World Series Rooting Interest Poll Rays vs Phillies

[stevejrogers]

Tampa Rays vs. Philadelphia Phillies.

Fox's worst nightmare for the 2008 postseason has been realized!

Though Milwaukee might have been a worse option than Philly.

[nymr83]

milwaukee would be worse for ratings. obviously i'm rooting for tampa to beat the hated phils.

[Gwreck]

Tampa, in 4 please.

[Willets Point]

I don't hate the Phils, there's no reason to hate them other than jealousy. I'm a NL fan except when the Red Sox are involved and I like to root for underdogs. The Phillies are the losingest team in sports history and have only one championship in a franchise history dating back to 1883 so I'd say that trumps the underdogness of those whippersnapper Rays. So put me down for the Phillies. Really I just want a good series.

[Gwreck]

Willets Point wrote: I don't hate the Phils, there's no reason to hate them other than jealousy.

I think your perspective would change if you went to a few more Mets-Phillies games.

If Philadelphia wins, our games against them next year will be unbearable.
If Tampa wins, our games against them next year will be like any others.

[Zvon]

No Fair.
I need time to get in touch with my feelings.
HA.
j/k.

This is kinda tuff.
I've always rooted N.L.
I hate the Phils but only in my perspective as a fan of the Mets.
When "it's on".
I respect the Phillies team and most of the players
and the Mets will be sitting home watching these games with us.
My in-season hatred is a non factor.
I really know the Phils team well cuz I get all their games here
(as part of my basic cable package).

But I like the Rays story.
Reminds me of the Mets early years.
There are some nice parallels there.

So I'll vote for the N.L. team and root for a memorable World Series from both teams.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah. I root for a good series above everything but I find all this hatred for the Phillies a little small.

If the Mets did what the Phils did these last two years we'd be beside ourselves in love. We'd be the gayest people on earth.

[Frayed Knot]

Of the cities with franchises is all four major sports Philly has gone the longest w/o a championship ('83 Sixers)


This makes the 6th different AL team in the WS in the last 10 years:
NYY (3), Bos (2), + LAA, ChiW, Det, and now TB
and the 9th different NL team: StL (2) + Atl, NYM, Ariz, SF, Fla, Hous, Col, and now Philly

]Fox's worst nightmare for the 2008 postseason has been realized

I think this whole concept is vastly over-played. If they get a good series they'll get good ratings and it's not like Philly & TB/StP are minor TV markets.
Plus I think the folks in the hinterlands get turned off by the thought of the same teams from the big East Coast cities in it year after year and historically some of the better rating series have been from "non-sexy" matchups (Cleve-Fla '97, Atl-Minn '91, etc.)

[Willets Point]

Gwreck wrote: ="Willets Point"]I don't hate the Phils, there's no reason to hate them other than jealousy. I think your perspective would change if you went to a few more Mets-Phillies games. If Philadelphia wins, our games against them next year will be unbearable.

I'm looking at it more as the Mets games versus the Phillies will be all the more sweeter when the Mets crush "the Champs" and clinch the division shortly after Labor Day. And if that doesn't happen, well it's probably because the Mets bullpen sucks.

[Valadius]

Tampa Bay. The parallels to the '69 Mets are all I need.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I generally pull for the NL teams, but this year put me down for the Rays. I like their collection of young players, I like that they have Cliff Floyd, I like their style of play (fewest sacrifices and most steals in MLB), and I like that they don't have Jimmy Rollins.

Go Rays!

[Guest Iubitul]

Valadius wrote: Tampa Bay. The parallels to the '69 Mets are all I need.

What Val said...

[Guest themetfairy]

I live among Phillies Phans.

Go Rays!

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah. I root for a good series above everything but I find all this hatred for the Phillies a little small.

I don't think I truly rooted for the Phillies to lose on strict party lines (as opposed to rooting for the Mets to win and whoever our opponent was to lose) until I spent a three-game series with their fans in September. I can't stand the idea of those people feeling any satisfaction. Or Shane Victorino, for that matter.

]If the Mets did what the Phils did these last two years we'd be beside ourselves in love.

And I wish the Mets had won 114 games in 1998. Doesn't mean I rooted for the team that did no matter how well that team played. I admire how the Phillies were built, how there are a lot of homegrown players who have coalesced into a unit, how Pat Gillick plugged in a lot of pieces brilliantly. From the standpoint of earning it, the Phillies deserve to be league champions more than anybody else who could have won it.

But we don't do this in a vacuum. Brand names mean something to us. The Phillies brand is anathema to the Mets consumer at this point in time. Grudging admiration for the rival does not trump the rivalry.

The spirit of '69 has been reborn in St. Pete. Go Rays.

]We'd be the gayest people on earth.

And perhaps getting our ass hammered by guys. There's no better feeling than to have that done.

[Fman99]

I have no NL-based loyalty. I hate all the NL teams that are not the Mets. After all they all spend 162 games trying to beat my team.

On top of that, I went to a Mets-Phillies game in 2007 and sat in the upper deck at Shea with those animals (the Phillies fans, that is, though I saw some real Phillistines in orange and blue that day also). I won't be rooting for the Phillies to win anything besides getting struck by a comet anytime soon.

Go Rays.

[smg58]

G-Fafif wrote: But we don't do this in a vacuum. Brand names mean something to us. The Phillies brand is anathema to the Mets consumer at this point in time. Grudging admiration for the rival does not trump the rivalry.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I have enormous respect for the Phillies, but I can't root for them. And the Rays are as easy a team to root for as you can have.

[MFS62]

Holding my nose while I vote for the NL team.

Later

[Guest AG/DC]

I voted Phillies.

I guess I really want the Rays, though. I'm afraid they could be dynastic, but there's worse things than a dynasty in the Yankees division.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Rays.

For some of the above reasons, primarily the similarity to the 1969 Mets, and the fact that I live among Phillies fans.

I suppose I don't have much against the Phils themselves, but I really don't want this fan base to have a World Series victory to crow over.

And I have no loyalty to the N.L. I gave that stuff up years ago. And I don't care if it's a good series or not, since I won't be watching. My preference is Tampa Bay in four, just to get it over with.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Brand schmand.

And all teams have lousy mook fans, the Mets might lead the league in that department. And the Rays represent Florida.

[Frayed Knot]

I haven't decided yet.
Sometimes I start watching it hoping for a good series and just unconsciously
find myself pulling for one team or the other.

Considering that the last four WS have gone 4, 5, 4 & 4 games I'll settle for anything
that makes things a little more interesting.

[Vic Sage]

what is this "world series" of which you speak?

J-E-T-S
JETS JETS JETS!

[soupcan]

Don't really care one way or the other but I voted Rays because I just can't root for the Phillies.

[Guest holychicken]

Rays in 4 and Lidge getting 4 blown saves.

That would be sweet.

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: And the Rays represent Florida.

Technically, or at least on their stationery, the Marlins represent Florida. And for whoever started the poll, that's the Tampa Bay Rays who won the American League pennant. The Rays represent the Bay Area, the Gulf Coast and, in their dreams, Central Florida. Not that their region is necessarily a prize, but don't blame Tampa-St. Pete for the rest of the state.

]And all teams have lousy mook fans, the Mets might lead the league in that department.

Hard to imagine the Mets leading the league in anything right now.

[Guest AG/DC]

They definitely lead the league in Ambiorices.

[Willets Point]

I just realized that this is the first World Series since 2001 without a wild card team.

[Gwreck]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: And all teams have lousy mook fans, the Mets might lead the league in that department.

No disagreement. But aside from the Yankees, we get more of the Phillies' lousy mook fans in our ballpark than from any other team.

My own anecdotal study also reveals that the only time I've ever felt truly unsafe while wearing Mets stuff at a road game (this study includes the House of Evil and the Wrigley bleachers) was at a Sunday night game in Philly early this year.

If Tampa wins, are we going to get it rubbed in our faces when they come to town in June?

[HahnSolo]

Gwreck wrote: If Tampa wins, are we going to get it rubbed in our faces when they come to town in June?

Maybe, but the Yanks will get it rubbed in their faces nine times in their new place.