wornbutnotforgottensportsartblog

It’s pretty widely known that Philly sports fans are the toughest of the tough. I’m one of them so I know. Lotta losing seasons. Lotta falling short. Just five championships sprinkled about my nearly 51 years. One title a decade isn’t often. I wasn’t yet 10 when the Broad Street Bullies ruled the ice twice. The Phils won in ’80 on my birthday. Moses led the Sixers to the promised land in ’83.  J-Roll, The Big Piece and Lights-Out-Lidge took care of business in ’08 (and shoulda won another in ’09). That’s it. Still waiting for the Birds to get it right just once in my lifetime. I saw a t-shirt recently that read “I’m not angry. I’m from Philly.” Perfect. Athletes come and go. Very few walk on water in Philly. Erving. Clarke. Schmidt. But the ovation Chase Utley received last night as a visiting Dodger, not to mention the 2 curtain calls after his 2 HRs (one a grand slam in a blowout win) never made me prouder to be a Philly fan despite the heat my hometown receives for being, dare I say, brutal. Last night’s applause from the Philly faithful was as rare as it gets. Utley may be older now. But he can still play. Never much of a talker, he speaks with his bat. His short, compact stroke is a thing of beauty and his hard-nosed style of play endeared him to a city whose baseball team has lost more games than any other. In history, that is. Mets fans hate him. As a postseason berth nears, I assume Dodgers fans don’t. But while Eagles fans once threw snowballs at Santa Claus, Phillies fans showed some class and threw Chase Utley, a class act himself, some Brotherly Love.

-Kranny, http://www.wornbutnotforgotten.net #chaseutley #theman #phillyfaithful #brotherlylove