The Phillies are moving to the brink of the Broad Street parade that the city has thirsted so desperately for with increasing intensity over 25 years, while the Eagles are becoming the picture of mediocrity, watching their Super Bowl title dreams of this decade slip from their grasp at the bottom of the NFL's toughest division. If Philadelphia was ever a baseball town, it would be today.
Indeed, check out this poll on Philly.com and you'll see that baseball is trouncing football, and Daily News sportswriter Paul Hagen has published an ode to the national pastime here in Philly:
Look, this isn't complicated. There's a deep pool of passion for both baseball and football here. The pendulum will swing toward whichever side is experiencing the most success at the moment.
These days, being a baseball guy in Philadelphia is a pretty frantic existence. There's been a building boom on main streets and construction cranes still dot the skyline. The population has exploded.
These days, Philadelphia is a bright-red baseball town.
Really? Then how do you explain the fact more that thousands more Philadelphians viewed a depressing Eagles loss on Sunday than watched the most important Phillies' victory in 15 years:
Anyway, I've got the overnight ratings here in my hand, and it's pretty surprising. I expected the Eagles to win, but according to these numbers they dominated. Keep in mind that the Eagles game was broadcast on Fox, while the Phillies game was on TBS, so the Cable/Broadcast factor has to be considered.
That said, the Eagles drew a 22.7 rating, while the Phillies drew a 13.8.
Agreed, the baseball broadcasts on TBS are a huge problem (the NLCS will be on Fox) but the reality is that Philadelphia is a football town. Look, I'm a baseball guy myself, but that doesn't bother me. It is what it is. But why? You could probably write a 10,000 word essay on that, but here's a couple of quick thoughts.
First, baseball is a routine, while football is a ritual -- and Philadelphia is a city that is in love with rituals. Look at the instincts that caused this city to create the Mummers parade over 100 years ago, and you'll see them reflected in your hardcore Eagles' fan today -- the wearing of the jersey, the obsessions with tailgating and food and the daylong party, and the week-long buildup. It all traces back to Philadelphia's history as a factory town -- six days of back-breaking work leading up to the emotional release of Sundays and holidays; the work patterns have changed for the most part but old habits die hard.
And let's face it: Another factor is race -- Major League Baseball, and the Phillies in particular, have done a horrible job in marketing their sport to blacks and Latinos here, and that's a big part of what you see in those TV ratings. We learned that first hand this week at the Daily News -- on Sunday we sent reporters to bars in predominantly black and Hispanic sections of the city to get Phillies' reaction stories, and found that baseball fans were lonelier than the Maytag repairman. (Likewise, the reason that baseball is winning the Philly.com poll could be that Internet use is skewed somewhat to the more affluent and to whites).
Check out our story from West Philly:
In this economically depressed neighborhood, folks say they look forward all week to the Eagles game.
"The Phillies are on all the time, it feels like," said Jason Anderson, standing outside the lounge in a Brian Westbrook jersey. "The Eagles are the only thing most folks around here look forward to. You might as well block those three hours off."
Nicholas said he thinks the inner city has a deeper connection with football than with baseball.
"You look around here, there's a number of Pop Warner football leagues and summer camps for kids," Nicholas said. "There aren't many baseball camps in the 'hood for kids to get at. And kids nowadays don't want to
Like I said before, it is what it is -- and given the fact that the Phillies are setting all-time attendance records, they probably don't feel an urgent need to increase their marketing in minority neighborhoods. Ultimately, the fans pay a price, though, because the number of African-American baseball players has already been on a long decline. How many would-be Jimmy Rollins or Ryan Howards of the 2010s aren't even picking up a ball and bat?
Terrible post. Poorly written. Bunch all over the place with his thoughts. Only thing he did not mention was blood and ants.— shoeshineboy- Brink of a parade? They are 8 games away. Brink would be 1 or 2. Typical Will ... overstating things ad nauseum....— shoeshineboy
- Will - the phillies and MLB have a great initiative called the RBI Program...Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI).. look it up... dont be so shallow— shoeshineboy
Comment removed.- who cares?— cd_six
- Why did race need to be injected into this?— jfar86
- Speak for yourself. When it comes to rituals, the most important in my house when I was growing up was waiting for my dad to come home and rushing through dinner so we could turn on the TV and listen to Harry and Richie call the game. Even when the Phillies stunk. The Eagles were ALWAYS #2. The strike (and the Phils ownership destroying the team) put a damper on this for a while, but since the ownership recommitted itself to building a contending team, it has been revived. GO PHILS!!!!— Mike P
- Comment removed.
- Who cares what type of town this is? This is just a product of Phillies ownership and players b-tc-ing they don't have a 700,000 person wait list for season tickets. Philadelphia supports all of it's sports, we love all of our teams. Football town, Baseball town who cares? Only the philly media could write about something as trite as this when the Phillies are in the playoffs, and I know the eagles are average (Philly Media What do we Do? OH NO!) Guess you'll have to start writing about stupid crap like this because the Green Machine is finally faultering.— Phillies10
George Carlin explained it best......... That's why a gritty town like Philly is into football, and a prissy town like Boston is all about baseball.— Mr. Smith- I honestly think Philly is a more of a baseball town. The franchise has been in existance for over 100 years. The Eagles, not so long. The Phillies and the Eagles both play on Fox Sunday, I bet the Phillies blow the Eagles out of the water ratings wise.— Leron
Why are you trying to create Phillies vs Eagles? What's the point? It's bannanas and oranges. A waste of time.- this town used to be a baseball town once upon a time. and the way things are going this year, it will be again. it all started last year, and it will just build and build. but here's the problem for me. you go to the eagles game and you see real salt of the earth philly type guys. blue collar beer drinking guys. go to the phils game and you see annoying frat boys from temple getting loaded off their asses and not even paying any attention to the game.— Ryan
- Who says you need grass to play baseball? Ever hear of stickball or wiffle ball?— Politburo
- The population has exploded? Where? In Rittenhouse Sq, Northern Libs, and Bella Vista? Where else?— Domenic
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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