Once we took pride in our capacity to question any managerial decision, regardless of context. Now, like tittering schoolgirls, we compose the kind of brainless love notes you'd expect to find at military homecomings or Justin Bieber concerts.
What would Sign Man say?
Then there are Flyers fans and their monochromatic mindlessness.
This team has gone 36 years without a Stanley Cup - longer than the Phillies went between pennants (1915-1950) when they were the worst organization in sports history - yet Flyers ticket buyers apparently believe it's more productive to collectively wear orange T-shirts to home playoff games than to hold management's feet to the fire.
Is there a logical reason I'm missing?
Is there some fear that in normal clothing they might be mistaken for Rangers fans? Is there some equally irrational belief that by dressing alike they help influence the outcome? Do they fear their peers? Do they fear the jeers? Did they drink too much beer?
Somehow the Flyers managed to win two Stanley Cups when their fans were attired sanely.
I know, we're not the only place where entire crowds visit hell's haberdasher each postseason. But most of those other cities are places where the typical family tree includes a Guernsey or two.
I didn't see any gatherings of like-tinted lemmings in New York or Boston, two cities whose passionate fans are often compared with ours.
In fact, there was a kind of poetic justice to the Flyers' being eliminated in Boston, where Bruins fans appeared to be free-minded individuals.
There are times and places where it's acceptable to dress alike: wedding parties, Catholic schools, May Day parades in Red Square, T-ball photo days.
But next spring, when the Flyers embark on another frustrating postseason, try something different, sartorially speaking.
You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.
