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Hayes: Philly fans deserve their bad reputation

    by Marcus Hayes
    Published 
This is exhausting, right? Some Philly fan acts idiotic. We revisit the history. The diatribes descend and the defenders bristle and nothing comes from it.
It happened again, and it will happen again and again and again. Why?
Because we let it. You let it.
The depravity of a fan base gets no worse than when it assaults its own biggest hero. It is clear -- it has always been clear -- that the blame lies less with that depraved minority than with its enablers. With the other fans who watch it happen and do nothing. With the alarmingly large portion of the press that considers this "passion" run amok. With whoever contends that the Philly Fan gets a bad rap.
The Philly Fan gets exactly the right rap.
On Saturday, a Phillies fan threw a beer bottle at Ryan Howard. If sports is the new religion, this is tearing down the altar and smelting the idol.
Ryan Howard was the most important player in the Phillies' golden era, when they won the National League East from 2007 through 2011, including two pennants and, in 2008, the World Series. In that span, he hit just .266 but he became something Bunyanesque, something mythical and gigantic. Howard averaged 41 home runs, 129 RBI and -- the best evidence that he was the most feared hitter in baseball -- he was intentionally walked 87 times. They might have loved Jimmy Rollins' skills and adored Chase Utley's heart and envied Cole Hamels' cool, but they packed the park for years to watch Howard crush it.
As such, the Phillies signed him to a five-year, $125 million deal that expires this season, assuming a buyout of $10 million in 2017. The buyout will happen, since injury and age diminished Howard as soon as the new deal kicked in. As the beer bottle hurtled toward Howard on Saturday night he was at a low point post-extension, hitting .225, averaging 16 home runs and 58 RBI ... with 21 intentional walks. He has one intentional walk this season, is hitting .150 and finally was benched at the beginning of the weekend. This is the guy who used to star in commercials with Johnny Football and Jared.
For a fan spoiled by the team's ascension in the 2000s, witnessing Howard's decline is frustrating. Maddening. The correct reaction: Do not attend games.
The Philly fan reaction: Go to the ballpark and throw a beer bottle at him. Bud Light Lime, no less.
It is fascinating to watch athletes and coaches who come to Philadelphia. They enter the waters timidly, lest they disturb the piranhas in the stands and in the press box. They wade around cautiously, whether they're here for a night or a lifetime.
Curt Schilling, who forced a trade, and Chase Utley, who performed poorly, understood this and manipulated the fan base and the media. Scott Rolen, who played excellently and was mistreated by Phillies management, did not understand it, or he did not care. Fans revile him to this day.
Phillies manager Pete Mackanin understands: "Sure, they like to win. They're fanatical, and they know their baseball. I'm not going to put a label on the Philly fans because of one bad apple."
Howard, too: "It's the bad apples that kind of give the town a bad rap."
That's diplomacy. That's self-preservation. That's also lip service. Mackanin and Howard know very well how far bad apples fall from their tree. And, for God's sake, how many apples does it take before the barrel is condemned as rotten?
The problem with "One Bad Apple" is that it's not the same guy who keeps doing these things, or even the same kind of guy: not Catholic school guys, or white guys, or black guys, or even just guys. Go to the Linc sometime and watch a football brawl. Purses make effective weapons. 
This is an epidemic. It is an infectious, pathological illness that can turn vicar into villain. It is not unique to Philadelphia, but it is pervasive here.
Evidence:
Howard's attacker -- that's what it was, folks: an attack -- remains at large three days later. How? Because he has been protected by people who could identify him.
A clear picture of the man the Phillies say was the perpetrator almost immediately circulated on Twitter, then on mass media everywhere. The cops can't find him. You won't help. You can, but you won't.
You say Philly fans don't implicitly endorse these acts? Well, then, how did this guy get away? How does he remain at large? He isn't a threat to society -- his taste in beers is a victimless crime -- but there must be some perverse sense of pride in these behaviors that, to some, makes this hooligan a hero.
Philly fans might be "passionate" and "knowledgeable," but they are not accountable. Something like this happens and they distance themselves, and they certainly do not police themselves. That's how Bad Apples grow, proliferate and fester.
Voices that whine about the Philly Fan reputation ignore facts: Philadelphia's sins are unique, and amplified, and accumulating. Pick your favorite: cheering Michael Irvin's ambulance; the Duracell assault on J.D. Drew; the wristbands on Ed Snider's ice; to the bottle that landed at Ryan Howard's feet.
Apologists that declare, "This happens everywhere," betray themselves as the most foolish of the fools. Consider: On Sunday, the Dodgers began the process to release $145 million outfielder Carl Crawford, who is hitting .185. Nobody ever threw a beer bottle at Crawford. Granted, in LA it would have been a Zima bottle. But still.
Ryan Howard has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the city's youth. He has been a great player, a fine citizen, a good dad and, from the time his star rose to MVP heights to its fall through irrelevance, he has been a wonderful teammate.

The only thing Phillies fans should be throwing at Howard's feet are roses.

    MH
    Marcus Hayes
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