A game that began with a deluge has washed away an epic drought.

Tyler Kepner
New York Times, October 29, 2008

In 1968 my family moved from southern Indiana to South Jersey, and there, 16 miles from Philadelphia, was born my affinity for Philly sports teams.

Twelve years later, in the same year I married my wife, I would sit in Veterans Stadium’s right-field upper deck with her and my brothers and watch Tug McGraw strike out Willie Wilson with the bases full of Kansas City Royals, to win the franchise’s first World Series title.

It was an event of incredible joy, ranked in my memories just below the birth of my children and my wedding. The memory is marred only by the images of Frank Rizzo’s cavalry and police dogs encircling the field in the bottom of the 8th.

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It’s funny how Philadelphia sportsdom is driven by hate. Hate of the NY Mets and NY Giants, and especially hate of the Dallas Cowboys. There has been a lot of speculation over the roots of that Cowboys hate. Here’s what I think:

It’s not the Cowboys Philadelphia fans hate. It’s the Cowboys’ fans–especially those that live in our midst, with no real connection to Dallas, Texas, beyond a shallow desire to be associated with a winner. That is no reason to support a team. We support these millionaire players and billionaire owners not to steal their achievements, but to cheer their pursuits. We support them as representatives of our place in the world–of our community.

When we do that–and only when we do that–do we win when they win.

Pure sports fans are loyal to the marrow. A lot of us see all those fans of “America’s Team” as nothing but fair-weather friends who will never appreciate the joy of a national championship because they have never earned it.

Philadelphia fans have earned their joy. Just recently, the Phillies marked the franchise’s 10,000th loss. In its vast 125-year history, the franchise has given its faithful much more to lament than to celebrate.

At right is a picture of my ticket for the clinching game of the 1980 series. My wife and I spent six hours in a ticket line at Veteran’s Stadium to make sure we would be there (actually, Cathy could have done without it, but she endured for my sake).

In the ecstatic moments of triumph we shared with our boys in 1980, I actually thought for a moment how tragic it is for the Cubs and Red Sox fans that have lived and died without seeing their team reach the top.

Cole Hamels, the MVP of the 2008 series, was not even born when Pete Rose, Manny Trillo, Bake McBride, Schmitty, Larry Bowa, Lefty, Sarge, the Bull and the rest of that pluckiest of teams won it all.

Twenty-eight years later, our boys are winners again. The celebration is sweetest for those who shared those years of failure and heartbreak. There is a profound thing to be learned in that.

I’ve been thinking about writing a Why-I-am-voting-for-Obama post.

The motivating force has been the robocall and two ugly pieces of mail the “Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania–Victory 2008″ recently sent to my home.

The mailings so despicably and ridiculously smear Obama as “soft on crime” and a supporter of terrorists, that I was moved to post something in response.

Instead, I will simply direct you to Colin Powell’s eloquent endorsement of Obama.

I could not agree more with Powell’s comments and rationale. I share his view that the divisive politics being employed in this presidential campaign are causing terrible harm to our country.

Powell’s comments about the fear-mongering against Muslims were especially good to hear.

At right, is the photo of the grieving mother of an American soldier Powell referenced in his endorsement of Obama.

In what may prompt some to think fondly of the days when flamboyant English kings ruled us, The Wilson Quarterly recently published an essay that describes the American electorate as irrational, ignorant, disinterested, inattentive, uninformed and myopic.

The essay springs from a review of the recently published book on American voters, “Just How Stupid Are We?” by historian Rick Shenkman. The answer, it seems, is “exceptionally.”

The WQ essay also references “American Voter, a 1960 report published by the University of Michigan. It describes “the general impoverishment of political thought in a large proportion of the electorate.” Voters are described as “unsophisticated … with little grasp of issues.” The researchers revisited their work using surveys from 2000 and 2004 and, 50 years later, found nothing had changed.

It seems that the heart of the matter is that we Americans have little interest in politics or politicians. We inherit or develop notions of political ideals and then crudely affix them to the candidates we perceive—correctly or not–as most closely like ourselves. These “information shortcuts,” as the political scientists call them, are the essential informers of the electorate.

One might imagine that voters employing that level of thinking could be mightily influenced by negative campaign messages. Suspicious of fundamentalist religion? Then you may respond well to mocking portrayals of Gov. Sarah Palin’s faith. Gravely concerned about national security? Then you may be susceptible to smearing suggestions that Barack Obama’s middle name is evidence of Arab terrorist roots.

Yes, we may typically take shortcuts with our political thinking. We’re busy making a living, raising families and hoping beyond hope that the Phillies win the pennant.

But in atypical times, when wars are raging, families are being bankrupted and American ideals are being perverted to base political ends?

Then, I think the American voter can be quite astute, and quite unlikely to be fooled by negative nonsense.