The bombardment was relentless - and that is the exact word, bombardment. For the first time ever, people fired coach Andy Reid in the newspaper. Day after day, the e-mails flooded in whenever a defense of Reid was raised. People in the Wawa were brutal. Callers on the radio were worse. I know, I know - it goes with the territory when you are the most popular team in town and you haven't won a championship since 1960. And, yes, this is all anecdotal.
But it was worse. And while there were a couple of contributing factors, including a maddeningly inconsistent style of play in 2008, it seems obvious that even if the expectations were not raised when the Phillies won the World Series - the Eagles' expectations were always high - the vocal manifestation of those expectations was louder, sharper and nastier. Especially nastier.
By contrast, we are about to embark on the Sixers and the Flyers in the playoffs, presumably. Each is its own special case and doesn't seem tied to the Phillies. The Sixers are in this extended limbo, unable to implement the vision of general manager Ed Stefanski because of the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Elton Brand. Because of that, it is hard for anyone to make a huge emotional investment at this point. Their playoff appearance will be nice, but lacking real expectations.
The Flyers are different. Their fans are hockey fans first, almost to the exclusion of the other sports sometimes. They are a battered lot, criticized as a rabid minority, and they spectate with elbows raised and always have. They will embrace their team and its dreams from the drop of the puck in Game 1 to the final handshake line, wherever and whenever that is. It will take more than a World Series to change that.
