I’ll let you in on a little media myth. No one in Philly really cares about Smarty Jones. The reports of big “Smarty Parties” on Saturday are largely…how do you say… bullshit. There hasn’t been a sporting event more overhyped and less anticipated since NBC’s Olympics Triplecast.
It’s completely out of control. The Philly Daily News has a weblog supposedly written by the horse himself. Nice gimmick. Nobody cares. Schoolchildren are writing letters to Smarty. Cute. Nobody cares. Catherine the Great rose from the dead to meet Smarty. Sick. Nobody cares.According to Philly.com, Smarty is such a huge sensation because it’s a story Hollywood would love: “There’s the killing of his first trainer, an unknown jockey with a troubled past seeking redemption, Smarty’s head injury that should have ended his career, the owner who needs an oxygen supply.” This might be a great book and great movie in 20 years but for now, nobody really cares.
Ok, I’m sure somebody cares. People who love horse racing. The horse owners. The OTBs. People with gambling problems. But here’s what I’m complaining about. From the LA Times: “Philadelphia has gone 21 years without a major sports championship. With the Flyers’ recent Stanley Cup hockey playoff loss, the 76ers’ miserable season, the Eagles’ third straight loss just short of the Super Bowl and the Phillies’ long World Series drought, the city is now counting on a horse to deliver.”
Ummm… no. We’re not. Philly people love 5 things: Eagles, Flyers, Phillies, Sixers, and to an extent, Big 5 Basketball. That is it. It’d be nice if the Kixx or the Wings or even the Soul won a championship. But there will be no tears shed. If any of the major league teams ever won a championship again, there will be grown men tearing up like little bitches in the streets and in the bars. When Smarty Jones wins the Triple Crown, a bunch of people will raise a beer, drink it, then go about their business. Basically a typical Saturday night in most of the area. Here’s what it boils down to. No one is going to order Sports Illustrated for 2% off the cover price just to get the commemorative video of the Smart Jones “championship”.
I can’t wait for this weekend to be over. Either Smarty wins or Smarty loses but at least I won’t have to hear anymore about it after the Monday press coverage. Listen, if I even remember that the Belmont is on, I’ll be cheering for him. But I won’t have any emotional investment. I prefer to save that for teams that fall apart in the end. But that’s another column for another time. (Perhaps post-NFCCG #4…hope not, but we shall see.)
Long running debate
There’s a long running debate I have with a few friends that Philadelphia is the longest suffering sports town. 4 teams x 21 years = 84 seasons of futility. (Don’t even think about saying “but the Red Sox….” At least those chowds have the Patriots. Cleveland is the only town that might be worse off.) The moment someone says to me that Smarty Jones is a Philly championship, I will kick them right in the nads.
Worst product name ever
6 replies on “Smarty Jones? F Smarty Jones!”
Give me a break 1980-Phillies win World Series
1974-75 (Back to Back!!!)-Flyers win Stanley Cup
1983-Sixers win NBA Championship
I didn’t even list some of the early day championships you’ve won.
We’re supposed to feel sorry for you?? How about cities like San Diego that have never won anything? Haven’t checked, but what about Seattle?
same old argument Seattle has 2 teams. San Diego has 2 teams.
You want to bring up San Jose too?
The issue is the whining You have won multiple championships in multiple sports. 21 years is a long time, but not for the kind of whining we’re subjected to considering you’ve won already! This is more than I heard in Denver before the Avalanche won in 96, and we had so many years of heartbreak by not being able to win the Super Bowl. I just don’t see your plight as so severe.
you didnt even have a hockey team until the 90s. and you won right away.
It’s not whining. It’s more like… sniffling.
I stand corrected on Seattle. I forget about the Sonics. Didn’t they win a championship though?
Seattle? San Diego? They’ve only been in the league for roughly 30 years each. Both of them are fairly small markets.
I think there is a huge monkey on Philadelphia sports fans backs.Our perception is that we are a large market team, and should win a certain percentage of championships based on the number of times we’ve made it to the playoffs.
I disagree with that to an extent, and I agree with it to an extent. There have been some heartbreaking losses, starting in 87 with the Flyers, continuing with the Phils in 93, the Flyers blowout in 97, the Sixers going up against a very strong Lakers team in 01 and culminating with the 3 consectutive Birds losses in the NFCC and the Flyers flame outs of this year. But I also think that the respective teams have also been one step short, and that’s due a combination of inactivity in the trade/FA arena (phils and Eagles up to this year), injuries (Flyers of this year), and the Philadelphia press. I don’t like blaiming the press but they have small responsibilty in all of this.
If you listened to the “experts” this year on WIP and in the fishwraps, they guaranteed a win after Game 6 in the Tampa-Flyers series. There was a sense in 02 and 03 that the Eagles were teams of destiny and the press played on that. People get amped up, and when the teams play flat, the fall is hard and long. I’ve been guilty of it, hell, after the Eagles loss this year I wanted to put my foot through the flat screen and disconnect my self from the scene completely.
So there is a situation in Philly where you have an extreme level of frustration in the fan base due to a lack of championship, a sense of being curse, a press that magnifies everything with the local teams to the electron level, and teams that have underacheived in clutch situations.
Horse racing is not a team sport, who gives a shit if the nag is from Philly, he’ll still be sent to stud and sire hundreds of horses, and the vast majority of Philly sports fans will still be pissed off about the teams in the city not winning a damned thing. It’s an illusion. Most people could give a shit less whether Smarty Jones wins the Triple Crown or is turned into Elmer’s glue.
Smarty Jones and Philly I think that is a joke, and I totally agree with Vin and understand how it’s laughable that somehow that would make Philly fans feel better.
My point about bringing in Denver is that we never won anything until the Avs won in 1996, and that you whine more than Denver fans did prior to that with what I would say is more heartbreak than Philly has suffered, albeit all in one sport. And for the record, we had the Colorado Rockie hockey team prior to the Avs, which became the hated New Jersey Devils…which went on to win 3 cups in the past 10 years. Nice.
You guys have had your heartbreak, I’ll give you that. But all the disclaimers you throw out make your complaint less valid, IMO. Big market team, all 4 pro sports, etc.