Wooder Under Da Bridge
Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm says 'I f---ing hate this place' about Philadelphia, lives to tell the tale
As countless professional athletes have learned over the years, calling out the fans in just about any city is a no-win game. Call them out in Philadelphia and you might as well strap yourself to a rocket and head straight to Mars, because there is no coming back.
Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm put that theory to the test on Monday night, when the Phils opened up a three-game set against the visiting New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Bohm, a third-year infielder still finding his way in the show, made three errors in the first three innings at third base, a disastrous start for a player trying to win the starting job. Within a blink, the Phillies trailed 3-0 to the rival Mets, though none of Bohm's errors directly led to an unearned run.
But the boo birds were out anyway, as is tradition in Philly. Then, after Bohm's second error, the 25-year-old settled down and made a routine play, which yielded some sarcastic cheers from the fervent Philly faithful. Bohm, probably not knowing the camera was on him at the time, could be seen saying "I f---ing hate this place" while that was happening, at least according to the professional lip-readers of social media:
Conventional wisdom would tell you that this would be the end of Bohm's time in Philadelphia. By Tuesday morning, he'd be sent away in a trade. Good riddance. Sayonara. If you can't handle the Philly Phanatics at their worst, you don't deserve them at their best. Dead man walking, even if the initial lip-reading was wrong. The damage was done when over 1 million people viewed the video on social media and made up their minds. That's how the internet works, unfortunately.
Yet Bohm, by some miracle, managed to turn the whole situation into a positive. It helps that the Phillies came back and won the game, 5-4, with a Bohm leadoff walk sparking a rally late. But it helped even more when Bohm owned up to the comment, when he could have just as easily said he didn't say what we all thought he said:
Damage control game = strong. Again, Bohm would have been well within his rights to say "you guys are reading too far into this," but owning up to it was a much, much smarter move. Thanks to that, and a Phillies win, the fans will forget about this entirely ... for 24 whole hours. If Bohm makes another error or goes 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Tuesday night, you can bet your life savings the fans will make sure he still "f---ing hates this place." He should just keep it to himself the next time he says it, though.