A Letter to Shane Victorino

Dear Shane,

A few weeks ago, you gave us Philadelphia fans the ultimate insult when you accused all of us to be bandwagon, fair-weather fans, or as you put it "Front-runners". Now granted, there is a healthy number of fans in this city who do fall under that category, but also a very large number who do not. To prove this to you, I have a little story to tell. I hope this can provide evidence that a large number of fans in this city are not "front-runners".

This story is a tale of two teams. The first team we'll call Team A. Team A is a very qualified team with strong pitching and a decent offensive output. They have been playing better than expectations and currently sit on top of their respective division by a total of 5 games.

The second team in this tale, Team B, is a former 2 time National League Champion and is just a few years from a World Series title. However, Team B this season has been under performing tremendously and sits in 3rd place in its division behind Team A and another rival. They have been downright awful offensively and their bullpen is a disaster area.

Now common sense would tell you that Team A would be drawing in sellout crowds every night and Team B would struggle to barely fill half the stadium. However, these roles are completely reversed. Team A recently completed a home series which highlights revealed only about half the stadium was filled. Team B in on the road currently, but will return home at the end of this week to more sellouts and loud, screaming fans. Team B fans show up at every visiting venue even helping to fill the parks in the struggling teams such as Pittsburgh.

I'm sure the two teams I am talking about are pretty obvious by now. Now maybe I'm mistaken, but neither team's scenario describes the idea of fair-weather fan hood. You yourself, Mr. Victorino, accused the fans of Team B of being just that. I don't know if you're looking at the same stadiums every night that I am, but I see no signs of fair-weather fans here in Philadelphia.

You're worried to much about the fans and less about your own play. Get your head in the game, shut your mouth and produce like we all know you can.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
One of Team B's many Die-hard Fans