People Here Don’t Look Like Me

This morning we wandered around the touristy bits of Philadelphia. The first thing I noticed was just how few white, obviously of northern European descent-type folks there were. I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed it quite so strongly anywhere before. One would be hard pressed to call me worldly but I still find it remarkable that Philadelphia holds that distinction for me. It was in no way unpleasant or unsettling, just interesting. At the Phillies game, on the other hand, 97% of the crowd looked like they could be from rural Iowa. I’m not sure if this says more about the cost of going to a game or the lack of diversity in baseball’s fan base but it was a startling change from being downtown. On our way back we walked through a small rally led by a Black Extremist group. BB and I were seemingly the only white folks around and I distinctly heard the phrase “the White Lucifer”. That was a bit more unsettling.


The City of Brotherly Love

Philly has a reputation as a city of grumpy people. Certainly the sports fans are generally considered to be the toughest to please anywhere. While my experience in this city is mercifully limited I can see where the reputation comes from. When referring to places I’ve heard “the people there are so nice” often enough to make me wonder ‘where are the people not nice?’ Well, now I know: Philadelphia. During the early part of the game today the Phils had a 3 to nothing lead. The pitcher for the Phillies loaded the bases, then gave up a cheap hit or two, then there was an error, followed by another lucky hit, followed by a three run home run and suddenly the score was 9-3 Atlanta. After the home run the pitcher was taken out. Keep in mind, the pitcher in question is one of the best in the National League. He would be the jewel of almost any franchise. And the Phillies are in first place and it was only the third inning or so. In spite of these things, the Phillies fans treated their departing ace like Jeffrey Dahmer making a triumphant return to Milwaukee or R Kelly visiting a grade school. Let’s just say Johan Santana and Joe Mauer would have to go on a shooting spree at a children’s hospital to unleash the same amount of venom in the average Minnesotan.