A Very Special Comment: Goodbye_Jimmy

by WholeCamels on Aug 14, 2008 3:42 PM EDT Comment 12 comments

By now you're all probably aware of Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins's comments last night on the inaptly named Best Damn Sports Show Period regarding Phillies fans being "front-runners," in contrast with the fans in Ryan Howard's hometown of St. Louis, where the fans are "encouraging."

With all the uproar this has caused, I am reminded again that, for a fanbase that claims to be "tough," "demanding," and "no-nonsense," Philadelphia fans sure are a sensitive lot whenever someone says something slightly critical of them.

Maybe it's time to turn the mirror on yourself, Philadelphia.

Yes, it's your God-given right to boo. It's a free country. You bought your ticket. Show your displeasure in the most guttural, unpleasant way imaginable (well, maybe not the MOST unpleasant).

That does not mean, however, that the targets of your criticism have to like what you have to say. It's a sort of free-ish market, with 29 competitors vying for the players' services. Imagine you're a ballplayer. Somebody, somewhere, is going to pay you an obscene amount of money to play baseball. If you could play in a place where you're not going to get your balls broke every night by a bunch of jerks in the stands, and make the same amount of money doing it, why wouldn't you?

If so many players have commented on this, and so many members of the press seem to agree, maybe there's at least a small kernel of truth to it.

Heaven knows I'm not going to try to tell you not to boo. I will, however, urge you to be prepared for the consequences of your actions.

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While I agree that some of the time, our fellow fans are overdramatic and jerks, I really must take issue with Rollins’ comments for some different reasons.

1) This is a guy who we know has dogged it on at least 3 different occasions and has been reprimanded at least that many times and benched on two different occasions. The temerity of his comments is astonishing on many levels. If you have seen the Phillies commercials on Comcast SportsNet, he said something to the effect that if you give your best effort every day, the fans will respect you. He has given less than his best on some known occasions and now is complaining about fan reaction.

2) I love (and I mean ’love’) the comparison to St. Louis fans. Great. Wonderful. It’s nice that they would give our 2 for the season pinch hitter a standing ovation.

3) Obviously, he knows he has made a gaffe, because it is being reported that he is going back on the BDSSP to ‘clarify’ his remarks.

You’ve got a wonderful future in politics, Young James.

by Cluttered_JML on Aug 14, 2008 4:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Self-Identity

I listed to Jody Mac this morning, and the calls were just outrageous. I continue to be astounded by the level of vitriol directed at Rollins. Does the average Phillies fan have no self-awareness that the players are people too, and are allowed to have their own opinions? Who the hell cares what Jimmy Rollins says about the fanbase; I half-agree with him (the half being with his misguided use of “front runners”; if there was ever a less apt term to use for Phillies fans, us of the 1 championship in 125 years, I haven’t come across it).

I’m aware enough to recognize that it’s a broad generalization, and I “shockingly” don’t take his words as an assault on my character, unlike so many others (especially a couple callers on Jody Mac’s show). Athletes have said many more egregiously ugly things than this, and I just don’t get the backlash.

So now you (the average pissed-off fan) won’t root for Rollins because of this statement, even though rooting against him directly impacts the team’s ability to make the playoffs? That reeks of something about spite, a nose, and a face.

Bravo for this post, and an anti-bravo for fans’ reactions that blew this completely out of proportion.

by Alex Falzone on Aug 14, 2008 5:00 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Yes!

I absolutely can’t stand it when people boo a Phillie before he swings the bat, and when I’m at the game, I yell “shut up” in the direction of the loudest booing. I don’t like booing after a misdeed, either, but at least there’s something to hang the boo on.

by Aaron G Stock on Aug 15, 2008 12:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is he wrong?

The timing….could it have been a little better? Sure. However, that does not exclude the point that he’s absolutely correct. This town has always been a fair-weather fan experience, and always will be. Now had He Who Can Do No Wrong [read: Chase Utley] made these comments in the middle of his practically 0 for July run, would fans react the same way? Nope. Smells fishy here…

by phillywriter21 on Aug 14, 2008 6:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

And also…how many people watched the clip and how many people just read the comments, because if you watched the clip, he’s clearly talking about our treatment of PLAYERS and not TEAMS. Obviously we stick by our teams, but we turn on players in a heartbeat. Do people forget when we HATED Pat Burrell? How about when Allen Iverson won an MVP and took a shitty team to the NBA Finals and then got criticized for missing a couple of practices? Donovan McNabb’s entire career here has been one big “I love you…no I hate you” fest. C’mon people…see the light…

by phillywriter21 on Aug 14, 2008 7:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

First, I haven’t seen the clip, only know what’s been said here. But I couldn’t agree more with your point about turning on our players, or at least on some of them. I can go back many years and remember how ugly things got with one of the greatest hitters of his time, Dick Allen. And then, a few years later the fans were upset with Mike Schmidt for signing a really big contract early in his career. Randall Cunningham? Seems like he had a few unhappy fans in Philly when the team couldn’t win often enough. I haven’t kept up with the 76ers that much but Iverson probably wasn’t the only player who got dumped on for letting “his fans” down. As stated in the original posting, there’s obviously a kernel of truth to the way players feel about playing for Philadelphia. I just hope things don’t get ugly for Jimmy Rollins when the team returns home next week.

by phillyinportland on Aug 14, 2008 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well said, Whole. As people know, I am by no means immune from the affliction of being a negative, angry, Philly fan. But really, I have to agree with Rollins’ remarks. I think to a large extent, the Phanatics had been looking for a reason to jump on Rollins because of his drop off in production since last year and some of the things that have happened this season, and this gave them the ammo they needed.

by FuquaManuel on Aug 14, 2008 9:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mixed Emotions

Needing to form an opinion on how to treat Jimmy as I’ll be going to the game in SD on Saturday, I’ve gone back and forth on this. If Philly fans were Philly athletes they could never deal with themselves. However, the fact that Jimmy Rollins, who is having an off-season and has failed to hustle and arrive on time on occasion this season, made the comments muddies the waters. Essentially and unfortunately, he is correct. We are too quick to forget players’ successes and have exhibited unforgivable behavior to several great players in the past.

I will cheer Jimmy on Saturday regardless of what he does between now and then and probably will continue to do so. Not so much because I think he said something that needed said, but because I want to help my team.

As far as St. Louis fans, let them do whatever the hell they want.

by PhoenixPhilly on Aug 15, 2008 12:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wimps

How can Philly fans be such wimps? We dish it out constantly at games and on the radio. Then, god forbid a player actually comment and acknowledge the flat-out truth, and we go ballistic?

The Philly fan motto: “I have the god-given right to be an asshole whenever I damn well please, but don’t you dare call me an asshole!”

by David S. Cohen on Aug 15, 2008 10:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Glad I was out of the country for this nonsense. I share the consensus here.

The thing about Philadelphia sports-fandom is that we’re trapped in what Stuart Smalley (or was it Homer Simpson?) might call a Shame Spiral. Our teams have disappointed us so harshly for so long that we don’t know what else to expect, and we’re almost unable even to imagine a non-dismal alternative. It’s scary to get our hopes up, and when we do, and they’re inevitably dashed, we default back to embittered despair.

What’s sort of interesting about the timing here is that the 2008 Phillies have enjoyed by far the best attendance, the most basic measure of fan support, Jimmy Rollins has seen in his career. And I doubt the fans are any more acerbic than in 2003, or 2004, or 2005, or 2006. If they are (and I don’t even know how you’d measure such a thing), maybe it’s a result of the raised and then lowered expectations, both last fall and this summer.

In any event, it won’t change until one of the teams wins a title, and God only knows when, or if, that might happen.

by dajafi on Aug 15, 2008 11:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

There is no FSN station in Philadelphia.

Maybe J-Roll should have made his prediction on “It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle” on CN8 or on Michael Smerconish’s show on the Big Talker.

Philip Fitzsimmons says Padres rule,Dodgers suck!

by Philip Fitzsimmons on Aug 18, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

And by the way:

Philadelphia has now won a major sports title in 25 years. Maybe Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter should be honorary managers for the weekend series with the Dodgers should the Fightin’s get swept. I also think Senator Specter is also interested, too. Philly better sweep L.A. this weekend or else heads are going to roll.

Philip Fitzsimmons says Padres rule,Dodgers suck!

by Philip Fitzsimmons on Aug 18, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs