Still Phils Good!

Well, as Amanda deftly inferred from my previous post (and most people probably knew anyhow), the Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 World Series champions, and I am loving it!

That's right, 28 years without a baseball championship, and 25 years (and 100 sports seasons) without a pro sports championship of any kind came to a stunning halt last night, with the Phillies' 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, in the longest World Series game ever - started on Monday night, finished last night after being suspended for almost 2 full days due to the whether.

More importantly, however, is that my favorite of favorite teams gets its first title that I can actually remember (I was 6 months old the only other time the Phillies won the title, that just doesn't count).

I'm putting together a more sportswriter-ish entry that should be up on Peanut Vendors later tonight or tomorrow, but over here I'm just going to lay out some personal reflections.

I'm not sure why I'm a Phillies fan, particularly. Unlike some of my good friends, I don't come from a long line of Phillies fans. In fact, I'm essentially first generation here. My Dad was always a big fan of sports, but not so much connected to any particular team. He (and my Mom) are now Phillies fans because I am, not the other way around. I don't even really know when it started per say. I know that my first real baseball cards were a 1987 Topps Phillies team set, and I also believe that '87 was when I saw my first Phillies game. I just never remember being aware of major league baseball and not being a Phillies fan. I can tell you one thing: I didn't become a Phillies fan because they were good. Despite their great success VERY early in my life, by the time I became aware of them, they were mediocre, on their way to really bad. In that 1987 season, they went 80-82, which was the best they would do in my first 6 seasons as a fan. Then, there was the glorious season of 1993, the last time the Phillies went to the World Series before this season. As much fun as that season was, it ultimately ended in heartache, when "Wild Thing" Mitch WIlliams first blew a massive lead in Game 4 of the series, and then gave up the famed World Series ending home run to Joe Carter in Game 6. After '93, it was back to business as usual, as they went through another 7 straight seasons of losing more games than they lost.

In 2001, the variety of heartache and frustration changed. They went from not good at all, to pretty good, but not quite good enough. I think that's actually more frustrating over an extended period of time. They had winning seasons in 5 of 6 years, typically finishing just a couple games out of the playoffs. Until last year, and the glory of their comeback to win the division over the NY Mets, which was followed by getting swept by the Rockies.

I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. It's one thing to be a Phillies fan, but for them to be my favorite of favorites? Oh well. I will tell you something though, it all paid off last night. I have nothing against fans of perennially successful teams. (Okay, so that might be a half-truth...) However, I will say I don't think it's possible for, say a Yankees fan, to get the level of joy from a championship that I experienced along with so many Philadelphia fans last night, or that Boston fans experienced in 2004, or that Cubs fans will experience if they manage to win one before the end of time... Repeated success is not a bad thing, but I think it becomes really easy to take it for granted.

Don't get me wrong, I'll take winning over losing any day. But in this moment, at this time, the losing and disappointments along the way, they all serve to make the final victory that much sweeter.