(guess who’s not on Jimmy’s iPod?)

An uncredited writer from the Philadelphia Daily News has the most unpleasant task since the paper investigated the inside of Rev. Gary Heidnik’s dungeon : watching an episode of Fox Sports’ “The Best Damn Sports Show, Period”, in particular, last night’s episode featuring Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins.

After being asked whether Philadelphia was as tough a place to play as the national media sometimes portrays, Rollins answered:

“There are times,” he said. “I might catch some flak for saying this, but, you know, they’re front-runners. When you’re doing good, they’re on your side. When you’re doing bad, they’re completely against you.”

Rollins then mentioned the hometown of teammate, and fellow show guest, Ryan Howard as a differently wired fan base.

“For example, Ryan is from St. Louis and St. Louis, it seems like they support their team, they’re out there and encouraging. In Philly, can’t be no punk.”

Hey, never mind the subtle diss of these guys, 700 Level’s Matt P. considers the above comments sort of curious coming from “someone who has been let off relatively easy for a very subpar 2008 season.”

I get it; we’re tough on our players. But front-runners? Let’s be honest”it’s hard to be a front-runner when your squad is one of the all-time losing-est franchises in sports. I won’t even get into the Flyers attendance during the worst season in franchise history, or how tough it is to get a seat at the Linc to watch an 8-8 team, (…drawing a blank on any comparable Sixers reference).

J-Roll has a point that there is more support for the team when it’s winning, far more criticism when it’s losing, and that we’re hard on good players when they’re playing poorly (I believe this latter distinction is likely driving Jimmy’s words, especially considering his production this year). But show me a place where that’s entirely untrue. I’ve been to four away parks in the past two seasons, and only Boston was anything but a ghost town in the stands (and how). Rollins, who acknowledged that he’d likely get some “flak” for the comment, pointed to Ryan Howard’s hometown of St. Louis for its unwavering support of the Cardinals. Ya know what helps? Maybe that they’ve won more World Series titles than any other NL team (10), most recently in 2006.