The Polite Phillies Fans

This one won't put to rest the image of the raging Philadelphia fan once and for all, but it does leave a warm fuzzy feeling....

My friend the season ticker holder called this morning to report trouble on the 100 level yesterday, around the third base line.

It was the eighth inning of the first game against the Milwaukee Brewers, and Cole Hamels was sailing along. About 15 feet away my friend spotted a disaster-in-waiting.

A nice young couple was wearing Brewers jerseys -- the guy in a Ryan Braun number, she in a Yovani Gallardo.

About three rows in front of them a Phillies fan was feeling no pain. He turned and gave the couple a piece of his mind. The Brewers fans ignored him

My friend describes what happened next:

"The subjects had an unknown projectile thrown in their direction."

My friend is a lawyer. Forgive him.

"I think it was a peanut. The guy in the Braun shirt didn't do anything. He was just being stoic. Kinda taking the lumps you might get if you go into enemy territory."

In the ninth, the game tightens up. So does the obnoxious Phillies fan, described as an ordinary-looking guy in his 30s. A clean, well-lighted cretin.

"Fielder is up, and we're all sitting there worried that he's gonna knock one out of the park, and that's when the Phillies fan starts acting up. You know when you toss a beer at someone, but hold onto the bottle so you just flick your wrist? He did that. He doused the guy with his beer. A full frontal, he gave. And the Brewers fan still didn't do anything.

But the section of Phillies fans that surrounded the couple did.

"A good half a dozen Phillies fans converged on this guy and just friggin gave it to him. He got no support for his antics. The whole section was pointing at him and berating him. They got him tossed out immediately."

Afterward, my friend reports, a lot of people approached the couple to apologize.

"I did, myself," my friend says. "I told them I hope they come back for today's game.  Just come with helmets and take the shirts off."