I can explain The Philly Education--
It comes from years of horrid losing. Not sure where it stands now, but as of 2001, the Phillies were the losingest team in the HISTORY of sports. Yikes. And football? As John Madden said, if the Eagles could go to three NFC title games--two on their home field and lose all of them, then SHAME ON THEM. They don't deserve to win. Flyers? Legion of Doom. Eric Lindros. Talented, winning teams always near top of division, never won a championship. Allen Iverson, won an MVP award and few scoring titles... took Sixers to Championship series vs lakers, and they lost.
So... the town of Philly is used to Disappointment. It's a big market, my friends. One of the largest. 4th largest, behind NYC, LA, and Chicago. But... Yankees have World Series titles, Jordan dominated basketball in the the 90s, the Lakers had a small claim... and Football is hard to determine. I thank the salary cap for that. Keeps teams from holding onto players for more than 5 years.
So Philly fans get excited when things heat up, then they realize... "Wait, this has happened before... Back in 93, 2003, 1999, whenever" Then they look to see what could possibly make this different then other failures. See, while other cities have that optimism, Philadelphia has a long paved road of disappointment, which connects struggles to failure.
Talented players have struggled, and it's hard to for people who invest so much emotion in the game to watch as somebody--ANYBODY, chokes at the plate, or jumbles a play, or goes for a rushed 3-point attempt instead of waiting and passing to an open teamate for the easy layup.
Watching the lead disappear becomes torturous, the failed comeback, the same. You get angry and wonder what the fuck "Dem Bums" were thinking.
A lot changed in the 80s when Carpenter sold the Phillies to... a group of people I don't quite understand. Part of it was the Buck Brothers,---eh point is, these people were all Billionaires or multimillionaires. But they had little or no interest in baseball. It was perhaps an investment, if even that. Not like Jeff Lurie, who owned the Eagles, and was a fan.
The Phillies owners bought in together because of reasons like wanting a closer parking space to EAGLES games at the Vet. Spending money on the team wasn't a priority obviously, and it led to the failure of the team to do much following the success of 1980. Okay, they did go to the World Series in 1983, but I don't know how that happened. In spite of themselves.
Much like the Vet itself, the Phillies were just about playing whatever players could be put together and made to look decent... enough to sell tickets. The owners forgot that a WINNING team would bring attendance up towards 3 million.
Then, the time came when it was obvious the Vet was going to die. Other teams were building ballparks, and the Eagles were going for a stadium. Scott Rolen was complaining about leaving if they didn't do something (perish the thought!) and players were getting injured on the shitty turf. So... the Phillies used this as a good incentive to start building a team of the future, with a specific date in mind... 2005-2007
Cole Hamels and Gavin Floyd both will be in red pinstripes by 2006, and the Phillies are thinking positive. Maybe the lack of a 700 section would mean less booing. Or perhaps booing with an English accent. "Boo! I say! Boo!"
