Philly Phile | Who's to blame for Howard's expectations? Us ...

Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard sounded miffed this week that anyone would ask him about his role with the club.

At this point, displays such as his delusional, passive-aggressive pseudo bitchfest to media members earlier this week ... are befitting an athlete who has been pampered and coddled and excused ...

Don’t blame Ryan Howard.

At this point, displays such as his delusional, passive-aggressive pseudo bitchfest to media members earlier this week at Phillies spring training about how he should be treated better are befitting an athlete who has been pampered and coddled and excused the greater part of the back end of his professional baseball career.

Make no mistake, Howard was once a great player, a power hitter blessed with such pop that comparisons made to the likes of Ruth, Foxx and Aaron didn’t even draw as much as an eyebrow raise, never mind a snicker. Oh, he may never have been the overall batsman or first baseman as contemporary Albert Pujols, but when it came to packing a punch, to producing runs, he, really, truly, had no peer at one time.

From 2006 through 2009, Howard averaged 50 (OK, 49.5 rounded up) homers, 143 RBIs and 102 runs scored per season. He was a bona fide star, so special and shiny that he was recognized as “The Big Piece” among the trio of Philly legends that included eternal fan favorite Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins as it carried the Phillies to back-to-back World Series appearances and one championship.

All the accolades he received, and, despite whining to the contrary, he received tons from every avenue available, he deserved.

But no athlete is worthy of having reality ignored for the sake of forever being stuck in the past. Oh, the memories will live on, as will the appreciation for the individual who created them.

It’s just, you know, c’mon …

Howard hasn’t been an elite performer since Game 6 against the Yankees in 2009 ended. He hasn’t been a good one since 2011. Injuries and eroding skills completely derailed what once had been a fast track to the Hall of Fame.

But here, in Philly and the surrounding area, we have a hard time letting go of our heroes. We constantly twist and turn evidence to rationalize a rebirth, clinging to those extremely rare five homers in four games stretches while conveniently discarding the months of whiffs and 9-hole type production.

For us, it is far more appropriate to blow smoke up our guy’s rear end than to accept what actually is and share it with him in a “yo, right now, bud, you stink” manner.
Instead, we live in denial and we promote the same in the athlete.

This silly, “lifetime pass” that Howard obviously expects – and has expected for a while; this latest outburst is hardly ground-breaking “new” stuff from him – is a byproduct of us, of our babying him the last 4-5 years, of our unyielding desire to return him and us back to the glory days that we pretzel logic into being “right there.”

If only for this. If only for that.

Reality has said otherwise for a long time now.

Just don’t be too hard on Howard with failing to recognize that just yet. It took you awhile, too.

​- Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com
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REALITY CHECK

To all those who moan about the mistreatment of Ryan Howard, about how he hasn’t been appreciated and given his just due, got three words for ya:

Get a clue.

Seriously, enough with this drivel that has as much merit his $25 million price tag this season. Howard was as celebrated as any athlete in this town, including Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, during his prime and beyond. If anything, Howard has been handled with kid gloves the last handful of years, just like his former Phillies teammates were before departing town last year.

Yet, listen enough to his supporters and the PC police who reside among the local media, and you’ll get the impression this guy not only was held to a different standard, but had the villagers coming after him with pitchforks and fire in some sort of distorted pro sports version of a modern-day Frankenstein.

Hogwash.

Only two athletes in my lifetime, individuals who rated at Howard’s level, if not above, ever could have claimed to be placed in such a role:

MIKE SCHMIDT
It’s kinda amazing to hear Phillies fans old enough to remember Schmitty’s heyday strum the violin for Howard. There is no comparison to how bad it was for the former compared to the latter. Schmidt’s famous quip that noted Philly was the only place you could experience the thrill of victory one night and the agony of reading about it the next day had merit when it came to him.

His aloofness and often awkward way of communicating, in many ways, made him persona non grata with, first, the media in town, and, then, the fan base … because here the two are interminably intertwined, and forever influenced by the other. The fact he was arguably the best player of his generation didn’t even seem to matter – until the final days of his Hall of Fame career came to a close.

Sorry, Howard never suffered such foolishness.

DONOVAN McNABB
A more contemporary comparison to Howard, since their careers overlapped, D-Mac, as Eagles QB, held the most important position in town (sorry, mayor) for close to a decade and mostly excelled in handling the duties that came with it. But you’d hardly know it. Oh, he had supporters, no doubt.

Yet, even now, we spend more time discussing his failings and even one of his own protectors on the offense line leads the debate as to whether or not McNabb threw up during the Super Bowl. Really, we can’t move on from that? It was more than a decade ago.
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Rarely do we hear about McNabb’s toughness, including the fact he carried the Birds to victory one time in 2002 with a broken ankle. With Howard, it’s been a never-ending testament to the trials and tribulations he has endured due to a torn Achilles.

C’mon, people. Get a grip. This town isn’t nearly as tough on its athletes, its stars, as it likes to claim, and Howard certainly didn’t get the brunt of anything. McNabb and Schmidt did, and that’s about it.