Unscientific Survey: Philly Sports Championship?

Two weeks ago, we set our sports survey in the context of Philadelphia sports teams’ recent poor performance.

Hard to believe, Harry, but since then things have only gotten bleaker.

The Phillies ended their season losing eight of the final nine games and couldn’t even make an expanded version of the playoffs. The Eagles salvaged a tie against the lowly Bengals to start the season 0-2-1. Only the soccer-playing Union, with a strong start to their campaign, have provided hope to the local fans.

And that success is reflected in the results of our survey. A strong plurality of 43% predicted the Union will be the next local team to win a championship. One nice thing about the club is that they play their games just down the road. (I highly recommend attending a match.) An anonymous reader commented, “I think the Union will parade down Chester Road from the college back to their home pitch in Chester!”

Following the Union, in order of votes received, were the Flyers, 76ers, Phillies, and — with a rousing 3% of the vote — Eagles. Reader Steve Platt showed some of the famous Philly fan spirit by commenting, “I’m wondering if we’ll get a championship from a new team in a new sport before any of these teams manages to pull it off!”

Another reader, Jim Ericson, was more philosophical — a quality we would all do well to cultivate. “Hope and propinquity,” he observed, “are the best assured rewards of fandom.”