Pat's Sixers Blog / Dec 12, 2007 / 1:56 pm

Thanks Jerry

By Patrick Cassidy

Dude hasn’t worn a Sixers uni since ’97, and he drops THIS.

Thanks Stack.

Posted in Pat's Sixers Blog |

1 Response to “Thanks Jerry”

1. December 12th, 2007 at 3:12 pm

   The Jed says:

   I was about to write that Stack was right. I was half way through my comment, and then I talked myself out of it. At the very least, he’s a little bit right. There is of course too much unnecessary, and honestly, malicious hating that goes on between unhappy fans and their losing teams. Philly, Boston, NYC, Chicago, LA, and other really impassioned cities with huge fan bases are the main culprits. When things are bad, the fans give it to you and don’t hold any punches. I was at a Patriots game once when the Pats were in year one of their rebuilding phase. They were getting killed and the whole stadium boo’d the crap out of… SANTA CLAUS. And they kind of meant it.

   Losing fans in those die hard sports cities are angry, they paid real money for their seats, they have daily frustrations at home and at work, and they want nothing more than to celebrate with their team and their city. Their team doesn’t just a play a sport to them, but a major role in their lifestyle. So when the team isn’t winning, life is that much worse. They take all the energy they would put into celebrating into hating, mix it with a little alcohol and their daily work/family issues and sports goes from a nice release, to a place to vent their angst. Thus the excessive booing and/or taunting, the throwing items, and the general negative atmosphere that you see online or hear on sports radio.

   It’s also those impassioned cities where winning is the sweetest. I guarantee that winning in Dallas and winning in Philly would feel differently. I trash Philly fans all the time for their views of reality (which most of the time is so skewed), but win or lose, they really care and they really want to make their squad better. And that’s not just the hard core fan, which exist in each city, that’s the majority of Philadelphia.

   Booing Isiah? Absolutely understandable. He should not be the coach of that team. He has factually not improved the team and has enhanced the media fire storm to a degree that I’m not sure I knew was possible… even for New York.

   Booing the 12 year old? Awful. Horrendous. Really, inexcusable. The people who are doing that are straight stupid. But as a Boston fan who has seen the Red Sox hating as much as he sees the Red Sox glory (seriously, check bostondirtdogs.com one day after the Sox lose a game and Manny doesn’t play well), I think you need to put those haters aside and just be happy that you’re part of a sports community that will forever care, no matter if you’re winning or losing. And feel free to criticize, second guess, and be an active fan. That is what makes being a sports fan great. Just don’t crossover to the dark side and be one of the Santa or 12 year old boo birds. Or one of the people that attacks character because a player isn’t performing on the field.

   This long all over the place rant is now over.