by MDefl
As a resident of Philadelphia or the greater metropolitan area, unless one has been in a coma or Obama induced stupor for the past month, you have been celebrating the Phillies unexpected trek to the World Series championship. For those of you who may not be aware of the pain suffered by Philadelphia’s sports fans, it had been 25 years since one of the professional sports teams in Philadelphia had won a world championship. The definition of “professional” in this case includes only the major sports – baseball, football, basketball and hockey. Sorry, as much as some people enjoy lacrosse and arena league football ( I am a big Soul fan myself), they just don’t qualify as major league sports.
What has been our shining moment, a time when the shackles of being labeled perennial losers have been discarded to the trash can of history, Sports Illustrated decides to publish a cover on the World Series that is decidedly negative.
In short, Sports Illustrated made a decision to air their grievances with major league baseball on the cover with a bright yellow banner that diminished the picture of the Phillies celebrating the cities long awaited championship. While I agree with the sentiments expressed by the author of the article, Tom Verducci, what factor(s) made Sports Illustrated determine that it was OK to list these concerns on the cover? The negative cover from Sports Illustrated only serves to perpetuate the myth (yes, myth) of Philadelphia as “negadelphia” when in reality our fans have a deep knowledge of sports that is equaled by no other city. Thanks to Sports Illustrated, our shining moment has now been diminished in the eyes of the rest of America.
Perhaps Sports Illustrated was affected by all of the negative ads during the election season and made a decision to stick with that them. Regardless, a big thumbs down to Sports Illustrated for going negative with their cover.
MDefl