The proper amount of fandom in the offseason

So it's November and you are in the immediate wake of your favorite baseball team winning the World Series. What do you do? You freakin' celebrate, buy as much Phillies sh*t possible and rub it in the faces of every Met's fan that stumbled upon Rowan U! But when is the celebration and fandom become too much? I will give you a good guide to maintaining a proper amount of fandom but not going over board.

The first step my fellow Prof-ets is that you should go all out for about a month. After that you should turn your amps down from a 10 to maybe a 7. One good thing about baseball gear is that you can still wear a hat and it's just a subtle reminder that your team is awesome. T-shirts are also acceptable. Overdoing includes baseball jerseys from late December-early February and shoes to match the jersey. I have seen Met's fans with their orange and blue shoes and it's absolutely hilarious. Prof-ets, don't wear blue and red or I'll throw them over a powerline.

Now some great things to wear year-round include your typical fitted Phillies hat, either plain, alternate, 4th of July, or with the WS logo on the side. Even if it's cold, you can wear those goofy hats the J-Roll wore during the WS with the ear flap thing. Please don't wear those stupid ghetto hats you see in Lids. I mean come on. Knitted caps for the winter are probably a more logical choice if you don't want your ears to be cold but you still want people to know you're a fan.

I have seen many great shirts to celebrate the championship. One of my personal favorites is the variation of Chase Utley shirts with his famous quote. You can even wear the official shirt the players wore when they won. MLB.com has a bunch of great shirts and some smaller sites have more creative ones as well.

One thing I ask of you fans is to be relevant to celebrating your championship. After this season, if the Phillies are done defending their title, don't go walking around like the New York Giants fans every freaking day with their Super Bowl crap (or your this case, World Series). Have some class when flaunting your fandom..... except when it's to Met's fans. F*ck 'em I say.

This week in the Phillies blog world

It's been a busy week for the Phillies and all news regarding them. They just had their first game today versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and lost 8-2 but Jamie Moyer looked solid in his 2 innings pitched and newly acquired left fielder Raul Ibanez drove in a run. Well here's a look at what's going on in other sites:

Today - Todd Zolecki, former writer for Philly Inquirer, is enjoying his new job with MLB.com and wrote on his blog a full analysis of the Phillies first day in action.

Today - The Phillies Nation also gave a small recap of today's game as well as the signing of Carlos Ruiz to a 1 year, $475 K contract.

Monday - The Beerleaguer talked about an interview Comcast Sports Net's Leslie Gudell held with the only two Phillies managers to win a World Series in Charlie Manuel (2008) and Dallas Green (1980). A link was also provided to the interview.

Today - The 700 Level did a little thing on Oakland's GM Billy Bean talking about his ex-pitcher Joe Blanton, the #4 starter in the Phils' rotation.

Today - Phuture Phillies also did a recap and went more in depth with the how the prospects played versus the Pirates.

Beating a Dead Horse

There is nothing better than a little trash talking to start the season. But when it's over played and unwitty, I tend to yawn. I mean really, New York, be creative. Your newly signed closer, Francisco Rodriguez deemed the Mets the "team to beat." Jimmy Rollins made that bold prediction in 2007 as the Phillies went on to win the division. The Carlos Beltran opened his mouth and repeated what Mr. Rollins said prior to another 2008 loss to the Phillies. Now K-Rod? It's like the Mets are a bunch of third graders.

I know there was other talk like Cole Hamels calling the Mets "choke artists" and Rollins again claiming the Phillies will stand alone on top of the NL East. Even the hilarity of Shane Victorino doing his Joes Reyes impersonation after hitting a grand slam in game 2 of the NLCS, poking fun at how Reyes "pimps" his home runs. Those were creative. The Mets are simply trying to use a Rollins creation and use it against the Phillies, again. It gets old gentlemen. If you want it to stop, beat the Phillies and win a World Series.

A recap of the trash talk dating back to J-Roll's infamous prediction:

"I think we are the team to beat in the NL East--finally. But
that's only on paper." - Rollins 2007

"We’ll win probably 100 games . . . 100 games will get us to the
playoffs." - Rollins 2007

"This year, tell Jimmy Rollins WE'RE the team to beat." - Beltran 2008

<-Shane Victorino hits grand slam off of Milawaukee's CC Sabathia and "pimps" his home run like Jose Reys of the Mets. (photo courtesy of Matt Rourke/AP)

"That's kind of what we believed and I think we're always going to believe
that until they prove us wrong. For the past two years they've been choke
artists." - Hamels 2008

"Of course, we're going to try to win the division. Of course, we're going
to be the front-runner. Of course, we're going to be the team to beat." - F. Rodriguez
2008

"He will be watched every time he faces us and hopefully we kill him. Then
he has to deal with the situation." - Beltran 2009

"We don't worry about Philly. I don't know why they worry so much about the
New York Mets. They are the ones to win the World Series, not us, and we don't
say nothing about them. We just say congratulations to the Phillies.They always
seem like they're talking something about us. I don't know why. I mean, they
have to be happy because they win the World Series. Why are they focusing on us?
If they don't like us that's OK." - Reyes 2009

Reliving the Parade Down Broad Street 10/31/08

I was hoping that at least at one point in my life, I would be able to see a Philadelphia parade down Broad Street. I was expecting to be seeing Donovan McNabb or Simon Gagne eventually because the Eagles and Flyers were perennial play off contenders. Who would have thought that after finally making the playoffs for the first time in 14 years in 2007 that the Phillies would win the World Series in 2008, breaking Philadelphia's 25 year championship drought.

So it was Halloween day and it was a beautiful day as well. My brother and I stood on Broad Street and waited for 2 1/2 hours before the Phillies made their way down Broad Street. 15 minutes later, it was all over. But who cares? The Phillies were World F*cking Champions (in the words of Chase Utley) and that was all that matters to us fans.

So here are some pictures from that amazing day in Philly:

Jayson Werth is a multi-million dollar athlete

and he is drinking Milwaukee's Best!!!

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard

(well his body because his girl is blocking his face)

Look at Howard poppin' that collar, knowin' he'll be gettin' paid in 4 months.

The Philly Phanatic standing tall on top of a float.

Pat Burrell waving to the fans.

Too bad we will see him in Rays colors next season.

Thank you Pat!

Me and my brother, Nick, after the parade.

The First Post!

Hey my fellow fans of Phillies Nation! I'm John Russo but you can call me "Roose." I'm starting this blog up to let you all know what some of the greatest fans in all of sports are really like. I will focus that attention to students at Rowan University, who have the privilege to be only 15-20 minutes from the great city of Philadelphia. I hope you enjoy my blog and continue to read what it's like around here, especially in the wake of an amazing 2008 season that ended with a parade down Broad Street!

So a little about myself. I go to Rowan University and I'm a sophomore. I am majoring in journalism and I want to be a sports writer. I am a huge Philadelphia fan (if you haven't gotten that impression yet) and I was ecstatic when the Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. I am also a casual musician which battles with sports as my number one passion.

I also write for a blog my friend set up called We Hate to Lose which I will link for Phillies news along with the Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, or any colleges relevant to the city of Philadelphia. It will be on the side in the blog roll along with other blogs I have read or like to read.

So in this blog I will give you and in-depth look at the fans attending Rowan. I will talk to them about certain news, their stories about the World Series, and even some of their rituals or habits when attending a game or watching it on TV. So that's it about me. Now I will allow you to know more about the rest of us.

Let's Go Phillies