I grew up with dogs (not wolves), but as a keeper of felines I have a special place in my heart for my cat kids.  And I’ll admit it, when a trusted source tells me I just have to see the latest viral cat video, I’m in.  To that end, enjoy Henri’s anguish:

OK, enough.  Yes, we booed a pathetic, decrepit Santa Claus.  Yes, we booed Michael Irvin as he lay prostrate on the Vet Stadium concrete.  Some of “us” have been known to use vomit as a weapon.  Others have been escorted to a basement prison and convicted by a presiding judge … in our own home stadium.  And yes, Mr. Andrus, our celebrated security personnel have wielded a taser on occasion, to subdue a raucous fan or two, but only when there was no other alternative.

But to use those singular few events, perpetrated by a few bad egg inebriated individuals, to categorize an entire city?  Ridiculous.  That’s like saying the entire city of Tucson should get a bad name because of the streaker ref, or that Detroit should suffer eternal damnation for Kid Rock, or that Atlanta is a hick town because it spawned John Rocker.  Bad examples?  Perhaps, but you get my point.

Philly is a great sports town, from Conshohocken to the Main Line, from West Chester to West Philly, from the Palestra to Ashburn Alley, from Pat’s to Geno’s to Jim’s, from Bull’s BarBQ to Ardmore Pizza (my personal fave).  But we are a long suffering fan base, who continue to expect more from our teams and get less.  We’ve suffered more than our share of stomach punches (via Bill Simmons, @sportsguy33) throughout the years, and we’ve celebrated precious few championships.  So cut us a break, for gosh sakes, and back off these “Philly fans suck” posts.  Yes, the Phillies ended our title drought in 2008, but they’ve turned around and tantalized us now 3 years running, dropping out of baseball’s big dance earlier and earlier each postseason.  You’ve already forgotten the few near misses and the much more frequent ineptitude?  Let’s take a journey back through the past 30 years or so, shall we?

Before 2008, the city’s last championship in the four majors came courtesy of Moses Malone, Dr. J, Mo Cheeks, and the Fo’, Fo’, and Fo’ Sixers (who in actuality won their championship in 1983 in four, five, and four games, despite Moses’ prediction, and didn’t have to face their nemesis, the Celtics, in that year’s playoffs).  Before that, Bob Clark’s “Broad Street Bullies” Flyers grabbed 2 consecutive cups in the mid-70’s, and the Schmidt/Carlton Phils had their salad days of the late ‘70’s/early 80’s, cresting with Tug McGraw’s memorable strikeout in the 6 game Series victory over the Royals and George Brett in 1980.   And oh yeah, the Vermeil Eagles beat the hated Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship Game, earning the right to get pummeled by the Raiders in Super Bowl XV.

But then came the epic 25-year drought, unprecedented for a city with one of each of the four majors, during which our teams had their shares of near misses.  To wit:

• The ’93 Phils, who were the idiots before the Red Sox of the mid ‘00’s, reached the Series in 1993.  Kruk, Dykstra, Daulton, Schilling, Wild Thing, Incaviglia, Eisenreich, Hollins … hard to think of a more disheveled, blue collar, workingman’s crew.  The town loved ‘em, at least until Joe Carter hit his bomb in SkyDome in game 6 and gave the series to Toronto.  If that ain’t a stomach punch, I don’t know what is.
• In 2001, the feisty AI, despite his aversion to practice, led the Sixers back (almost) to the promised land, reaching the finals against the Kobe/Shaq Lakers.  His monster Game 1 performance (48 points) forged an improbable 1-0 series lead, but Kobe and Shaq reeled off four straight and that was that.  This one didn’t hurt so bad, because we didn’t have much hope to start with, but as AI would say, “it ain’t about that.”
• Then there was Buddy Ryan, Randall Cunningham, and Reggie White in the ‘90’s.  Perhaps the greatest NFL defense of all time, at least the greatest D to never win a Super Bowl.  Buddy was everyone’s favorite curmudgeon, Reggie at the same time a sack-master and a preacher, and Randall the ultimate weapon.  But Jerome Brown’s untimely death and owner Norman Braman’s incessant parsimony doomed them to failure.  Buddy never won a playoff game, and the team will always be best remembered for its Fog Bowl Failure at Soldier Field.
• And who can forget the close but no cigar Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era, which tantalized us with what we need the most.  Despite our love affair with the Phils of late, we crave a Super Bowl victory like the addict craves his fix.  Nothing else would taste as nice. Yes, we have our NFC Championship Game appearances … five times, including four in a row from 2002-2005, finally breaking through in that 2005 NFC Champ Game against the Falcons (and Michael Vick, no less), then losing in Boot Bowl to the Patriots in our only Supe appearance since 1981.  I won’t even mention T.O. and the mortal wounds he inflicted on our collective psyche.  Ouch.  Ouch.  And triple ouch.

And that brings us to the recent past, to the Phils’ early exit despite the ballyhooed Four Aces, to the Flyers recent empty Cup Finals appearance after an epic comeback against the Bruins, and to the self-proclaimed Dream Team, which has started off the 2011 NFL season 3-6.  So yes, there is angst in Philly, because the fans are so invested, and have watched their teams achieve so little.  Mock us, ridicule us, even tase us if you must.  But know this … we care.  As much as any fan base in the country.  And we’ll keep coming back.  No matter how hard you punch us.  In the stomach.  Or even a bit lower.  So bring it on.  And whatever you do, don’t send us another sorry excuse for Santa Claus.  We will make him pay.

“Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking,” Jerry Brown said in a statement. “The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us.”

This is so true, just not for undocumented immigrants. We all want to work with people that are creative thinkers and improve our lives, but guess what, this is a dream. Dreams are achieved by hard work and determination, not hand outs or “entitlements”.

Are these students “entitled” to these funds? I am not saying that just because you are a documented U.S. Citizen that you’re entitled to these funds either, but they should get first dibs on them. This law really creates an economic discrimination against the current legal California Citizens, almost penalizing them for obeying the laws of the state. Entitlement seems to be the underlying theme to all of legislature and policy related to hand out/bail out programs. We constantly reward individuals for making bad decisions. So do we think by educating these individuals we eliminate these bad decisions? When do we start holding people responsible for their choices and actions? No matter if you are a documented or undocumented citizen there should not be any entitlement for anything not earned. The government makes it too easy for us to not apply our skills or learn new skills. This is a lot like training wheels on a bike, but due to these failed policies and laws of entitlements we will never take those training wheels off.

By no means is the message saying that these undocumented immigrants are not hard working, determined or deserving of these funds. While the pursuit of higher education is commendable and understandable, the point is that even if undocumented students were granted taxpayer funded aid for college, they would not be eligible to legally obtain a job in the U.S. The point is we are granting amnesty and free college funding to undocumented immigrants through this bill, but no one is paying attention and it has no long term economic benefit. This sends the message that if undocumented immigrants break the law by crossing the border, they will have the same rights and entitlements as U.S. Citizens. As someone who worked full time to put themselves through college this seems like it goes against everything learned along my journey to where I am today.

I will leave you with the Webster Dictionary definition of the word “entitlement”:

1a: the state or condition of being entitled : right b: a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract
2: a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting or distributed by such a program
3: belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges

Ironic?

The MLB has been beat up during this postseason with each successive Red Sox, Phillies, and Yankees loss.  Each of those teams bring their army of passionate fans not only to the stadium, but to the seats and barstools planted directly in front of the television.  When they don’t play deep into October, postseason television ratings suffer.

So purists rejoice, the St. Louis Cardinals are hosting the Texas Rangers in tonight’s Game 1 of the 2011 World Series.  The fans of both teams are passion-rich, yet number-poor and do not carry the TV ratings of their brethren of the Northeast.  And considering (1) the last time the Central time zone hosted the entirety of the World Series – in 2005, Astros v. White Sox – the MLB endured the lowest TV ratings to date, and (2) World Series ratings have dropped 74% since their peak in 1978 and 46% in the last 10 years alone, this World Series is almost assured to usher in the lowest TV ratings in the event’s history.

Via TVbytheNumbers.com, here are the World Series ratings data, from 1968-2010:

Which begs the question, why is it so easy to be dismissive of this “movement”?  The quick answer is the lack of leadership, the lack of credibility, and the lack of a coherent message and strategy.  A perfect example of these facts is the raw video I shot of the Occupy SF participants last Friday.

Certainly we can appreciate the passion, but is yelling, “F*** the Ferraris” going to resonate and add to your ranks?  Is posting 20 different signs with completely different messages going to connect with the target audience that can actually help make a difference?  Is standing shirtless on the side of the street going to get you a seat at the table?  Clearly rhetorical questions, but the barriers are easily highlighted.

So, should we just dismiss all of the “Occupy” protests?  Of course not.  Not until we’ve taken the time to understand what they’re truly after.  I’ll defer to outlets that do a far better job of outlining the Occupy mission (LA Times, Business Insider) and proponent web sites that articulate a more succinct message (We Are the 99 Percent, Occupy Together) to help with that.

And while I understand how easy it is to dismiss Occupy Wall Street and each of the other Occupy protests around the world, the movement is worth a little research, since they might actually be fighting for something we support.

Now, I’m no mathematician (an accountant, yes…totally different from mathematician…an astronomer to an astronaut would be apt comparison), but if a regular coffee pot holds six cups of coffee and I drink two cups a day, my gut tells me I could expect to make coffee once every three days. Is this a realistic expectation? Of course not, since there are several variables at play here, including what time the coffee is initially made, what time I make my coffee runs, how many people choose to wait for a fresh pot rather than taking the last cup, and most importantly, how many people work under the assumption that they were not hired to brew coffee.

Does this last factor bother people? Should we really expect our higher-paid employees to make the coffee like everyone else? Our inner-monologue pleads the case of the egalitarian breakroom, but perhaps the reality doesn’t transcend the cost-benefit economics of the situation. While some like to picture the office kitchen as the great leveler where CEO and summer intern work side-by-side, one filling the water reservoir while the other spoons the coffee grounds, the fact is that one of those two is prepping for a board meeting and the other is planning his next epic tweet. That is to say, the CEO is involved in making high-level decisions that will make or break the company, while our hypothetical intern has spent the last two hours raising his klout score.

Fortunately, Betty Feng, a former supply chain management professional over at GSCMotion, wrote a piece two years ago that is the answer to all our prayers…From Coffee to Business Process Improvement: A Story of Office Coffee. Now, this article is a little high-minded for this light-hearted conversation, but Ms. Feng was able create an efficient, scalable process for brewing the office coffee. And guess what else? There’s a flow chart! Problem…solved.

@PhillyKeys, while others tweet their deepest thoughts or the digestive-status of their morning sustenance, you instead provide your readership with an endless litany of literary niblets – okay, 15 as of today – that test the preconceptions of the most ardent cynic. Covering topics as nuanced as the futility of the NL East during the summer of ’09 (“nice job by the sox … not so much by the phils. AL East owns the NL East tonight.”) to the current touring schedule of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers (“About to check out the Indigo Girls @ the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Awesome venue and great scene. #doitoutdoors”), your twitter posts do more in 140 characters to progress intelligent conversation than any extensive social commentary by P.J. O’Rourke, Noam Chomsky and Bill Lyon…combined.

And for that, Mr. Keys, we thank you.

- Matt

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The current topic is Major League Baseball’s Spring Training. After a recent trip to Arizona to experience the Cactus League, a number of thoughts and feelings were available to reflect on, as follows:

• Spring Training is best as a shared experience; friends, family, fans
• Provides hope and spirit to the perennially hopeless
• Common interest of fans, history
• Smiles; everyone seems happy; regular season failures bring everyone down?
• Adults feel like kids again
• Fans enjoy booing refs (it’s only Spring Training!) and giving them the business
• Even more noticeable due to less crowd noise; smaller crowds
• PACKED stadiums; $75 lawn seats!!!
• Stadiums are packed for these glorified minor league games
• On Saturday, no Loney, Kemp, Ethier, Fielder, Braun
• Alcohol…beer consumption is taken up a notch
  • Because people are on vacation? Yes
  • After regular season games, fans have to go home!
• Financial boon to teams…and Arizona
• As some have predicted due to their immigration laws, any foreseeable impact on this year’s All-Star Game in AZ?
  • No way; not if this year’s Spring Training is any indication

Time’s up.  Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?

- Matt
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The good stuff starts around 1:46. Enjoy.

UPDATE: I was wrong. Here’s a different video from Fox Soccer Channel.

- Matt
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- Matt
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