It's Cheer Day In Philadelphia! (This Will Not End Well)

Ah Philadelphia, Land of 10,000 Losses; where they throw batteries at J.D. Drew and boo Santa Claus. Derision falls like rain here, and everyone gets soaked; especially the Phillies, who are in danger of slip slidin' away in the NL East. The reason? According to Jimmy Rollins, it's fan negativity. He said as much on Wednesday during his appearance on The Best Damed Sports Show Period, where he called the Phillie Faithful "fair-weather fans." But one brave blogger has had enough of this; he's going all Pollyanna on your ass, Phillie fan base. His idea? Campaign Cheer. And Phase One occurs tonight. The proprietor of the blog We Should Be GMs wants Phils fans to cheer everything that happens during tonight's game, as Philadelphia plays host to the Washington Nationals. No matter what goes down, all must be positive. Does this have a chance of working? As Martin Prince would say: "Highly dubious!" (is then pummeled by Phillie fans).

C'mon everybody, why so glum? I want you calling the radio stations, writing the newspapers, making huge signs to display with pride for our 2nd place team. Enough of all this negativity, they need our support. I know that's difficult after losing to the Padres 8-3, but the boos aren't helping, so it's time for change.

Crashburn Alley and Hugging Harold Reynolds are also on board. It all started on Monday following Rollins' TV comments — video right here — when he made the front-runner charge; a curious thing to say about the losingest franchise in the history of American pro sports. Rollins then further defined his definition of "front runner," which placated nobody. Of course Donovan McNabb then also chimed in. All in all, it was a mess. But Philly bloggers want to lighten the gloom, and indeed chose their spot well; the Nationals are not exactly the hottest team in baseball. Philadelphia is in second place, 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Mets; not a huge mountain to climb. And the further good news is that Phillies fans seem to be behind Campaign Cheer 100 percent! • "The ten of you will really hammer your point home. Whatever that may be." — WholeCamels • "I’d love the boo-birds gone too, but this shiny happy people movement isn’t going to fly, not in Philly where most sports fans fancy themselves blue-collar tough guys." — phatj In my opinion this will only work if combined with propaganda posters. Support Your Second-Place Team [We Should Be GMs] Rollins Clarifies His Comments On Phillies Fans [Philadelphia Inquirer] Frontrunners? Who? You? [Philadelphia Inquirer]