News flash: It's tough being a Padres fan.
Thank you, and good night!
Seriously now, when a big-spending and/or successful team such as the Rangers, Dodgers, Phillies, Cardinals comes to town, I've grown to expect to be outnumbered in the stands. It's an unfortunate reality, especially with San Diego being a transient city. There's no more evidence of our city's transience than the great exodus of Atlantans in the mid-aughts, only to be replaced by natives of the greater Philadelphia area. The logical conclusion is that roaming, baseball-loving nomads set up camp in San Diego for a period of 5-10 years and then move on. Bless them. I've gotten off track.
The point is that I expect my stadium to be overrun, but I didn't quite expect my mountain to be overrun. Allow me to give you a bit of background on myself: I'm a fat dude. I've been fatter, not quite as fat, and where I am now. I'd call myself Obesity Goldilocks, but really none of it is just right for me. I've recently set off on a weight-loss journey, which I've been very successful at up to this point. It used to be part of my exercise routine to hike up Cowles Mountain. It's a special place to me; I even made my wife hike to the top of it before I finally proposed to her. I am rambling again.
I decided to make a very quick return to the mountain the day Junior Seau passed away. I'm sure it was to clear my head, but I also had been itching to get back. For the first time EVER, I didn't make the summit. I wasn't determined to do so, but it's still the only time I haven't made the summit. Today, I made it (hooray me, or whatever). On the way up, though, it dawned on me..."I've seen Dodgers/Angels/Cardinals/Red Sox/Yankees/Phillies shirts, but I'm the only one wearing a Padres shirt."
And I mean, a bizarrely large number of Phillies shirts.
Now, okay. To be fair, it's not necessarily the situation where your first thought is to throw on your team colors and represent. I'd be lying if I said it was intentional on my part. However, it got me thinking about the situation. Everyone on the mountain is healthy, hurrying up and hurrying down. I, am not. I'm the slow, deliberate, fat guy busting his ass up the mountain. I'm going to get there, but it's going to take some time and a whole lot of effort. It's not easy, I could just give up, but I'm not going to. There's a metaphor for the Padres in there.
And I'm not talking about being a "never say die" fan. Nobody needs to be lectured on how to be a good fan when the team is this awful. It did serve to remind me, though, of why I am a Padres fan and I haven't just thrown in the towel and jumped on someone else's bandwagon. It's tough, but if we get to that summit, it's going to be the sweetest.
At some point, I'm going to be in great shape and hauling ass up and down that mountain without a second thought. And it will mean something, but it will never mean more than it did on a day like today.
But seriously, can we get some Padres shirts on that mountain? Please? Fucking Phillies....
I've never done Cowles before yet I work next to it. I'll do it in two weeks and I'll wear a Khalil Green t-shirt. Or something.
ReplyDeleteGlass half full: If your ball park has a lot of the opposing teams' colors, it just means your city is a nicer place to live than theirs.
ReplyDeleteIf it's the Phillies, Red Sox, or any other team with recent success, ask them about their team, but choose trivia from before they were good, and you will see how many of them are bandwagon jumpers. Or better yet, ask what part of Boston they hail from and look for the deer in the headlights stare.