Ceding the Field

My friend PK and I were at RFK stadium a week ago Friday for the Phillies-Nationals game. We noticed and commented on the phenomenon Bob Ford elaborates on today – the Eagles ceding fan attention to the Phillies. At RFK, where about 40% of the spectators were Phillies fans, we couldn’t help but notice the near complete lack of Eagles paraphernalia. In years past at September RFK games between the Nats and Phils, there have been plenty of Eagles hats, jerseys, and E-A-G-L-E-S cheers in the stands. But not this fall. We were both on the lookout but only saw one young man sporting an Eagles hat during the entire game. In a similar vein, several friends and I were all in agreement that the passion in Citizens Bank Park the past week has to have been a nice treat for the team which has had to endure Eagles cheers in their home stadium for years now. That’s not the case right now. It’s all Phillies, all the time.

 

(By the way, as an aside. At that Phillies-Nats game, we witnessed something unusual. When Flash Gordon came in to pitch the 8^th, the “Big 3” – Howard, Utley, and Rollins – stood abreast about 8 feet behind the mound and just watched Gordon’s warm up pitches, like they were analyzing what Gordon’s stuff was. My friend PK theorized that the 3 could veto Manuel’s decision to pitch Gordon if the 3 didn’t like his velocity. At the least, they may have been figuring if Gordon was going to get hit a lot and if they were going to be busy in the field. The whole scene was noticeable and memorable cause it didn’t appear that the 3 were talking to each other, but all three were intently standing there observing Gordon’s warm up pitches. And it was also noticeable cause Abraham Nunez who had come in previously as a defensive replacement did not join the trio behind the mound, but stayed close by third base just standing there by himself.

 

Of course, what I find so remarkable about Ford’s article is the revelation that Eagles president Joe Banner calls reporters and editors to complain about too much media coverage of the other Philadelphia sports teams – presumably at the expense of the Eagles. He’s not complaining about negative Eagles coverage, but that other teams are getting too much. Not other NFL teams, but the other major sports teams in the city. That’s astounding.

 

“One high-ranking Eagles' executive whom we won't name (rhymes with Joe Banner) has been known to contact newspapers and media outlets when he thinks other teams are getting too much coverage,” writes Ford.