now, it seems that no matter what the Phillies do, they can.

How many 2nd chances do you get?

…if your name is Adam Jones and you play for the Cowboys?

…if you play in the NFL?

…if you are anyone else?

Rollins still doesn’t get it

There are times, like, it’s one of those cities … I might catch some flack for saying this, but, you know, they’re front-runners. When you’re doing good, they’re on your side. When you’re doing bad, they’re completely against you.

This is probably one of the all-time dumbest quotes any athlete in Philadelphia has said.  It is so frustrating that player who has been here this long still does not understand his fans.  Last year, he sang our praises.  Yeah we know – every team that wins has to say their city has the best fans.  The argument goes back and forth, but the bottom line is that you are being paid millions of dollars, so shutup and do your job.  And ironically, guess who is paying your salary?  We are!