Time For Big Philly Championship?

Yes, we’re all really excited around here for tonight’s Game 5 1/2, which will hopefully be the final 3 innings of this year’s World Series. But around the country? Well, nobody’s really paying attention.

Not all of this is the fault of either the Phillies or Rays. The national media decided this series wasn’t important to cover before it even started, the games are starting at almost 9 p.m., the coverage on Fox can only possibly detract from the game. But it’s not just that; Rays-Phillies just isn’t just the prime time matchup people wanted. A friend of mine from college said the rain delay discussion was the most exciting part of this year’s World Series so far.

The Phillies are only three outs away from winning the World Series, and nobody outside Philadelphia is paying attention.

Some people might not like that idea, but the more I think about it the more perfect I realize it is. Philadelphia sports fans haven’t won a title in 25 years. But instead of becoming viewed as a fan base of lovable losers — like Boston pre-2004 or the Cubs now — Philadelphia fans are known as boorish and hate-filled, frequently vilified by columnists too lazy to come up with something other than an incident when fans threw snowballs at Santa. Yes, Philadelphia fans frequently have to listen to criticism due to an event that happened before man had walked on the moon.

But right now, nobody in the country cares about Philadelphia fans. Nobody’s paying attention to us for what could be our finest hour. All the Phillies have to do is outscore the Rays over three innings and the Phillies win the World Series.

And we get to celebrate all by ourselves.

I can’t think of a better ending.

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