Schadenfreude

I wanted the title of this entry to sound smart because what I'm really going to write about is Sports. Of course "Schadenfreude" is a German word meaning "taking pleasure in the misfortune of others" As a Philadelphia sports fan I am very well versed on the subject. Our teams have a legendary history of letting us down so we are often left watching as other cities move on to the playoffs year after year. It is then we have to pick our teams to root against. Maybe it was the team that knocked our team out of the race- or a team with an athlete we really hate. Rooting against Kobe Bryant and Scott Rolen has always been easy for us here in Philadelphia. This year's baseball playoffs give me many opportunities. Not only do we have the Mets- who beat up on the whole league and won the division by 75 games, but the other New York team the dreaded Yankees. Now, I always root against the Yankees, one because they are Evil, and two- do you need a two? Actually this year it was more fun to root against them because they had one of the Phillies cast off underachievers on their team. When Bobby Abreu was traded to the Yankees people thought the Phillies had given up - the general manager even said that could be the case. The trade turned out to be great for both sides - the Phillies went on a tear and nearly made the playoffs (big surprise to everyone that they just missed) and Abreu helped the Yankees win their division by even more than they would have without him. He also seemed to make them a lock for the World Series. But not so fast there pal - the Yankees ran into a problem this year on their way to the Series- they kept losing. Yes, my new favorite team the scrappy Detroit Tigers beat them 3 games to 1 and knocked them out in the first round. The Tigers were extremely happy to win and beat the Yanks too - they had a huge clubhouse celebration like they had just won the World Series - and the World Cup- and the Stanley Cup. A bunch of players even ran back on to the field to high five the fans and spray champagne on them. Their celebration was so amazing that I went out the next day and bought a Tigers hat- to show I'm now a fan of a team that cares about their fans and has some enthusiasm for the game. But mostly because they beat the Yankees.

The football team I save my venom for is - well - I've heard it put this way - "I root for the Eagles and who ever is playing the Cowboys" So this weekend was extra special because both were the case. The 'boys and their hated wide receiver "OD" came into town and the Eagles sent them away with a loss - it only took an epic struggle with the outcome in doubt until the literal last minute. Thinking about the game during the week I realized that it's not the Cowboys themselves I hate - or their fans in Dallas really. They're passionate for their team just like we are. I hate the people here in Philadelphia who root for the Cowboys - they have no connection to Texas, no emotional bond with the team - its a fake fandom- and boy are they obnoxious. Almost everybody knows a guy like that at work - he tries to be contrary by rooting for the enemy. Thats who we hate- those traitors among us. We love that they are in pain this week, wondering what went wrong. We've been there.