Nick Piccone
Marcus Hayes dug his heels in and, again, took a shot at me. He took a shot at you. He took a shot at all Philadelphia sports fans in his column today.
I probably shouldn’t be giving him free press on our site, but I feel like it’s necessary to point out a few things that Hayes conveniently left out of his writing. Hayes’ main point was that while it’s “one bad apple” every time a story about a fan, or a few, does something stupid during a game, it happens far too often for us to be angry at the reputation we carry around for us by simply being Philadelphia sports fans.
There are times where I would seem to agree with Hayes – there are those specific instances where I am embarrassed to be associated with being a Philly sports fan. I think it’s happened to all of us at one point. But there are also moments like this that give us some clarity. Many fans will unite against Hayes. Many already have, actually.
I’ll admit fully I’ve never been the kind of fan to boo or throw stuff at a game when something happens I don’t like. I’m not the biggest Ryan Howard fan right now, but the more that I think about it, the more I realize the fact that him being on the team has no correlation to the Phillies not being a playoff team. Literally, zero. I was at a game earlier this year and saw Howard strike out more than once. I had zero reaction. I pretty much knew it was coming. But I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t even sad. I didn’t have any feeling whatsoever.
I’ll also admit fully that I’ve never sat near or noticed any fan around me behave in the way that beer bottle thrower acted on Saturday afternoon [not night, Marcus]. I wasn’t at the Flyers’ playoff game against the Capitals when they threw those bracelets on the ice, and that may have been the first time I had to confront the issue in person. And while it’s hard to say I would absolutely do something when the situation has never presented itself, I’m sure I would have tried to make the people stop.
To Hayes’ point, there’s not enough of us that do that. Someone could have easily prevented this from becoming a beer bottle fugitive manhunt. The guy that took the picture? Why not alert the people around there what just happened so they could get involved? Step up and say something. Ignoring it and then complaining when you’re labeled a shitty Philly fan isn’t a good look. Hayes is on the money with that. If we can’t prevent it, we can damn sure do something about it.
But what about the fans who want to change the reputation that they have unfairly plastered across their chests? I’ve never done anything terrible at a sporting event, nor have my parents or grandparents. So they tell me, anyway. But, I can say for certain I never have thrown anything at a player, another fan, a security guard, etc. I never will. There’s nothing that important enough, drunk or sober, to risk engaging in behavior that could be detrimental to myself and those around me.
So when I see something like this, I, along with the good people of Philadelphia on social media, want to help. The Phillies want help in identifying this guy.
— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) June 5, 2016
We’ve posted his picture various times on social media and this website. We’re trying to make things right.
Where’s the mention of that in Hayes’ article? Where’s the graf that gives Philly fans credit for wanting to do the right thing and make sure that most of us disagree with what this guy did and giving guys like Hayes fodder to poke the Philly Fan Reputation bear again?
Where’s the picture of the suspect in Hayes’ article?
None of the above. Nothing regarding the social media movement that we and plenty of other great Philadelphians were involved in. Nothing on the person the Phillies confirmed was the bottle thrower. Nothing to try to help the cause to find the guy. Is it at this point an old story? I’m sure there are arguments about this being blown out of proportion, but everyone knew after that story broke Sunday morning it would cast a net on all of us. And there were plenty of fans who cut through that net to try and establish a norm that this type of behavior is not acceptable.
Punish the bottle thrower. Make a no tolerance policy for this. Ban him. For life? Maybe not… but at least for the rest of the season.
That’s what we want. That’s what we’re asking for.
But where was Hayes’ attempt at understanding the fans who were trying to help? There was none.
Then again, Hayes was probably completely oblivious to the movement either because he doesn’t care enough to keep up on social media, or it didn’t fit his narrative. The search is still on for the suspect who threw the bottle. Philly social media is trying to help. Philly fans are trying to help. Phillies fans are trying to help.
But Hayes doesn’t care about that. Perhaps he should.