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Sometimes I feel like I’m part of a dying breed–not only do I still enjoy the newspaper, but I actually read two newspapers every Sunday: The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times. With all respect to my beloved Inky (Sunday wouldn’t be the same without Craig LaBan’s restaurant reviews, Meryl Reagle’s puzzle and some great editorial) when it comes to sections like Arts & Entertainment, Book Reviews and Travel, the Times is unmatched.

This Sunday the lead story on the NYT Sports Page was entitled, “In Philadelphia, Heroes with a Lunch Pail.”

Ugh, I groaned. Here we go, another trash piece reducing Philly sports fans to the stereotype of knuckle-dragging louts. I imagined I would be reading about the booing of Santa Claus (which many say never really happened and, even if it did, it was over 40 years ago, so perhaps the statute of limitations has run out), snowball throwing, celebrating injured athletes and more. It’s similar to watching Monday Night Football or any nationally televised sporting event held in Philly–you know that sooner or later the obligatory cheeseteak or soft pretzel shot is coming up–because after all, those are the only two things we ever eat–and we like to eat those while running up the Art Museum steps. Sometimes it seems as if the national media thinks everyone in the Delaware Valley lives in South Philly, wears undershirts, eats scrapple and has ties to the mafia.

This article however, was a bit different. First of all, the author grew up three miles from Veterans Stadium and “punched a hole in his bedroom wall when the Eagles lost Super Bowl XV.” I can relate.

The gist of the article is that unlike New York where a sports team is crowned a champion as regularly as your dentist appointments, Philadelphia is not so lucky, and there’s this weird image “audition” where our athletes are judged and embraced not by their talent, performance and ability to win, but by their demeanor and attitude.

The thing is, and this is tough to admit, the article got it right.

I think a lot of it has to do with the scarcity of championships in this town. If the Phillies had fourteen World Series titles instead of two, or if the Eagles had EVER won a Super Bowl, maybe we wouldn’t be so hung up on the demeanor of our players. I guess if you know the parade isn’t coming down Broad Street, you need to latch on to something else.

How else to explain why we seem to focus so much on the personality of our athletes? Is that why a pudgy, defensive nightmare like Greg Luzinski was more popular in his playing days than Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who is hands-down one of the best players ever? I was only twelve in 1980, but I remember, and the Times is right: The gold glove star who put up incredible offensive numbers was derided as not hitting in the clutch (somehow those 548 homers never won a game for the Phils) and for being too sensitive and aloof.

Why do we care so much about demeanor? Do we want to cheer on our athletes or date them? Also, while Schmidt was certainly quiet and a bit of an enigma, he was no prima donna; by all accounts he worked incredibly hard on his game–something that “our lunch pail” mentality should have celebrated.

Scott Rolen is another example. I’ll admit he seemed joyless whenever you saw him interviewed, but I don’t think anyone who knows baseball would say that during his time here there was a more hard-nosed guy between the lines. Was it that he didn’t love us back enough?

Playing devil’s advocate, here’s more examples: Curt Schilling? Arrogant jerk! Dave Hollins with his one good year and then out of baseball soon after? Love him! Donovan McNabb? Forget him and the way he gets us to the playoffs every year! Give us Randall Cunningham and his never winning anything despite having one of the best defenses of all time.

What’s funny is how some players seem to magically get a pass–almost as if we were a town of forgiving creampuffs. Pat Burrell was absolutely terrible for two years in what should have been the prime of his career and was heartily supported by fans. If that had been the ultra-nonchalant Bobby Abreau, well, I’m not sure Bobby would be alive today. If you watched the Phillies in the early 90’s (and if you did you should get a medal) you know that Mickey Morandini put up an incredible string of mediocre stats and was adored. Actually, I’m still shaking my head on that one.

I think even before last year’s victory, Charlie Manuel was clearly the better manager than his predecessor, the volatile Larry Bowa (who was my favorite Phillie growing up), but for some reason most fans prefer the fiery, unstable guy who goes apoplectic and into a 2 week spiral if they lose a close game rather than the steady manager the players embrace–and whose calm leadership allowed for the amazing runs the Phillies made at the end of the season in 2007 and 2008.

So what do you think? Is the article tough love for us or another Philly hatchet job?

Author Bio:  Tony Rosato, Alstin's Vice President, Client Development, is the most well-traveled member of our team and one of the nicest guys we know. Sharing his 20 years of industry experience with prospective clients everywhere, Tony's Type A personality is powered by premium iced tea (but never chocolate).

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 12:07 pm and is filed under The Daily Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.