A lot is being said of Chase Utley's faux pas Monday night during the introductions prior to the home run derby. After he was introduced, he got some boos from some of the local New Yorkers, in which he responded Fuck you, under his breath but because he was wearing a microphone for ESPN, it was picked up. No less than an hour later, it started being posted on blogs and you tubes, and they Philly bashing started.
Was Chase out of line, yes, he later apologized for the remark, although he really didn't say it that loud and it was merely a knee jerk response to a hostile crowd.
Of course because Chase is a Philly player, the Philly bashers had a field day with it, and all the past incidents (snowballs at Santa, cheering Michael Irvin, etc) started coming to the forefront.
I am sick and tired of Philly getting this bad rap when fan and player behavior in other cities is equally as bad, and under reported. I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated earlier this year about student behavior at college basketball games and how they torment the other teams, and sometime even target visiting players families. Yet incidents like those are hardly noticed and reported, and are tolerated by the schools.
Athletes aren't perfect, and Chase Utley's muttering Fuck You under his breath, but only being heard because he had a microphone (which seems to be getting a lot of folks in trouble lately, paging Jesse Jackson) on it caught the attention of the national media. I am sure that during most professional sports games that a lot of similar things are said all the time, to the other players, the fans, and whomever else is annoying said player. They are adults playing at a high level, high intensity and with a lot of emotion.
Although Chase's comment was in hindsight wrong, in the context of speaking from a Philly fan's perspective, I think it was an appropriate comment...he just got caught.
No harm done, and let's move on and get down to the business of playing baseball.
Well done Chase, you are having a hell of a year, and screw what the rest of fans are saying about you, especially the loser New York fans
--gfo
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