Gonzo: Phils lost this fan forever

It's been an amazing ride for Phillies fans over the last few years, but not for Mike Cybularz. He got off a few stops back when the road was still bumpy and marked with potholes, and the final destination - a championship and a long-overdue parade - was still off in the distance.

Cybularz's story is sad and tragic, one he thought would be about unrequited love for the rest of his life. If only he had stuck it out, Cybularz would have gotten the happy ending he and the other romantics have always wanted.

The 28-year-old East Norriton native grew up backing all the Philly teams, but he was most smitten with the Phils. His dad took him and his two little brothers to games when they were kids. He remembers watching a lot of bad baseball at the Vet, but he was young and confident his favorite team would become a winner, or at least a contender.

In 2004, when he was older and had some money in his pocket, Cybularz and friends bought partial season tickets for the Phils. The new ballpark had just opened, and the Fightin's were the fashionable pick to win the NL East. Cybularz was excited.

His enthusiasm didn't last long. After doing well in May, the Phils struggled for the next three months, playing below-.500 baseball.

"They were awful in the middle of the summer," Cybularz said. "We kept going to the park, but I don't think we saw a win until our seventh game."

During the '04 campaign, as the Phils fought to find their form, Cybularz vowed that if the Fightin's didn't make the postseason, he'd be done with the team forever since that would mark a decade of waiting for the club to make the playoffs. He was spending money on merchandise and concessions but, he said, "not getting anything in return."

His friends and family laughed at him. After all, how many times have Philly sports fans sworn off their teams only to go back for more?

"They thought I was talking out of my [backside]," Cybularz said.

He wasn't. The Phils missed the playoffs in '04, and Cybularz hasn't supported the Fightin's since. Not when the Phils went on an improbable run to steal the NL East from the Mets in '07. Not when they did it again in '08 and then tore through the National League and the Tampa Bay Rays to secure the city's first championship in 25 frustrating years. Not when the Fightin's caravanned down Broad Street and Cybularz's loved ones left him behind and joined countless other Phillies fans in celebrating the long-awaited title.

"I would have loved to go to the parade," he said, "but I didn't - to prove a point."

Cybularz has kept his promise, however rash and ridiculous. People tried to persuade him to abandon the silly idea, but he's the stubborn sort.

"Very stubborn," he said with a laugh. "Anyone who knows me can confirm that."

Particularly his brother Kevin, who asked Mike to be his best man and organize a bachelor party involving a Phillies game, followed by a trip to Atlantic City for the entire crew. Mike - citing a previously unknown clause in the groom/best man contract - rejected Kevin's request without compunction.

"I told him, 'Absolutely not,' " Mike said.

Instead of seeing the Phillies and then heading to A.C., Mike planned a different getaway to an even less-exciting city.

"We're going to Baltimore," Mike said, "to watch the Orioles play the Indians. What a terrible game."

As dedicated as Cybularz has been to his cause, there's a problem with his one-man jihad against the Fightin's. One of Cybularz's closest friends - they grew up and went to school together - is also getting married soon. Much to Cybularz's displeasure, and without his consent, the forthcoming bachelor party will involve (and you had to see this coming; fate has a wicked sense of humor) a Phillies game. Cybularz said the two are tight, and he doesn't want to blow off his buddy - but he also doesn't want to go to the game.

"I'm not happy about it," he said.

If you think all of this absurd, you aren't alone. Cybularz's wife, brothers, friends, and coworkers find his refusal to give up and return to the Phillies fold a little (or a lot) preposterous. Even Cybularz acknowledges how ludicrous his hard-line stance sounds.

"I'm not afraid to admit it," he said, before adding that it's too late to turn back and that he's picked his path. "You could call me 20 years from now, I'm not going to be a Phils fan. If I have kids, they won't be, either."