To think that the fans of a city could not do much worse than throwing chunks of ice at Santa Claus, the fans of Philadelphia have stooped to a new low.

Friday night against the Phillies, Jose Reyes attempted to steal 2nd base. As he always does, Reyes slid head first and wound up ramming his head into the knee of Phillies 2nd baseman Chase Utley. Reyes immediately raised his hand calling for time and Utley bent down by Reyes making sure he was fine. But he was not and laid motionless on the ground for several seconds. When asked if he was knocked unconscious, Reyes said:

“I think so. I lost my mind for a couple of seconds. I went to space for a little bit.”

But as Reyes lay dazed on the ground, Phillies fans began an uproar of cheering and clapping as if Mike Schmidt had come back and hit a game winning homerun. But Schmidt had not made a triumphant comeback. The fans were cheering for Jose Reyes being injured. They were happy that another persons well being was put into jeopardy. For all they knew, Reyes could have seriously hurt himself.

As Mets manager Willie Randolph and head trainer Rey Ramirez rushed to the field to help Reyes, you could not help but feel a pit in your stomach. It took a few minutes for Reyes to be able to get to his feet but when he did, the fans decided to change the cheers into jeers. Booing Reyes for being well enough to rise to his feet. 

After a long talk with both manager and trainer, Reyes convinced the two that he was well enough to stay in the game. The whole ordeal lasted around 7 minutes but what Phillies fans did, will leave an indelible imprint in my mind for a long while. 

Mets closer Billy Wagner spoke out about the atrocious behavior of the fans:

“It’s really sad when humanity comes to the point where somebody getting hurt, it’s fun to watch,” Wagner said. “It’s sad when that happens. Nobody wants anybody to get hurt. I don’t want Jimmy Rollins getting hurt. I don’t want Pat Burrell to get hurt. I don’t want none of these guys. I want to compete against these guys because they’re the best, and you want to beat the best. You don’t want excuses. When you see Reyes laying there - it’s a tough shot, a clean play - and the fans cheering that he’s hurt, that just goes and shows you volumes about where our society is headed.”

Asked if fan behavior in baseball had worsened since his career began with Houston in 1995, Wagner added: “Not really, because this is about the only place I’ve ever seen somebody get cheered when they get hurt. (Shoot), they boo Santa Claus. What’s it tell you? They’ve taken it to a whole new level when you’re cheering for somebody to be hurt.”

In the words of Ron Burgundy: “You stay classy Phillies fans”