World Series bound

And it is off to the World Series for the Phils for the first time in 15 years. I do remember that team, but I sure as hell don't remember the Wheeze Kids of 1983, who lost to the O's, or the 1980 team that won it all. That is not to say I don't know who they are or that the image of the Tugger striking out Willie Wilson of the Royals for the first ever World Series championship for the Phils isn't also burned into my retinas. I remember them in the way that Philly sports fans remember their winning teams, like the 1983 Sixers with the Doc, Moses, and Mo Cheeks, or the Stanley Cups that came to the city of Brotherly Love in 1974 and 1975. Heck, we even remember Jaws losing in the Super Bowl in 1980 – the Birds are the only major sports franchise in the city without a city without winning it all. (Yes, they won the 1948, 1949, and 1960 NFL championships, but come on the last of these was a few years before the merger the first Super Bowl. I count them like I count the Phantoms, Wings, and Soul championships. They are what they are, but they aren't the championship of a major modern sports teams.)

So it is with this team that we faithful of Philly sports will hang our hat on this year to bring an end to our 25 year championship drought. Oh we have tried in the years intervening: The Flyers in 1984-85, 1986-87, and again in 1996-97; the Phils in 1993, the Sixers in 2001, and most recently the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. Most of these teams were underdogs and ended up completely over matched, but in Philly we wouldn't have it any other way. A city of dynasties we are not. A town of legions of fans who know more and care more about sports than any city I have ever spent time in. We boo because we give a care, maybe too much some times. And we prefer an honest effort and emotion over elite skill set. Which brings me to this years team and last night's win. The quote speaks volumes, and probably means more in Philly than it would in any other city.

"You know what? It hasn't hit me yet," [Jimmy] Rollins said. "We still have a lot of work to do. We've got to find a way to win four more games. That's our goal. Our goal is to win the World Series. The goal was not just to win the National League. The goal was not just to get to the World Series. We qualified. That's all we did. So we've still got work to do. "But when it's all said and done, and my career's over, and hopefully we win the World Series, then that legend of the Phillies in 2008 will be a great story. But until then, we've still got four games to win."

Read all of Jayson Stark's article here. (By the way his coverage, despite not picking the Phils to beat the Dodgers, has been excellent. I would expect nothing less from a man who cut his teeth following the Phils for many years for the Philly Inq.) Oh, and how sweet it is that all of the cheerleading for the Dodgers by Fox Sports, especially Joe Buck and Idiot Tim McCarver, went for naught. I know that it would have been ratings gold for them to have Manny and Joe Torre return to Fenway. But the fact of the matter is the Sox aren't going to win their series, so why not try to turn the story in the the bad luck Phils versus the up and comer Rays. Fox and its announcers just couldn't bring themselves to do it. Their dream died hard, but mine lives on.


_John

image: from Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images