Philadelphia sports activities followers have a little bit of a status for not at all times being probably the most upstanding of residents.
In the event you’re questioning why, simply ask the child who had a house run ball snatched from his glove and given to the lady not-so-affectionately referred to as “Phillies Karen.”
You could possibly additionally ask former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin.
Or some Pennsylvania State Police horses.
Or Santa Claus.
All that mentioned, although, it’s exhausting to not really feel a teensy bit unhealthy for Philly followers after what they endured Thursday evening.
The Phillies suffered a season-ending playoff loss (pausing right here for L.A. followers to respectfully compose themselves — you’ve had loads of time to have a good time after the Dodgers received 2-1 in 11 innings on a surprising throwing error by Philadelphia aid pitcher Orion Kerkering).
Then over within the NFL, the reigning Tremendous Bowl champion Eagles had been dominated by NFC West rival New York Giants 34-17 on “Thursday Night time Soccer.” And within the NHL, the Flyers misplaced their season opener 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.
For some other metropolis’s fan base, that could be thought of the worst day ever. However consider it or not, Philly followers needed to endure a equally disheartening day almost 42 years in the past, based on sports activities statistician Greg Harvey.
Harvey identified on X that Oct. 16, 1983, was the one different time in historical past that one metropolis’s MLB group group suffered a season-ending loss within the postseason whereas its NFL and NHL groups misplaced as effectively. And that unfortunate metropolis was Philadelphia.
That was the day that the Phillies, nicknamed the “Wheeze Children” that season for all of the veteran gamers on the roster, fell 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles to lose the World Sequence 4 video games to 1.
In the meantime, the Eagles had been off to a 4-2 begin to their season earlier than dropping that day to the Dallas Cowboys 37-7. It was the beginning of a seven-game dropping streak for the Eagles, who wound up ending the season 5-11.
The Flyers suffered their first lack of that season — 5-4 to the New York Rangers — after beginning the yr with 5 straight wins. Months later, they ended up ending third within the Patrick Division earlier than being swept out of the primary spherical of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Washington Capitals.
So perhaps, simply perhaps, you would possibly need to take it straightforward on the Philadelphia sports activities followers in your life — at the very least till the following time a number of them does one thing that makes the remainder of us cringe.
And hopefully these followers prolong the identical courtesy to Kerkering. Possibly he’ll find yourself being the one one who can inform Santa Claus and the others that Philly followers aren’t all that unhealthy in spite of everything.
