A city's passion

It's been a rough year for CNN. Despite succeeding at being the most boring news channel on television for like the fifth year running, it constantly has to fend off accusations of bias from Fox viewers whose idea of a liberal is Alan Colmes. One of their banner shows, "Crossfire," having been pushed back farther and farther from prime time, is going off the air shortly (viewers interested in watching Robert Novak's truly fascinating eyebrows will have to tune in elsewhere). And, for some reason known only to their top producers, they keep consulting Pat Robertson as a Middle East expert.

But this week, they truly surprised me. A story on CNN.com about an annual list of the most polite cities in America gave the top spot to Charleston, S.C., the residents of which, when they're not seceding from the Union, I hear are just the nicest people. To my amazement, Philadelphia was ranked eighth (eighth!) two spots ahead of Salt Lake City, Utah (because when all those Mormons get together, watch out).

Sure, there's a good chance that the poll wasn't exactly conducted scientifically. But the story surprised me anyway, because to many, Philadelphia rudeness is the stuff of legend. This is really the first time I've heard a positive report on Philly's manners from any media outlet; usually, they stick to complaining about how the cast of the Real World had such a hard time here (the poor dears). And while there are many ways to measure Philadelphia's rudeness, from the employees at the Freshgrocer to the absolutely charming people at the DMV, the sports fans are the most common target.

Oh, do we hear about the sports fans. The way Washington Post sports columnist and ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon talks about us, you'd think it was Philadelphia fans who incited a riot at an NBA game. You'd think it was Philadelphia fans who routinely moon players on the opposing team as they leave the stadium as a matter of tradition, or who, after an 86-year World Series drought was wiped out, nearly burned their city and cost a young fan her life.

Those things didn't happen in Philadelphia, of course; they happened in Detroit, Green Bay and Boston respectively. As far as common perceptions of those cities go, all are positive (for Boston fans, people are downright worshipful).

This doesn't mean that Philadelphia sports fans don't have a checkered history. It's true that they cheered when Michael Irvin went down, but no one knew that was going to be a career-ending injury. As my friend D-Mac often points out, the story about Philadelphia fans booing Santa Claus is inaccurate and blown well out of proportion. And as for throwing D batteries at J.D. Drew's head, well, he deserved it.

The fact is, the much-maligned Philadelphia fans' passion is often misconstrued as rudeness. The fans care, more than those in many other cities, more than is necessary, well more than is healthy. They live and die with their teams. They boo because every fumble, strikeout and missed shot takes a little bit out of them. Maybe it is rude to care that much. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Baseball division rival Atlanta, for example (no doubt a city that's considered far more polite than Philadelphia) has finished in first place 13 years running, despite being forced by ownership to cut payroll in the last few years. In response to this incredible run, their very polite fans have rewarded the team with declining attendance. In game seven of the American League Championship Series, enough Yankees fans had given up on their team and left historic Yankee Stadium that by David Ortiz's second or third at-bat, chants of "MVP" rang out loud and clear.

Quite frankly, that's disgraceful. I just don't see that happening in Philadelphia (although, I suppose, it would take a playoff baseball game to find out). While playoff chances are slim, I'll still watch almost every single Phillies game this summer.

If you're not a sports fan, then you probably stopped reading this a while back. But if you got this far, then you understand how important it is to live in a city that hungers for a championship, where general lack of interest or complacency with winning (I'm looking at you, Detroit) hasn't set in. Philadelphia fans are passionate about their teams, and if you ever wound up on the wrong side of that passion then, well, it was probably your fault for wearing another team's jersey.

Eliot Sherman is a senior English major from Philadelphia and editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Diary of a Madman normally appears on Tuesdays.

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