{"id":171,"date":"2008-08-18T13:30:53","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T18:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=171"},"modified":"2008-09-15T13:13:06","modified_gmt":"2008-09-15T18:13:06","slug":"the-five-stages-of-grief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=171","title":{"rendered":"The Five Stages of Grief After the Frontrunner Comment from Jimmy Rollins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, on the\u00a0Best Damn Sports Show Period<\/em>,\u00a0Jimmy Rollins told\u00a0host Chris Rose <\/a>that Phillie fans were “frontrunners.”\u00a0 Though Rose tried to soften the blow by alluding to the fact that all cities are like that in\u00a0certain ways, Rollins would not back down.\u00a0 “When you’re doing good, they’re on your side.\u00a0 When you’re doing bad, they’re completely against you.”\u00a0 These comments – from my\u00a0favorite current Philadelphia athlete – hit me very, very <\/em>hard.<\/p>\n

There is a psychological theory about the stages of grief <\/a>that human beings experience\u00a0when they face loss or emotional damage.\u00a0\u00a0(Please understand that that I am not, in any way, trying to compare anything that happens in sports to the loss of a loved one or any other major life event that creates immense grief.).\u00a0 And, it seems to be right in line with my experience over the past couple days.<\/p>\n

Stage One:\u00a0\u00a0Denial & Isolation
\n<\/strong>At first, I saw the report, but did not hear Jimmy’s words.\u00a0 I figured it was just another media creation.\u00a0 I figured that, because the media absolutely loves<\/em> to villify Philadelphia fans, they would take anything that remotely sounded like an admonishment of our character from one of our heroes and run with it. I figured that Jimmy was just\u00a0a little frustrated and just really wants to win.\u00a0 I mean, after all, he loves Philly, and we love him.\u00a0 Then, I heard the actual interview.\u00a0 Then I saw Jimmy’s words…<\/p>\n

Stage Two:\u00a0 Anger
\n<\/strong>I could not believe that Rollins\u00a0could possibly\u00a0have the audacity to call out us<\/em>.\u00a0 I really believed that he understood, that he “got it.”\u00a0 I was irate that he could possibly say such things after all we have been through together.\u00a0 We watched him and cheered him, as he struggled in the beginning of his career.\u00a0 We stuck by him when he was clearly one of the worst leadoff hitters in baseball because we saw potential and we loved his defense.\u00a0 We pushed for him to finally get the much-deserved Gold Glove.\u00a0 We backed him up when he called out the Mets in Spring Training, saying (correctly) that the Phillies were the team to beat.\u00a0 We all felt a collective sense of pride – our little guy was all growned up – last year when he played his heart out, logging an amazing 716 at-bats, winning a much-deserved MVP award and leading this team, physically and emotionally,\u00a0into the playoffs.\u00a0 And, finally, this year, we have given him all of\u00a0the breaks he has earned.\u00a0 He is hitting .266, folks.\u00a0 He has 41 strikeouts and only 56 runs scored.\u00a0 He has been difficult to the manager on (at least) two occasions.\u00a0 And, we have given him a break.\u00a0 Hell, he deserves it.\u00a0 So, then, why in the WORLD would he possibly call US <\/em>out?!?\u00a0 Why?!? Why?!? WHY?!?\u00a0 <\/em>There are a lot of negative things that can be said about Philly fans.\u00a0 Being “frontrunners” is just plain WRONG.\u00a0 We stick by this team.\u00a0 We sell out the stadium EVERY NIGHT for a team whose fans have to be in their mid-30’s to even remember a championship and has not even\u00a0won a playoff game in FIFTEEN YEARS.\u00a0 This city, these fans, are loyal – to a fault.\u00a0 We live and die with these teams, which is great if you root for the New York Yankees or the New England Patriots or the Duke Blue Devils or USA Swimming, but it stings and burns and just plain hurts if you root for any team from Philly because there is a whole lot of “dying” and not much “living.”\u00a0 Frontrunners?!?\u00a0 Not even close.<\/p>\n

Stage Three:\u00a0 Bargaining (Rationalizing)
\n<\/strong>Eventually, I settled down and moved into the third stage, which is when I tried to rationalize these comments.\u00a0 Maybe he is just frustrated because the team is struggling right now.\u00a0 Maybe he is irritated because\u00a0of his nagging injuries that are not allowing him to play at his best.\u00a0 Maybe this is something that will just pass by, as if it never really happened.\u00a0 Maybe if the team just starts winning, this will all forgotten (after all, we are <\/em>frontrunners, right?).\u00a0 Maybe this will be a spark for a team that seems to desparately need one right now.\u00a0 Maybe…\u00a0 Maybe…\u00a0 Maybe…<\/p>\n

Stage Four:\u00a0 Depression
\n<\/strong>I can honestly say that this whole thing has brought me close to actual tears.\u00a0 I have invested all my emotional capital into this team – this man – and now he calls me a frontrunner?\u00a0 Now, I am accused of being disloyal to a team that has taken me on a roller-coaster with far more down than ups, with me all the while holding on to that one glimmer of hope that this might be the year.\u00a0 Let us be honest, for a second:\u00a0 they are not going to win the World Series.\u00a0 They have one quality starting pitcher, and he has been mediocre for the better part of two months.\u00a0 They have a flawed lineup that strikes out far too much and is\u00a0downright terrible after the #6 spot in the lineup.\u00a0 They have glaring holes at catcher and third base.\u00a0 They have a patchwork bullpen that is completely overworked and was not even that good to begin with.\u00a0 This team is just not a World Series-caliber team.\u00a0 But, I still believe.\u00a0 I watched the Cardinals win in ’06 and the White Sox in ’05.\u00a0 I saw the Tigers and Rockies both make runs to through their leagues with blatantly flawed teams.\u00a0 I know that the Florida Marlins have never had a team good enough to even win their own division, yet they fly not one, but two World Championship banners in their laughably empty stadium.\u00a0 So, why not us?\u00a0 I still watch.\u00a0 I still follow.\u00a0 I still believe.\u00a0 But, Jimmy Rollins thinks I am disloyal.\u00a0 Jimmy Rollins thinks I only care about the team when they are good (when\u00a0was that, exactly, Jimmy?).\u00a0 Yes, we may\u00a0all be just rooting for laundry, but this time, that 5’8″\u00a0guy in the #11 shirt has broken my heart.<\/p>\n

Stage Five:\u00a0 Acceptance
\n<\/strong>Maybe I am naive.\u00a0 Maybe I am clinging on to a childish passion.\u00a0 Maybe I should take this as a cue that sports are just entertainment, and that I should not invest as much emotion and passion into a bunch of spoiled, narcissistic, self-serving athletes who have no real connection even to\u00a0my city, let alone me, personally.\u00a0 Maybe I should continue to watch Olympic sports, where at least the athletes care about the uniforms they wear and want to represent all those that believe in those colors.\u00a0 Maybe, one day, I will reach this fifth stage of grief.\u00a0 Maybe I will understand that what Jimmy Rollins says or thinks or feels matters\u00a0not at all\u00a0in my life.\u00a0 Maybe, one day…<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that day is not today, so I am stuck in Stage Four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, on the\u00a0Best Damn Sports Show Period,\u00a0Jimmy Rollins told\u00a0host Chris Rose that Phillie fans were “frontrunners.”\u00a0 Though Rose tried to soften the blow by alluding to the fact that all cities are like that in\u00a0certain ways, Rollins would not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[14,16],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-jimmy-rollins","tag-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}