Phillies Bunts: Pre-Doomsday Edition

I have a confession to make.

Since we are facing the impending ‘end of the world’ this Saturday, I figured there would be no better time than to fess up to you, my faithful readers.

Friends… I am bicoastal. NO Kornhole, not bisexual (jerk) but bicoastal. Ok, maybe not even technically that. Let me explain.

I find myself sharing my time on two different “coasts” anymore – Philly (woot woot!) and Pittsburgh (crickets). Yes, I know both are not truly coastal towns but both run along rivers and I honestly can’t think of the proper way to describe straddling the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania… maybe “bi-keystone-al”? Wamp waaaaam.

Right now you are probably thinking “What the HELL is your point woman?”

It’s actually kind of simple. If you are a real fan of baseball – and not just a Phillies fan – then friends you should know Pittsburgh is MLB’s version of HELL. Not historically… the Pirates have a LONG history within the Halls of baseball Fame but Pittsburgh Pirates baseball today is just down right sad. And as a weekly blogger for this fine site, I hope you can agree that being 300 miles away for a good part of the Phils season does not impede me from presenting weekly ramblings on the best baseball team on earth.

This past Saturday, I was in a cool little section of Pittsburgh called Squirrel Hill, having a few drinks and munching nachos at a funky little café. Throughout the café were 8 TV’s that held the probably 75% of the patron’s attention (the others were grooving to the never ending music of Phish, or some other lame jam band). On 6 of those TV’s, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins Eastern Conference final was on; 3 of those TV’s showed the Yankees and Bo Sox game and the final TV, located in the corner nearest the bathroom had the Pirates and Brewers. I think maybe 2 other people (besides me) craned their necks to check the score of that (they lost. Duh). It’s been a recurring theme since I’ve been out here: No one gives a damn about the Pirates. Sure they aren’t all that good. But still… its baseball. How do you watch anything BUT your cities own team?

I don’t know about you, but I highly doubt this would ever happen in Philadelphia.

I’m not trying to rag on Pittsburgh in anyway. Like any other place, this city has its ups and downs. I know a lot of you will be making that cross-state trek in early June to catch the Fightin’s play the Bucko’s and I can guarantee PNC Park will be overloaded with those in Phillies red (which happens in a good majority of cities the Phils travel too anyway, and I don’t think I am going out on a limb when I say that has got to impress both the Phils organization and that of the team they are playing).

When the Phils were the first team to reach 10,000 loses what did we do? We CELEBRATED (kinda sorta anyhow). Why? Because that’s how we are. We support our teams through the good, the bad and the unbelievably ugly. We made it through many seasons of heartbreaks and “there’s always next year”. This city is rich in sports history and we embrace our boys through the best and worst of times.

Oh yeah, the worst of times, doomsday yada yada yada. That’s what the heck started this rant. Let me try to bring this full circle.

It saddens me to no end when people find out I am from Philadelphia and they automatically tell me I will become a Steelers or Penguins fan. Sorry folks, that’s not going to happen. I’ll tell you what just MAY happen though. I think while I’m out here I’m going to root for the Bucko’s (NOT WHEN THEY PLAY THE PHILLIES so get off of my ass already). No one has tried once to convert me into a Pirates fan and that’s just so sad. This city has given up on a team with such a long history because they haven’t done shit for quite some time. Sure I understand futility but I’m not a fair weather fan. I never needed championships to keep me a fan like SOME people I know.

So, should the world NOT end this Saturday May 21…  I hope to be back next week with you. It feels good to get the confession of my Western PA residency off my chest. I felt a little strange at first about it, but with MLB Network and At Bat I am just as on top of the Phils as anyone residing in Philadelphia. I just didn’t want to offend any purest Bunts fans.

And should the world continue on, and you happen to be making your way out West the first weekend in June, I hope you have a great time out here. I hope we can continue to show the world that we are the best baseball fans in the world. And when the Phils are out of town, and I’m at a quiet riverside baseball park in Pittsburgh, I hope you can forgive me should I decide to purchase and wear an Andrew McCutchen shirt. Somebody has to get behind this team. Baseball is baseball, and these guys aren’t the Mutts. They just need a little love.

SIDE NOTE:

CHASE UTLEY IS ON HIS WAY BACK! OHHH MYYYY GOOOOOD it’s a miracle! Now I REALLY hope the world doesn’t end!

-xo

DiamondGirl215

You know the drill:

DiamondGirl215@philliesbunts.com