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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Phair Weather Phillie Phans

Look... a lot has been written about last night's debacle of an attendance situation (here, here, here, here), but there's one thing in particular that pisses me off. What is it? Shocker, it's the Phillies fans themselves. And I'm not talking about how bad they smell, how bad the behave, how poorly they treat others, or how little respect they display. Nope, I'm talking about how GOD DAMN FAIR WEATHERED those bastards are. It's real funny... you chant "this is our house" last night at Nats Park, when you couldn't have been bothered to support your team just a few years ago. A quick breakdown of the Phillies home and away attendance.

2010 Home - 45,027 (2nd in MLB). Road - 32,422 (4th in MLB)
2009 Home - 44,453 (3rd) Road - 30,760 (13th)
2008 Home - 42,254 (5th) Road - 33,214 (13th)
2007 Home - 38,374 (8th) Road - 32,836 (15th)
2006 Home - 34,200 (11th) Road - 30,596 (18th)
2005 Home - 33,316 (13th) Road - 29,284 (22nd)

Now, what you see is a worse home and away average the farther we go back. Did I mention that the Phillies made the playoffs in from 2007 - 2010? What else happened in 07-10? Their wining percentage went up each year. Hmm.. interesting... more folks attend Phillies game both away, and in Philly, as their record got better. Just for the heck of it, let's check out the Phillies attendance for their last losing record season. They ended the 2002 season at 80-81 (which ain't exactly stinking up the joint). Attendance?

2002 Home - 20,208 (24th in MLB).

Really, Philly fans? Really? Your city can't average more than 20,208 folks a game when you finish 80-81?

So, I wondered how that does in relation to the Nats, with their record being quite a bit worse. Well, so far for 2010, with their record at 67-90, the Nats are still averaging 22,645 folks. Yup, that's more than your city did in 2002 when you finished with 13 more wins. What's that, Philly fans? "But you guys have that new stadium"? Okay, let's go back to the last year in RFK (not the greatest stadium in the world to see a baseball game): 2007. When the Nats finished at 73-89. Still 7 games worse than your Phillies finished in 2002 when you managed to average 20,208 folks, good enough for 24th in MLB. How did the Nats fans measure up?

2007 Nats Home - 22,715 (24th)

Correct. In a shitty ass stadium, while watching some shitty ass baseball, DC still managed to clear more fans than you did even with your better winning percentage. So chant "this is our house" all you want. At least we know that a lot of you were nowhere to be seen when your team was playing break even baseball. Mental note made... When the Phillies are playing .600 ball, though, those fans sure do make it out to the park in droves. Good to know your priorities are where they are - with winning teams only. You're doing a bang up job of defining "front runners" fellas!

9 comments:

sweetpearacer said...

Way to keep it real. I love how Phillies fans whine about "putting up with years of losing" as an excuse to act like jerks in other people's parks. Looking at these numbers, I'm sure that half the people at last night's game could've given a crap about the Phillies back when they were losing. I hope that, when the Nats start rolling, that our fans never end up like the dirtbags that drive down 95 and take over our park.

Anonymous said...

Wow. You're really onto something here. You mean, more people go see a team when it's winning? Get right out of here. Amazing! Wait...did Peter Gammons write this?

Ever been to a Phillies game back in 2002? That means you were able to see the beauty & spectacle that was Veterans Stadium. What a great place to visit. I bought nachos once & a rat zipped over to eat them before I had a chance to grab one chip. The fact that many people went to see the Phils is actually a miracle, considering the stadium. I realize RFK was trash too, but Philly fans filled that hideous wreck as well.

You like numbers? I do too. According to the 2000 Census, the median household income in Philly was $30,746. What's this? $40,127 in Washington D.C.? Bet that extra 10k allows for a bit more disposable income. But that probably doesn't affect entertainment/ticket sales at all.

Front runners. Please. Ask the Braves or Rays players what they think about that. Every single one of those 20,208 (on average) Phillies fans is as diehard as you may be about your Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos. Start winning & you start gaining the casual fan back. Again, funny how that works.

If the Nats ever get it together (ha) & your fans run out in bunches, I'll eat my words. Until then, it was fun clinching in Citizens Bank South.

Section 138 said...

Oh, you were so close to being *genuinely* original until you ended with "Until then, it was fun clinching in Citizens Bank South." Pity you had to ruin your entire post with a gimmick stolen from Boston (shudder) folks.

Nats STH Since '05 said...

Ahh numbers. They're a beautiful thing- they can be manipulated in so many ways. Yep, the Phils were down the attendance scale in the later years of Veterans Stadium, a stadium, that although 10 years younger than RFK, was far, far dumpier.

But if you look at a reasonable sample of 40 years attendance. You'll find that the Phair Weather Phans are actually 3rd in average attendance in the NL from 1971-2010 ahead of the Cubs, Mets, and many others (including the Braves who won 16 division titles in that period)..

1 LA 38598
2 SL 31064
3 PHI 28057
4 NYM 27194
5 CHC 26671
6 CIN 25343
7 ATL 24438
8 HOU 24099
9 SF 23433
10 SD 22487
11* MIL 22101
12 WAS/MON 18843
13 PIT 18169
Obviously an AL team for much of the period.

But hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good opinions.

Nats STH since 05 said...

Opinion (sic)

Section 138 said...

NSTHS05,

You used "don't let facts get in the way of a good opinions" incorrectly. What I stated was fact, not opinion. I just chose different facts then you decided to.
And Veterans Stadium was only dumpier because it was in Philly. Those (you????) animals will destroy anything you give them much faster than normal folk.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you should totally thank me for posting a link to your Philly post from my Twitter feed. Six whole comments on one post! You have to be totally stoked for that unbelievable amount of traffic.

I'd like to think that the Vet was a shithole because people actually used it, as evidenced by the facts posted above by Nats STH Since '05, of whom I've really become a huge fan.

Save your spare, elitist, douchey, simple comments about Philadelphia & the fans for the normal ten visitors you get to this blog. I'm not counting your mom either.

Oh, read my blog & follow me on Twitter at @Chiccywood. Figure I should get some pub out of the attention given to your blog today.

Section 138 said...

LOL, trolls. Thanks for the one referral , my man!

Anonymous said...

Isn't the cost of living in Philadelphia 21% less than Washington D.C.? But that probably doesn't affect entertainment/ticket sales at all.