For a while I was reading a certain Phillies message board, but I stopped back in August or so and haven't looked back. I never posted myself, but Andrew and our friend Jay were regulars, and I read it rather often for a time (just like in real life, I maintain my "observer" persona online as well). I will admit that it was a step above the usual unreadable Internet chatter, "written" by idiots who have roughly the same grasp on spelling and grammar as a kindergartener. The guys on this board all seemed pretty intelligent, often very funny, and they did not share the usual inane Philly opinions (i.e., Abreu was a lazy bum, Rowand is a hero and the all-time greatest Phillie for breaking his nose like a madman). They backed up their opinions with stats, and had a true passion for the game. The one drawback, sadly, was the one trait they shared with Philly fans of every stripe: relentless, irrational, mind-numbing, occasionally over-the-top pessimism.

It came to a head for me last August when, following their awful first half and the Abreu trade, the team unexpectedly started to contend for the wild card again. As you undoubtedly remember, they looked pretty good in August and September, and were really fun to watch for a while. I myself genuinely believed that they were going to do it: I could really see the wild card, floating before me like a vision - yea verily, I could taste it on my tongue. The wild card! Us! The Phillies! It was fun to dream.

But then I went on the board one day in mid-August and someone had posted the following diatribe: He was so disgusted by the Abreu trade, the team's general history of rampant mediocrity, and his belief that the team's owners were more interested in turning a profit than fielding a winner, that he was rooting for the Phillies to miss the playoffs; making the playoffs, this poster posited, would only validate the direction the owners had taken the team, dooming us fans to many coming years of similar badness.

Thankfully, this post had few, if any, supporters. The many replies outlined the following points, many of which I had thought myself when I read the post in slack-jawed disbelief:

1. Making the playoffs is a good thing, right? Why would making the playoffs signify that the team is going in the wrong direction? Baseball isn't like the NBA or NFL, where losing gets you a draft pick that might help your team immediately. Baseball draft picks might not make the team for five years, if at all.
2. There is no evidence that the owners have any interest in selling, win or lose. They didn't sell in 1993 when the team made the World Series. They didn't sell in 2001 when they missed the postseason by two games, or in 2005 when they were eliminated on the final day. They didn't sell in 1997 or 2000 when the team was atrocious. In short, these are the owners, love them or hate them. They're not selling.
3. Who says the team's not moving in the right direction? They've had winning records five out of the last six seasons. In many ways, this is the team's second golden age. Sure, there's been poor pitching, occasionally poor hitting, questionable in-game management, dumb trades, ill-advised free agent signings... but I put it to you that the team's lack of a playoff berth in all that time can just as easily be attributed to astonishingly bad luck - i.e., the team played in a time when they were surrounded by numerous teams that were just simply better, or at least knew how to capitalize on the Phils' weaknesses at the right times. If this were the NBA or NHL, where just about everybody makes the playoffs, the Phils would have been right in there every time. (I'm not advocating such a system, I'm just saying.) And contrary to popular opinion, the Phillies' owners have been spending money. Certainly more than teams like the Marlins and A's, who have found their way into the playoffs recently. At some point, it has to be the Phils' time, right? (And really, if a mediocre team like the 2006 Cardinals can win the World Series, there's hope for us all.)
4. The 2006 team was filled with likable players: Howard, Utley, Hamels, Rollins, Victorino... hell, even that crazy idiot Rowand. Why root for Ryan Howard to spend his October not hitting home runs in the playoffs just because you hate the Phillies' owners? I'll never understand that.
5. Most importantly, baseball is just a game, a pleasant diversion that helps us forget, for a few hours a day, the hideous realities of our strange, ridiculous world. I'm not going to drive myself to depression hating my favorite team. And anyway, they were in a playoff race! Actual meaningful baseball, every night on my TV! I knew then that in February and March, I would long for a meaningful baseball game, and that in fact has been the case. I'm glad I enjoyed last season when I had the chance, unlike that guy. Furthermore, it is literally impossible for me to root against the Phillies - I honestly have no idea how.

So, I'm not sure why I'm bitching about a post written by a stranger many months ago on a board I no longer read. I think my main point is that there was a time in my life (I call it "2004") when I allowed myself to be governed by pessimism and cynicism and straight-up hatred, but no more. Those days are over. The Phillies, my friends, win or lose, now and forever.