Go Phillies, I guess.

I said once when I moved to Philly that I'm a good-luck charm for sports teams. Every year I lived in Georgia, the Braves won their division, and the Falcons went to the Superbowl once. The Hawks and Thrashers were still...well, the Hawks and Thrashers, but that's still a pretty good record. When I moved to Boston, the Patriots won two Superbowls and the Red Sox broke an 86-year-old curse and finally won the World Series. There was dancing in the streets, old men cried, babies laughed and there was a certified spike in births exactly nine months after the self-proclaimed team of Idiots brought down the Curse of the Bambino.

When I moved to Philadelphia, I didn't really care if my luck followed me. I'm NOT an Eagles fan (I still love my Patriots), I don't care for basketball, and I could take or leave the Flyers and the Phillies. Last year when the Phillies won their division, there was massive celebration, and I called it - they celebrated WAY too early. They were swept in the first round of the playoffs.

This year, I didn't even care. The Eagles, as everyone knows, are destined to another bad season, and my last experience with the Phillies was attending Dollar-Dog Night right after I got dumped from Iraq last year. I spent 7 innings crying. That Tom Hanks is a liar - there IS crying in baseball. I avoided Citizens Bank Park like the plague, and watched MAYBE an inning of the Phillies. I kept hearing "the Phillies are in first place" and would basically say "great, I'm sure they'll choke." I was resigned to moving to Charlotte, and didn't care what my almost-former-city's team did.

My luck still followed me, though - the Phillies have made it to the World Series. A very nice lifelong Phillies fan helped me with my move out of my apartment and I told him the other day that I would root for the Phillies as long as they were not playing the Red Sox. I have to say, I was a little nervous about this - if Boston and Philly were to play in the World Series, it might get ugly. I could bite my tongue, but neither city is known for doing so, especially when it comes to sports. Fortunately for him, the Red Sox lost to the Rays in game 7. While I'm partial to the Sox and do not claim to be a part of the Phillies nation other than having lived there for three years, I'll root for the Phillies, in keeping with my promise. And I'm kind of glad that I'm not living on South Street now - the Phillies winning the World Series may be enough to drive a person insane. Given the number of chubby dudes wearing jean shorts and Phillies jerseys that would flood the area shouting E-A-G-L-E-S (yes, I know - wrong team - but they cheer for the Eagles when ANYTHING happens), Crabby Molly would have been on high alert.

Simply because it's a city desperate for some sort of miracle, and because Tampa Bay isn't really even a CITY, for crying out loud...go Phils.