Oct. 21--UPDATED: 19 MIN. AGO PHILADELPHIA -- Take a look, Philadelphia. Things have worked out just as hoped. You wanted the Rays; you got them.
With almost a week to debate the merits of two potential World Series opponents after the Phillies dusted the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League Championship Series, Philadelphia fans -- even the ones who are housebroken -- united in their preference for a title tussle with Tampa Bay rather than Boston.
"I was hoping we'd play the Rays," said Dennis Maiorano, concierge of a downtown Philadelphia hotel.
From the vantage point of Florida's west coast, the logic seems crystal clear. Tampa Bay has Philly's collective nose out of joint. Ben Franklin can't touch Howard Frankland. Everybody remembers how the Buccaneers ruined the Eagles' party in the 2003 NFC title game on the way to winning the Super Bowl. And don't forget how the Lightning took down the Flyers in the Eastern Conference final on their way to the 2004 Stanley Cup.
Is it any wonder Philadelphia should want to dig up Gulf Coast beaches in search of its buried civic pride?
"Well, to be honest," Maiorano said, "it's just that we'd rather not have Red Sox fans here."
Whoa, now. Just back up the civic pride parade. What about the Phillies being entrusted with defending Philadelphia's dignity, preventing the Town of Brotherly Loathe from AGAIN having beach sand kicked in its face?
"I had no idea that was the case," Phillies infielder Eric Bruntlett said. "I'd not heard anything like that until you just mentioned it."
Good try, Tampa Bay, but apparently we are not a big-boy rival just yet.
Yes, the Bucs' upset of the lopsided-favorite Eagles in the final football game played in Veterans Stadium remains universally accepted as the most devastating loss in recent Philadelphia memory.
"We still feel like we lost that game, that Tampa didn't win it," said Philadelphia restaurateur Pete Ciarrocchi, an Eagles and Phillies season-ticker holder. "I mean, OK, Ronde Barber is good. A great player. But Joe Jurevicius? Joooooooe Jurevicius? Come on."
Yet even throwing in a couple of Flyers playoff losses to the Lightning, it apparently is not enough to merit the full rapture of Philadelphia's famous ire -- the one that moves them to boo Santa Claus, beat up opposing fans and throw ice balls at the field.
jellyjojo 
