The Overwhelming Douchery/Short-sightedness of Phillies Fans and ESPN

Let me start off this way, I am one of the happiest people on the planet since winning the division. I cannot however Ignore ignorant "socialites" from the East and West coast cities who constantly mock Ohio, and act like we are sub-human. Many of these people are socially retarded when it comes to the shared culture and education of Americans, believing us to be stupid, boring, and people who lead pointless lives.

Many of these people are not mastered in geography, as they cannot comprehend that Ohio is not Kansas. Ohio does`nt receive any attention in the national news unless people die from Buckeye Egg Farm salmonella, or some crazy person buries a bunch of people in his yard in Cleveland, so how could the general population have any clue what it's like to be an Ohioan?

The arrogance, bias, and ignorance felt in the social arena carries over well to sports. For years, our teams are failed to be mentioned on television, even when analysts talk about EVERY OTHER team in the respective divisions. Fans of the Reds, Indians, Browns, and Bengals all know what it's like to feel irrelevant due to ESPN and their overwhelmingly arrogant, biased, and ignorant analysts, often from major coast cities.

Sure Ohio State wins, then get pummeled by SEC teams in the national championship, so our best sports team becomes the college football joke of the nation. And when traveling outside of Ohio, I realized everyone hates Buckeyes fans and OSU....HATES. Why? I have no idea. There is no love for Ohio, none.

Our MVP candidate almost missed the all-star game, kept off by Charlie Manuel, who didn`t hesitate to put Ryan Howard on the field. All year we heard ESPN pick the Cardinals over us, even when we led the division for a large majority of the season. We had to build the biggest division lead in the NL to get a shred of notice in regards to having a chance to win the Central. So here we are, days away from feeling the excitement and pride of having a dog in the race, the first time in 15 years.

Still, all 10 ESPN "experts" have chosen the Phillies to win (4 of them calling for a sweep), not one of them thinks we are going to win. Then again it isn`t hard to be an ESPN analyst, all you have to do is harass female interns and pick the champion of any sport to go back-to-back every year without any accountability.

All I've heard about is the "genius" of Charlie Manuel (most geniuses die well before his geezered ass) the prowess of their (injured) offense, and the domination of their big three (Oswalt and Hamels a combined 25-24 this year v.s. Arroyo and Cueto's 29-17) So...Let the hate and douchery begin.

 "Here is what you need to understand, even though you are trying your hardest not to see it; the Phillies top 3 pitchers are out of Arroyo, Cueto and Volquez' universe. There is no comparison." -DrBrianPeppers

(Thank you, dumb guy named after a disabled and mentally ill sex offender)

"whelp they are screwed now, the phillies will make them look like a minor league team" -mssnp3

(Makes sense, because finishing with the biggest division lead in the NL means you are a minor league team)

"cueto should be allowed to pitch -- just as soon as he gets done serving his sentence for aggravated assault for kicking a man in the head repeatedly" -jamespatrick101

(I wonder who this guy is a fan of? Probably the whiney little bitches)

"How the Reds fans would ever tolerate letting Cueto back on the moundd after his little sissy boy kicking incident against the Cardinals I will never understand. You can kick a man in the back of the head with your spikes on and end his career and still be allowed to wear a professional baseball uniform. Disgraceful!!!!! Of course your dealing with the same one horse town that thinks Pete Rose should be allowed back in baseball. I guess it only figures." -ChiefDT

(P.S. He kicked Larue in the face while being surrounded by many larger people in a brawl, he is 5ft 9 and from the Dominican Republic, which I'm sure is so sissy compared to your screaming doucheness...and it`s spelled you`re)

"i am stoked to see Lincacum and Cain both pitch against the Phillies. Should be awesome! But have a gut feeling that we have a date with the Bombers once again and it will be Phillies in 7" -PhillyFan79

(This guy didn't even acknowledge the first round and yes this was after the matchup was set.)

 "Being a Cubs fan I can look at the playoff picture dispassionatley: The Reds are frauds..." -nfranco

(And you, your team, and your opinion are irrelevant...douchebag)

Now, I could go on posting this garbage forever, but I am sure you get the point. Sure, sports fans all hate on each other when facing off, but the taste is a lot more bitter when there are such long breaks between winning, which cause people to write off our accomplishments and hold no respect for a city that begun major league baseball.

Our legend who broke the "unbreakable" hit record has been erased and disgraced, despite everything he did for the game as a player. Our shortstop (Larkin) revolutionized the position yet stays in the shadow of a career .260 hitter because he does flips, and the classless Robby Almoar in HoF voting. (After winning a WS, MVP, having 20-20+ years, .295 career BA. near perfect fielding % etc)

People forget and ignore our history and players, most importantly they ignore our present. Reds fans are baseball fans, we know what goes on around the league, how we match up against teams, and what strengths and weaknesses are. Sure there is going to be some biased opinions because our team is the Reds, but at least we stay away from being cocky douchebags like Phillies fans, or annoying douchebags like Cubs and Cards fans.

 "Controversial" comments this year excited fans, because it made us realize our players feel the same way we do. Votto was right, screw the Cubs, and screw signing autographs for little spoiled Cubs fan kids. And yeah BP, we do hate the Cardinals, I MEAN HATE. No, I don't care that Larue's career is over, Cueto was pinned in a fight, keep your used up, back up catching backstabbing Cardinal ass out of the rumble if you don't want to deal with consequences. I guess you live and die by the Reds' sword...

Ask the Mayor, who played for multiple teams including the Red Sox and still dedicates himself to our fanbase. Ask Aaron Boone who hit one of the most memorable home runs in Yankees history and still gives his loyalty to the Reds. Ask Griffey Jr. who wanted to come here and be a part of our history, part of the glory his dad lived and talked about. Or ask the greatest hitter of all time how he feels about our team our city and our fans. Ask any piece of the machine what they think, or the wire-to-wire 1990 guys. Hell, ask the players that struggled through losing seasons.

Let them hate, let them forget their "unbeatable" ace has never been to the post-season, and gave up 14 hits to us in a game this year. Let them forget Oswalt hasn`t beat us this season. Let them forget the 16 runs Hamels gave up in 3 games last post-season, going winless.

Let them ignore the fact we have the best offense in the NL, that most of our defenders are Gold Glove caliber. Let them forget about Jay Bruce's emergence as a superstar, Volquez' 17 win season before surgery, and his dominant last month. Let em' forget about Arroyo's 17 win season this year, and Cueto's ability to dominate.

Most of all let them forget that we have the league MVP, and a hungry young team that's in tune with it's fanbase. Here is my response to Phillies fans, and all the analysts who get paid to not analyze...and I think I speak for Phillips, and most of the team when I say this....

Fuck. You. We'll see what happens Wednesday.