Philadelphia approaches milestone

I think people realize that. It's just a nice round number that's fun to make a joke out of. I had no idea the Braves were that close to 10,000 as well, though!

 

There have been many awful Braves teams. Might explain the apathy in Atlanta today.

 

No, Boots, it doesn't.

Atlanta fans were apathetic when Aaron was chasing Ruth in 1973-74, too. Routinely drawing 10,000 fans a game when their team had just won a division title in '69 and had only moved from Milwaukee in '66, less than a decade earlier.

They didn't break 1,000,000 in attendance in 1972, '73 or '74, with an exciting team on the field and when their best player was going after the greatest record in sports.

That had nothing to do with living through "many awful Braves teams." Hell, the team hadn't been there long enough.

 

You can justify Hawk apathy.

Braves? No.

An AWFUL sports town.

 

We've discussed Atlanta apathy ad nauseam. Please, let's keep this about Philly.

 

I thought they were going for "Most assholes in one city..."

Boston would be a close second...

 

Wouldn't that be Bejiing? Think about it.

 

That was pretty good...

 

And New York would be where, exactly?

 

8 to go for the Phillies. I think they are going to get it either away at Colorado before the All-Star break, or at home against the Cardinals.

 

No question the Phillies have made losing an art. But the town supports its franchises. That can't be said about a lot of places.
As far as assholes, well the city is dipping in population so many of those assholes are leaving for sunny places such as Miami, Phoenix, LA. You get the picture.

 

Not really disputing any of this, but I'd point out that Atlanta in the early and mid-70s was really closer to a AAA-sized town population wise. IIRC the metro area surpassed 1,000,000 residents until the late 60s. It wasn't nearly as populated then as it is now. Just sayin.

Back on topic: I just read the SI piece about Philly, and it's highly entertaining. I particularly liked Danny Ozark's quote from 1979 after he was fired following five-straight losses: "Even Napoleon had his Watergate." Simply brilliant.