It started becoming apparent on Sunday, although the seeds of change were planted sporadically throughout the past decade. I watched the most hideous, embarrassing, indefensible, joke of a football team disgrace our city name. There was absolutely no excusing the performance of the coach, quarterback, and offensive line from 4-7:30. Luckily for Philadelphia, the only game that would end up mattering did not involve a quarterback named Jamarcus.
That's right, the Phightin Phillies took care of business in game 3, and did so with authority, outscoring their football counterpart 11 runs to 9 points on the day. The game gave me some momentum going into an awful, awful week. But they didn't stop there.
After all, game 3 was only 20 hours away. After a Monday packed with technical problems and school projects I booked it on foot from Temple to Center City, and made it just in time for opening pitch. (Side note: Clutch friend of the Week award goes to Buzz Proctor, who not only has made my car situation infinitely better, but also psychically knew where I was hoping to watch the Phils -Westy's- and got a group there last second. Incredible effort sir!) I could talk for hours about how great of a game it was, the good guys winning on J-Roll's walk off double in the bottom of the 9th. The thing that was more significant than the win itself though, was the situation surrounding it. The team is full of lovable, never-quit guys, who are fun to watch and don't come across like pompous douchebags (See Philadelphia Eagles of 2009). When Jimmy slayed that fastball, everyone in Westy's went ballistic, and I picked up 3 random strangers and ran around with each one on my shoulder. Could the Eagles ever provide this much excitement? Maybe they could, but probably not for a few reasons. First off the team chokes in the clutch whenever they play a good opponent, so late, dramatic, come-from-behind wins would be highly unlikely. Secondly, after Dawkins departure, it's not easy to really passionately love anyone on the team. 
I would've left a girlfriend at home to go out with B-Dawk. Same with pretty much everyone on the Phils entire roster. That's not the case with the Birds. A team's connection with a fan base is so absurdly significant. The Phils organization "gets it". The self proclaimed "gold standard" of football, does not. Listen, football's still my favorite sport. In my personal opinion, it's the best sport by a landslide. But this obnoxious group of birds has given way to a changing of the guard. I should've made this declaration after 2008, when they broke the Championship drought in our city, and delivered a parade. Still, better late than never:
The Philadelphia Phillies officially hold the title of my favorite sports franchise, and right now, like a McNabb pass last Sunday, it's not even close.
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