We Are Stuck In The Painful Cycle Of Philadelphia Sports
It’s our lot in life as residents of this area. We are Philadelphia sports fans, and we are resigned to an endless cycle of pain. It’s like the circle of life, except it’s the circle of sports death and there’s not even a cute cartoon lion that gets to sing about it. Last night, the Philadelphia 76ers season came to an end, and it was not a painless, slip away in your sleep type of end. The Sixers went down in an embarrassing performance on their home floor, with no positives to take out of that game. Were there positives to be taken from this season as a whole? Absolutely, there were. That too, though, is part of this painful endless cycle that we find ourselves in. Things like Tyrese Maxey’s growth, Joel Embiid’s dominance, and the potential of reshaping the roster give us hope, and hope is what keeps us on the merry-go-round.
So, where do we go from here? Well we continue the circle, of course. The Phillies are already over a month into an underachieving season that could see them miss the playoffs for the 11th straight season. They’ll get us through the summer before an inevitable collapse in September just in time to turn the collective eyes of Philadelphia to the Eagles. The Eagles are a team with potential this year, that’s for sure, but are still on the outside looking in when it comes to contending for a Super Bowl. It will be a fun season it seems, but if they ultimately fall short, isn’t it just a repeat of what we got from the Sixers this year? October will bring the Flyers back with one of the worst rosters in the NHL, and a Sixers season that will see this team again try and get out of the 2nd round for the first time in over 2 decades. Will there be moments along the trip around the cycle that will be exciting? Absolutely. Playoff runs? Possibly. But are there any true contenders in this city right now? It doesn’t look like it to me.
The Eagles won as recently as 2017, the greatest sports moment in this city’s history. It’s already been 5 years though, and the entire core of that team is essentially gone. The Phillies haven’t won since 2008, good for a 14 year drought. It’s been 39 years for the Sixers, and 47 years for the Flyers. That means a 35 year old in this city has seen 2 championships in their life time. That is unacceptable for a city of this size, with this type of sports passion, and yet, it has become the norm. I don’t know what breaks this cycle. Maybe we’re cursed, and we’re resigned to this fate for the rest of our days. All that I know is that this is Philadelphia sports fandom right now. It’s a vicious cycle, and we’re stuck in it until one of these teams decided to give this city a run that they deserve. Well, until then, hang on for your lives folks. There’s no getting off this ride.
