Barry Bonds and Philly Fans

Two things to discuss quickly today.

Barry Bonds has continued to make himself look like a foolish hypocrite. Let us leave the cheating substance abuse out of the picture for the moment. At the end of his trip to Philadelphia, where he hit homerun number 713*, he was asked about the booing by the fans. In his response he said that it was nothing compared to LA or San Diego. I'm ok with that, as those are his rival teams. But he also stated that the fans who come out and boo should be scolded for doing so in front of their kids, and that they should think about the example they are setting for their kids.

Read that last sentence back to yourself and think about it. Does anyone else find that a little off-beat? I mean, isn't it Barry Bonds who has "alledgedly" taken performance enhancing drugs, or steroids, like no man has ever before just to get himself in the limelight and catch a record he was jealous of, and thus finds himself chasing the all-time homerun record? Shouldn't Barry be thinking about the example he's setting for his own children first?

Second, the Philly fans. Leading up to the games between the Giants and Phillies you could see the headlines coming from a mile away "Bonds goes to Philly, the place where they boo Santa." Now, remember the fact that this whole incident of throwing snowballs happened in 1968, once. Once. It happened once and it was in 1968. 19.......68. I suggest you read chapter four of The Great Philadelphia Fan Book by Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano explaining the whole incident and how it has become sort of a tall tale, including the point of view of the Santa Clause in the story, to realize just how overblown that is. ESPN had an article discussing how Barry is going to Philly in what is sure to be a wild crowd.

Now, Philly fans have gotten a bit of a bad name for the booing, stupid incidents here and there and our attitude. Writing about Philly fans is the easiest thing a reporter can whip up. All you have to do is mention batteries at J.D. Drew, drunk Flyers fan jumping in the penalty box with Tie Domi (even though Domi started it), cheering when Michael Irvin is down, and oh yeah, snowballs at Santa. These reporters should be ashamed of themselves for writing such garbage.

ESPN carried Sunday night's game. There were members of the national media all over Citizens Bank Park all weekend, jotting down everything Phillies fans did. ESPN analysts were preparing to discuss the Philly fans and their embarrassment at the expense of Barry "*" Bonds. The nation's sports media was typing up their Philly fans stories and what did they get? Only some of the most clever signs, and the normal boos that show up everywhere else.

Nothing thrown on the field.

Nobody storming the field to take a shot at Bonds.

No syringes. No batteries. No snowballs.

And do you think the national media will write a story about how well behaved, clever, and supportive the Phillies fans were. Nah, I didn't think so either.


Philadelphia: Home of the best overall combination of sports passion and knowledge in their fans. No question