Well, unless they make a never before seen run, it looks as if for the first time since 2006, the Phillies will not make the postseason. Being a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan I've seen this happen before. These "new" Phillies fans that can't name a player from the last Phillies team to not make the postseason are spoiled. It's one thing to expect greatness from your sports teams, like we all do, but it's another to understand the total package of the sport. This includes the business aspect as well. Ultimately that's what all professional sports are, a business first. From the owners all the way down to the players, there is a business first mentality. With contracts being what they are in today's sports world, it becomes a "what have you done for me lately" scenario.
As a Philadelphia sports fan, I have learned to check my emotions at the door and not get attached to the players because they could be gone the next season, ala Reggie White, Charles Barkley and Brian Dawkins. The Phillies have tried to do the right thing by keeping their homegrown nucleus of Hamels, Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Chooch together for a long time but at what cost?? Knowing that they have a great amount of money tied up in just a handful of players does not give them many options to make this team better moving forward. The Phils are faced with that always hard but inevitable position of who to keep and who to trade in order to be a contender next season. Going through the times of what seemed like all 10,000+ losses this organization has growing up, this team is nothing like those teams. I know this team has the talent, ability, mentality, and yes, heart to be the team we have been used to the past 5 years, but they have to make business decisions in order to improve. The only thing that could make this worse is if Cole Hamels came out and publically stated he is against gay marriage and is the new co-owner of Chick-Fil-A!!!
The point I am making is simple. True fans understand that seasons like this occur and you have to go through times like this to become better. When the trade deadline comes and goes there will more than likely be a few new faces as we as fans say goodbye to some of our favorites, but such is life. Remember one thing, a true fan is a fan of the name on the front of the jersey, not the back of it. Im sure there will be a number of fans who will no longer like the Phils because of the trades they make in the upcoming days and that just proves my point about those so called "fans". So when you fair weather fans and bandwagon jumpers want to jump back on board with the Phillies when they're doing good again go ahead but just remember that you will not be considered a true fan.
I'm Kyle Montgomery and this has been my two cents.
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