phillies

The Phillies are going to the World Series again!  At the magic moment, the moment of victory, the culmination of the NCLS, I was fast asleep.

I’ll admit it – I am a fair weather fan.  But the term seems to carry an unnecessary negative connation.  And given the choice between being a die hard and fair-weather gal, I choose fair weather.   Consider the following:

We fair weather fans cheer just as loud as the die hards when our teams win.  We love to clap; we rarely boo.  When our teams lose, we don’t scream, curse, or put our heads in the oven.  We might let out a sigh, maybe a shrug, and wander into the kitchen to see if there is any slow churned vanilla ice cream left.  We never get mad at the players or coaches.  We are completely over a loss in about, uh, four seconds.

Where die hards have a great deal of internal stuff going on during games, we fair weathers are externally motivated.  We are pretty much there for the party, the side conversations, and whatever food and drink is being served.  We don’t personally identify with the teams or the players as much as we do with fellow fans.  Given a choice to spend the evening with one of the Phillies or with a group of friends watching the Phillies, I would prefer the latter.

Fair weather fans do not interrupt life for sports.  Sometimes we fall asleep during the gasp playoffs.  We are perfectly happy inquiring about the score the next morning.  We do not need to wear any specific clothing during the series, sit in a certain spot, or make phone calls after a particularly good or bad play just to hear another die hard breathe on the other end of the line.  Die hards debate the wisdom of pinch hitters; fair weathers debate the wisdom of soul patches.  A “heart breaker” to a die hard is a ninth inning opposing team come from behind; to a fair weather, it is simply Chase Utley from behind.  

Dies hards and fair weathers co-exist and we both have loads of fun during the play-offs — but we really don’t understand or appreciate one another.  Whereas the die hards scoff at us fair weather folks for our lack of passion and commitment, we look at the die hards and think they are a little unbalanced.  With the exception of our good friends Rob (who works for the Phillies) and Kim (who has to live with Rob), there seems to be little reason to get too exercised about a game.  I have held Rob’s World Series ring in my hand.  That thing is heavy, sparkly and worthy of a little post season angst. 

But for the many of us, it just doesn’t matter that much.  We should treat our sports teams like our children – love them when they win – and love them even more when they lose. 

The forecast for Philadelphia:  Fair weather.  At least for a few more weeks.  Go Phils!

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