PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Tom Holland, 74, of the Northeast, has been a Philadelphia sports fan for decades, getting interested thanks to his late father, Jim.
"You know you've been around a long time when you're watching the Phillies in your third ballpark," said Holland, a Vietnam War veteran born and raised within walking distance of long-gone Connie Mack Stadium.
His fandom runs deep, even though major wins are often far and few between.
The city's major professional sports teams — including the Athletics and Warriors who left for Kansas City and San Francisco, respectively — have won 17 championships since the Phillies surfaced in 1883 as the Philadelphia Quakers. The A's and Warriors have accounted for seven of those titles.
Since 1950, there have been only nine titles. That statistic prompted Holland to track Philadelphia's generations-long ineptitude in professional sports by showing how infrequently they win championships. He did so through the analytics of sports losing.
Holland deemed each season for each team a "sports year." So the current Eagles, Sixers and Flyers seasons would account for three "sports years." Holland says in his lifetime, there have been 284 sports years, which include those nine championships. Thus, giving his lifetime a .301 winning percentage.
Despite the pain of seasons like the 1964 Phillies collapse or the 25-year championship drought before the 2008 Phillies, Holland keeps coming back for more. Probably because when championships do happen, they make the long wait feel oh-so-sweet.
For more of Tom's story, take a listen to KYW's Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week:
