It's Tough being A Philly Fan

Ryan Donnell, Getty Images

At the end of my last post I mentioned having time to watch the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Dallas Cowboys during Monday Night Football. In case you missed it, they lost. Thus begins another Autumn of Torment. As any Philadelphian will tell you, being a devoted sports fan is not an easy job. I think this video tribute captures what I'm talking about. Much has been made of the fact that Philadelphia currently has the longest championship-less streak of any city with the four major sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL). But not all losses hurt the same. For instance, when the Flyers got whooped in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Penguins it wasn't so painful because Pittsburgh was clearly the better team (and they're also Pennysylvanians). The ones that really hurt are the ones when I truly believe we've got a chance only to be crushed at the very last minute. Here are six losses that still make me cry.

1) 1993 Phillies. We were so close to winning Game 6 in the World Series and then they sent in The Wild Thing. I can still hear myself shouting at Jim Fergosi not to bring in Mitch Williams against Joe Carter. DON"T DO IT!!

2) 2004 Smarty Jones getting licked at the last second and losing the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes.

3) Also in 2004 The St. Joe's Hawks go 27-0 in the regular season only to lose 62-64 to Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament failing to make it to the Final Four.

4) Donovan McNabb's interception during the final drive of the 2005 Superbowl once again sealing the fate of my poor Eagles.

5) The Flyers losing against the Devils in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals after being up 3-1 in the series.

6) Joe Paterno's Penn State football team's perfect 2005 season ruined on a last second play. (And yes, they're not in Philadelphia but they have a campus in the area so I count them, too.)

I've often wondered why Philadelphia has been so cursed. Maybe it's because we've had the bad luck of having owners like Connie Mack, who once famously said, "it is more profitable for me to have a team that is in contention for most of the season, but finishes about fourth . . . a team like that will draw well enough during the first part of the season to show a profit for the year and you don't have to give the players raises when they don't win."

Or maybe it's because we have superstar athletes who don't care about practice.

Or maybe it's because the ghost of William Penn is really peeved about his statue being shorter than other buildings.

But even in the midst of such upset, there have been some notable victories from the city's other sports teams. Here are a few:

The Philadelphia Soul are the 2008 Arena Bowl Champions.

The Philadelphia Wings (Philadelphia's professional lacrosse team) has won no less than six championships since 1989.

The Philadelphia Phantoms (minor league hockey team) won the Calder Cup in 2004-2005.

And the Penn Quakers have had great runs in both basketball and football. Check out the Franklin Field goalpost being tossed into the Schuykill River after they won the 1998 Ivy League Football Championship. They've won since then, but the goalposts are now cemented down.

Right now the Phillies are looking to make the postseason for the second year in a row. Yeah, I'm watching -- and yeah, I'm prepared to have my heart ripped out once again.

10:58 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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