'Philly Fan' expresses devotion to local teams good and bad

THERE IS a generation of Philadelphia sports fans for whom the Phillies' recent, unprecedented run of success is the norm.

The team is back in the National League Championship Series, expected to return to the World Series for a third consecutive year?

Of course they are. What's the big deal?

What these young Phanatics don't know is the Job-like suffering of their forebears - the middle-age and older among us whose undying devotion to the town's pro-sports franchises has been repaid with decades of psyche-scarring futility and incompetence.

Despite the occasional triumph through the years - the "Broad Street Bullies" Flyers of the mid-'70s, the 1980 Phillies and '83 76ers comprise that most exclusive, pre-current-Phillies run list - it is the seemingly endless loop of defeat and despair that has molded Philadelphia sports fans' view of their teams, their city and themselves. You'll know these folks by their shorthand ("six games up with 12 to play," "Black Friday"), as well as by their every-silver-lining-has-a-cloud-in-front-of-it world view.

That's why "The Philly Fan," whose latest incarnation runs through Halloween at the Innovation Studio, in the basement of the Kimmel Center, is a particularly relevant offering. The 70-minute monologue, performed by Carroll O'Connor clone Tom McCarthy (no relation to the Phillies' TV play-by-play man), recounts, in painfully familiar detail, the litany of sporting losses (and sporadic triumphs) that have helped mold our regional identity.

Written by prolific playwright Bruce Graham, "The Philly Fan" debuted in 2004. Since then it has been staged numerous times in a variety of Delaware Valley venues. And yes, the events of the past two autumns and, so far, this one, have altered the prism through which the highly entertaining (if occasionally lump-in-the-throat-producing) program can be viewed. What was, when it premiered, mostly a work of journalism, now feels more like a history lesson about some long-gone, doomed civilization.

"It does seem more nostalgic now," admitted Graham, a Ridley, Delaware County, native who lives in South Philly. "Plus, to a lot of younger people who come see the show, it's ancient history."

Graham came to write the play not as a detached observer on a distant perch but as a lifelong Philadelphia fan who, at 53, is old enough to remember the mother of all pro-sports collapses, when the 1964 Phillies blew a 6 1/2-game lead with just 12 to play.

"I can vividly remember my mother, who was a second-grade teacher, swearing under her breath in 1964," Graham said with a trace of disbelief in his voice. "I couldn't believe it - they made her swear."

Although Graham wrote "The Philly Fan" primarily to inventory and contextualize the dizzying array of athletic failures foisted upon local residents by their professional athletes, he always understood that there had to be more than just a string of " . . . and then we lost this game . . . " anecdotes.

"It was very much a choice," said Graham, who has not only forged a career as an award-winning playwright, but also as a TV and film scripter as well. "I said, 'I wanna talk about this guy, talk about who he is.'

"The first thing I did was to sit down and ask myself: 'Who is this guy? Is he married? How many kids does he have?' "

Graham added that it was also imperative that his script speak to those who are not emotionally involved in Philly's sporting legacy.

"The first reading was in my living room. I had 12 or 13 people there. Nine were women. I knew guys were going to like this; I wanted to see if I could keep a woman's attention, especially women who weren't sports fans."

That's why a surprising amount of the material focuses on the unnamed title character's personal life, including a poignant scene near the end when he recounts his wife's stroke.

"This way," said Graham, "you can say anything you want, and people will be on your side."

What McCarthy's working-class "Fan" says isn't always pleasant, or politically correct. The actor's striking physical resemblance to the late O'Connor, who starred in "All in the Family," is enhanced by Archie Bunker-like observations about such topics as "colored" athletes and Jewish team owners (specifically current Eagles boss Jeff Lurie and his immediate predecessor, Norman Braman).

Again, Graham drew from his own life when creating the character. "I was raised in a blue-collar neighborhood," he said. "My old man was a plumber." He was also the antithesis of what the author sees as the front-running dilettantes who call themselves "fans."

"I look at [the people at Phillies games] and wanna smack them," he declared with undisguised contempt. "They wouldn't be there if the Phils weren't winning. They're sitting there, [talking] on their cell phones and hanging out at Ashburn Alley."

It's important to note that for the current production of "The Philly Fan," the script has been updated to acknowledge the Phightins' recent triumphs. The piece now ends with a video of McCarthy's character at the Phillies' Halloween 2008 victory parade along South Broad Street. (At one earlier point in the show, McCarthy's character insists, "There'll be a black guy in the White House before the team wins a World Series." He was off by about two months.) Recent events on the football scene have also been incorporated.

Perhaps the funniest line of the show - which is set on the night before the 2005 Super Bowl, where former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb apparently didn't have the stomach to execute a last-minute, winning drive - is quite au courant.

It comes as McCarthy's character is talking about McNabb. First, he opines that the love-him-or-hate-him QB will be with the Eagles until he retires. Then, he sarcastically suggests, it's not like "we could have a scumbag like Michael Vick on the team."

Another zinger is aimed at Eagles head coach Andy Reid, whom the character describes as being the father of "good kids." (The joke, of course, is that two of Reid's sons have been convicted on drug charges.)

And it's the Eagles that make Graham absolutely certain that "The Philly Fan" will have a shelf life measured in decades.

"Twenty years from now, I'll be old enough to [perform the role]," he said. "And we probably still won't have won a Super Bowl."

Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce streets, through Oct. 31. Showtimes 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays; $47, 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org/events.