Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!!!! They drive me nuts! Yes, you guessed it - I'm talking about the Philadelphia Phillies, my favorite baseball team, and destroyer of my hopes and dreams every September.

With six games to go, after dropping 2 of 3 against the woeful Cincinnati Red Legs, the Phightin' Phils were in a position to be masters of their own destiny...Normally, a position any team would want to be in. Unless you are the Phillies.

The team they are chasing for the wildcard is the Florida Marlins, which going into their 3 games series, they trailed by 1 game. The Phils have lost the first two games of the series, and are effectively eliminated from post season play now!!!! They now have 4 games remaining (1 against the Marlins, and 3 against the division and league leading Atlanta Braves) and must win all 4 games AND have help to make it into the postseason...

Their pitching down the stretch has been terrible, and their hitting, with the notable exception of Jim Thome, non-existent. They drive me so crazy!!!! Pat Burrell can't bat his own weight! Jimmy Rollins, who should be a lead-off hitter, cannot hit a ground ball to leg out to save his life! And don't get me started on Jose "I just blew another save" Mesa!!!

Is this what I have to look forward to? The rest of my life, the Phillies battling all regular season, just to fall apart at the seams like cheaply made Chinese knockoff Levis every September? Have they gotten so used to losing that their hitting swings in September start to look like hacks from an amateur golfer at Myrtle Beach?!?

The sad thing is...This rant can easily be transferred to each of the other professional teams in Philadelphia; the Phillies, Eagles, FLyers & 76ers each do this every year! So why am I not used to it? Why don't I don a Yankees cap and be done with it?!?!

I have HOPE. I am such an idiot.

Sorry for the rant everyone - I had to get that out before I exploded!!!!!

[ September 25, 2003, 13:53: Message edited by: Sir Belisarius ]

I see someone else knows what it's like to be a Cubs fan. :lol:

Seriously, we were all hoping for the Phillies to win against the Marlins out here too. It'd have been nice to have a backup in place, just in case.

The sad thing is...This rant can easily be transferred to each of the other professional teams in Philadelphia; try Seattle as well.... :rolleyes: every season it's the same thing with the Mariners. I stop watching in about mid August. I've got my timing down perfect now! :shake:

Yes...But at least your Seahawks are 3 and 0!!!!!

I used to be a Phillies fan when I lived in PA but when we moved to MA I decided to insist that the Yankees were the greatest -- you wouldn't believe how many people it ticks off in my town. hehehe That and most of my family (my parents grew up in Massachusetts) Except then in 8th grade I decided the Yankees win because they have the most money and can get the best players... So now I'm a Red Sox fan :) They were absolutely TERRIBLE last night though. My Dad even gave up watching the game early on and we lost 3-7 :rolleyes: David Ortiz has been doing really well though. :)

Phils and Bosox...Wow! Pain for each league!

To make it even worse they had to make it look like they were coming back last night just so I would get my hopes dashed all over again.

And the Eagles...why?...can someone just please tell me why?

If this keeps up I am going to start watching Nascar...ok maybe, not...but still...I'm upset.

I'd tell you to stick with Penn State but they're sucking eggs so far this season, too. :cry:

Well...It's over. The Phils were wept last night by the Florida Marlins. With 3 games left, the season is over. When the last out is made at the Vet on Sunday, the stadium will close forever.

On the plus side...I'll be there to see it happen! :grin: :spin: :roll:

i figured the eagles would do good this year...even better than my steelers (im native to pittsburg)...the pirates can kiss my ass though...i dont even watch baseball anymore.i play it too much to watch it. The seahawks being 3-0 is surprising, almost as surprising as the cheifs being 3-0...you have no idea how much **** i catch cause cheifs beat steelers and live like 1 hour away from kansas city. O and LNT i think i can answer your question about the eagles. I think its cause McNabb is a scared hell get another injury like his broken leg last year so hes not scrambling...it might have the same affect on vick, as his was broken a week before the season started

Sir Bel, when we have lunch (hinthinthint), remind me to tell you about the time I got to meet Tug McGraw and wear his World Series ring!

Well...It's over. The Phillies dropped 6 of their last 9 regular season games...Including the last game ever at Veteran's Stadium!!!

It was pretty depressing. I have all kinds of memories of the Vet:

My first baseball game with my dad
Watching Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski smack homers!

Steve Carlton's wicked srtikeouts

Mitch Williams' save attempts (every one was a heart thumping thriller!)

Going to every Sunday Phillies home game in 1992, 1993 & 1994.

The 1993 Phillies (the most amazing year of baseball I can remember)

Shake-n-Bake McBride

The 700 Level for Eagles' games!

8-0 at home the only time I had Eagles' season tickets.

Jerome Brown's memorial day

Ron Jaworski, Wilbert Montgomery, Harold Carmichael, Randall Cunningham, Reggie White & Keith Byars

David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour (1987?)

Genesis

Kiss

and last night...ALthough there was no looting, it was still a pretty memorable time!

its sorta disapointing that they destroyed the vet, they should have made it some type of memorial like they did with soldier field in chicago.

I admit I'm getting a little misty-eyed reminiscing about the fun I've had...BUt believe me, I am looking forward to the new park!

The Vet was just a big concrete doughnut!! Take a look for yourself:

http://www.theminx.com/issue5/philly.gif