RANT: Philly Fan and Proud of It

There was an article by a lazy journalist in the St. Petersberg Times today that really made me angry. I wasn’t really angry about the fact that he was complaining about Philadelphia sports fans. Everyone complains about the few bad apples they either ‘hear’ about or read about. What I can’t take is lying and sloppy journalism. Basically what Romano did was take something EVERY sports writer outside Philadelphia writes about and try, poorly at that, to rehash it because their team is behind in the World Series.

“Children were cursed at, and one 9-year-old boy had beer poured on him.”
- Do you know how much beers ARE at Citizens Bank Park? $7.50. I don’t think there was any wasting of alcohol. There might have been spillage when big plays were made but no, I am sorry, that was not going to happen.

“A Rays family member stayed locked in a bathroom stall because, he said, Phillies fans were banging on the walls and threatening him.”
- The family members of the Ray were sitting in a specific section of the ball park with more security and additional ushers to handle problems. No, I don’t think this happened either.

“In a game that did not begin until after 10 p.m., giving fans more booze time”
-Beer sales were stopped after the 4th inning so that the vendors were not open any more time that usual.

“Does this sort of thing happen at other stadiums? Without a doubt. And I’m sure it has happened on occasion at Tropicana Field, too. But no city has the reputation of Philadelphia.”
- Glass houses, even those with domes break. If you are going to berate us SOLELY on reputation, you are a POOR journalist.

“Team officials were reluctant to talk about the situation for fear of stirring up more hostility.”
- If ANY of this had truth to it, it would have been on the news here in Philly (because you know we love to hear about what we do to other fans and the media LOVES to report it) AND in Tampa.

The worst one of all that CAN be proven a lie.
“Really, the biggest part is the families, if we could do something about that. Throwing mustard packs at my granddaughter is not very cool. The other part, I’m good with.”
- There are NO mustard packs at CBP. None, period. They have the kegs o’ mustard that you need to use to put on your food out by the vendors. Even the vendors outside the stadium don’t use them very much.

When you need to stoop this low, to quote unnamed sources, take all hersay and print it and BLATANTLY make up lies, you are FINISHED as a journalist and might as well change careers to writing bad fiction.

On the other hand, those that STILL call us brutal and Neanderthals; I am proud to be from Philly. I am proud that we have the fans that we have. Santa has remained unscathed for YEARS. LET IT GO!