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Philadelphia fans again show they are first-rate

May 9, 2006 | By Dennis Bakay | Discuss

This was supposed to be a weekend of chaos. It would be one full of hell, fire, and brimstone. For major league baseball it would be the apocalypse.

We could see it already, the fans would storm down the seats like they were the Odessa Steps to go after Bonds should he break the Bambino's record. They would chase him down like Tommy Lee Jones' character Warden Dwight McCluskey in the prison riot scene in Natural Born Killers.

God forbid Barry Bonds would pass Babe Ruth in the city where fans are known to have pelted Santa Claus with snowballs, run athletes out of town, harassed opposing team’s fans, inspired a court to be built inside a stadium, committed crimes against humanity, being placed on the State Department’s…ok well not that bad, but you get the message.

Philly sports fans don't deserve the bad rap.

Philadelphia fans are maligned more than any other fan base in the country and it’s not just irresponsible journalism and commentary (yes I mean you Joe Morgan) but just flat out low-rent. After attending the game on Friday I felt proud to be a Philadelphia fan. It’s been well documented now about the signs in centerfield. They were great. What was even greater was the electricity in the building. The team seemed to feed off of that by extending their streak to 8.

Bonds finally hit paydirt on the ESPN Sunday night game. And, Joe Morgan wasted no time in firing shots at those awful Philadelphia fans. Then again, this is the same network that showed a program a few months ago that painted Philadelphia fans as overly demanding, bitchy, complaining, angry louts. Even worse, the journalists who opined about the fans were from other markets in the country. This particular episode was to accuracy what the dodo bird was to over population. It was embarrassing.

Whenever Bonds stepped onto the field he was greeted with a thunderous explosion of boos and it was great to see. He asked for this. He wanted the attention that was “taken” from him by McGwire and Sosa, so now he’s getting it. To his credit, he didn’t make this about Philadelphian fans. Although, he did try and accuse many people of being bad parents for shouting obscenities at him while in front of their kids. While cursing profusely (and who’s to say that was the case) may not a great example to set for a child, I don’t think he’s in any position to say what’s good or not good for their kids. Especially considering when he sets an example for millions of aspiring athletes; many who took steroids so they can compete, and who faced fatal consequences. Perhaps, he should try saying that sob story to the parents who lost their children to steroid use because they wanted to be the next McGwire, Sosa, or Bonds.

Morgan made comments such as “I’ve heard the fans in Philadelphia boo louder at their own players than Bonds.” Well, Joe if you had chunked out a good percentage of your yearly salary (the average American earns $16/hour according to the Wall Street Journal-and season tickets are in the few thousand dollar range now) you’d be quite angry too if you had to watch some of the slop these teams put out. Here are just a few examples: the likes of Mike Lieberthal (not caring for 13 years), the Eagles getting slaughtered in the (answer to the Phillies’ 1964 collapse) NFC Championship to the Bucs, James Thrash and Todd Pinkston (embarrassing the franchise in the 2004 NFC Championship), Samuel Dalembert (making an obscene amount of money and not caring), the Flyers quitting in a horrendous game 6 loss, the Eagles getting embarrassed on Monday Night Football at home twice in 2005, and countless other debacles and shameful performances in just the past few years alone. You’d probably exercise your right to display your dissatisfaction if you paid to sit through that.

With that said, the Phillies fans who attended this series showed the country that Philadelphia fans are not a scourge. They are not mindless mongrels who go to sporting events to terrorize their own players and opposing team’s fans. They showed they are the most passionate, wonderful fans in the country. And, it was one of those weekends that makes you feel proud to be apart of it.

Contact Dennis Bakay at phillysports@earthlink.net

Writer Details

Dennis Bakay

Dennis Bakay has been a writer since the ripe old age of 6 when he created imaginative Sci-fi stories. He got into sports writing when he was in high school and went on to become the sports editor of the high school paper in his senior year. Upon graduation he went on to Shippensburg University for two years where he became interested in writing screenplays and directing movies. While working on several screenplays he got his first directing gig in his sophomore year and directed a one-act play of a movie you may have heard of called Pulp Fiction. He got in touch with Quentin Tarantino's assistant and she acquiesced saying it was ok to do it as long as no profit was made. Thus, Bakay directed the segment of Pulp Fiction called The Bonnie Situation, when Jules and Vincent had a little cleaning up to do. Added to that, Bakay made his acting debut by portraying The Wolf. The play received huge acclaim and was good preparation for his move to Temple's film school program the next year. Bakay was known for his bizarre movies, which rivaled those of David Lynch's earlier short movies. His best known movie was a political mudslinging commercial where Sonny Bono's wife Mary Bono, Former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Berry, and a Catholic priest James Cain III were running for president. He made many other short films in college and wrote his first completed screenplay in 2002 entitled Silent Thunder which is a labyrinthine Sci-fi/Horror movie which delves inside the mind. It is Clockwork Orange meets Being John Malkovich meets Jack the Ripper.


Bakay founded Phillypurge.com in the summer of 2004 after becoming fed up with the litany of bad moves by former Phillies GM Ed Wade. It all started when he posted an Ebay auction in which he was selling Ed Wade. And, his baby has slowly evolved into what it is today with a staff of a half dozen regular contributors and an additional half dozen contributors.

Phillypurge.com was founded with the frustrated and tortured Philadelphia fans in mind (who are beaten down by the losing) as a philly sports fan site to not only get the news from people who feel their pain, but to get a wide-ranging set of opinions from writers who focus on Philadelphia and national news.

With the Fan Purge section Phillypurge.com offers Phiadelphia sports fans a place to really be heard and have their ideas seen by all.

Visit me at www.myspace.com/dennisbakay

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