For D.C. Baseball Team, Deluge of Phillies Fans Is National Disgrace

The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 2, 2012 | BRAD REAGAN

[MinorityRepublican]

One of Andrew Feffer's jobs is getting Washington Nationals fans to come to the ballpark. But this year, the team's chief operating officer has another goal: keeping Philadelphia Phillies fans out.

Since the baseball franchise left Montreal for Washington, D.C., in 2005, the Nationals pastime has been losing games. They haven't yet had a winning season. Meanwhile, their rivals 125 miles up I-95 have been one of the best teams in the game.

With seats in Philly's Citizens Bank Park hard to come by, Phillies fans have taken to descending on Nationals Park whenever their team pays a visit. Two years ago, Nationals fan Ryan Sullivan spent more than $600 on Opening Day tickets for himself and his father. The park was filled with Philadelphia supporters, whose team routed the Nationals 11-1. One overindulged Phillies fan threw up on Mr. Sullivan's shoes, he says. "They were so obnoxious."

A veteran sports marketer, Mr. Feffer joined the Nationals in 2010. As a Virginia native, he had long been irked by the way Philadelphia fans converged on Washington to cheer for their teams—hockey and football fans also contend with Flyers and Eagles fans from up north.

The last straw came Aug. 20, on what should have been a happy occasion: The Nationals set a single-game attendance record. The problem was that two-thirds of the crowd was rooting for Philadelphia, which won the game 5-0. Phillies fans created a sign across the bleachers that said: "Welcome to Citizens Bank Park South."

Something, Mr. Feffer says, "had to change."

His solution was a curveball: For the first series between the two teams this year, Friday through Sunday, he blocked single-game ticket sales outside the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

[boop]

Totally true about the Cubs and Cincy. It seemed like there were more blue caps in the stands at Riverfront than red ones. And that’s at least a 6 hour drive from Chicago.

[boop]

Speaking of obnoxious fans, do you remember when during a Bengals game, the Riverfront crowd was going wild, acting obnoxiously, throwing things on the field, and Sam Wyche got on the PA system and told the Cincy crowd to settle down. He said: "You live in Cincinnati, Not CLEVELAND!"

Nothing like the OLD "Dog Pound" of the 70s/80s.

[Ransomed]

Oh yeah, it will be great if we can see a series with both teams healthy sometime.

Strasburg vs. Halladay would be cool.

Freegards