Sarni's Scrolls: Philly fans are fantastic

By Jim Sarni

The MVP of the baseball playoffs?

It's the fantastic Philadelphia Phillies fans, who have loudly lifted the home team to the verge of a return trip to the World Series.

The wild-card Phillies are 6-0 at Citizens Bank Park after destroying the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-0 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS.

"Man, I love this place," said Phillies leader Bryce Harper. "There's nothing like coming into the Bank and playing in front of these fans."

You know he means it.

The Philly crowd is a roaring beast ready to pounce on opponents. First, the Marlins, then the Braves, and now the D-Backs have been devoured.

Death by home run... 15 of them in the past four games, a post-season record.

And best of all, a city with the reputation for having the worst sports fans has been surprisingly transformed into a hub with one of the most likeable fan bases.

Oh, what fun.

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Former NFL star Adrian Peterson was eliminated on "Dancing With The Stars" on Tuesday night. The fan vote did him in.

Peterson and partner Britt Stewart admirably performed a Viennese waltz. They received all 7s from the judges, a score which was tied with or better than five other teams out of the 11 competing.

But "DWTS" combines judges' votes with viewing voters results, and Peterson was snubbed because of his checkered legal past involving reckless assault on his son.

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Some takeaways from The Athletic’s mid-season College Football TV Survey:

-- Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit (ABC) is the most popular broadcast team (38.3%) with Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt (Fox) a distant second (21.9%).

-- ESPN's "GameDay" (77%) clobbers Fox's "Big Noon Kickoff" (23%). Viewers are watching less pregame (63.3%).

-- Cable (37.2%) and YouTubeTV (37.1%) are basically tied for the form viewers use to watch.

-- Hours we watch: Less than 4 hours, 9.2%; 4-8 hours, 55%; 8-12 hours, 28.6%; more than 12 hours, 7.2%.

-- Games are too long, 48%.

-- Biggest problem is Too Many Commercials/Too Long, 70%.

-- Keith Jackson (42.8%) is by far the play-by-play announcer in history you'd want to call your team's games.

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Surveys, Take 2

Awful Announcing's Readers Poll on Post-Season Baseball Announcers

A clear best and worst, logjam in the middle.

1. Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur... 3.12 grade

2. Jon Sciambi, Doug Glanville...2.84

3. Adam Amin, A.J. Pierzynski, Adam Wainwright... 2.74

4. Joe Davis, John Smoltz... 2.54

5. Bob Costas, Ron Darling... 2.45

6. Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Perez... 2.40

7. Sean McDonough, Jessica Mendoza, Tim Kurkjian... 2.34

8. Michael Kay, Alex Rodriguez... 1.54

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Netflix is making its first move into live sports with the Netflix Cup

.The Nov. 14 made-for-television golf tournament will feature Formula 1 and PGA Tour athletes from the streamer's popular “Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing” docuseries. It will serve as a lead-in to the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

It had been expected for months that Netflix would built on its series of well-received sports documentaries. The sports business world will be paying close attention.

"We love to see how our sports series have brought increased fandom to sports leagues and competitions all over the world. The Netflix Cup will take that energy to the next level,” said Gabe Spitzer, Netflix vice president of nonfiction sports

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The NFL is open to active players joining Olympic Flag Football.Fox NFL reporter Erin Andrews told Seth Meyers that she would like to work for the Weather Channel if she had a different job... 

Big deal: Taylor Swift wore a jacket from Andrews' clothing line at the Chiefs' game last Sunday

.On the athlete/entertainer romance beat: Bills QB Josh Allen and actress Hailee Steinfeld went public at a Sabres game... Former USWNT player Ashlyn Harris and actress Sophia Bush, both coming off divorces

.The United Football League (UFL) will likely be the name of the merged XFL-USFL league.TNT Sports, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery formerly known as BT Sport, inked a multiyear deal to take over the NBA’s U.K. media rights from Sky Sports, a subsidiary of Comcast.

The next sports equinox is Oct 30... the 30th time that the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA all play on the same day.

A tennis bettor hit a 10-match parlay and turned $28.60 into $486,021.92. Amazing.Homeland, located in Northern Italy, is Europe's first lift-free ski mountain. Skiers walk -- if they're able -- 11 marked uphill routes

.Domino's has an Emergency Pizza program. Miffy, a cartoon bunny beloved in Europe and Asia, is finding fame in the U.S., thanks to her Gen-Z superfans.

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They Said It

"Sell the team, dude. Sell it, man. Let someone who actually takes pride in the things they own, own something... Take mommy and daddy's money somewhere else, dork. And also, if you're going to be a greedy f---, own it. There's nothing weaker than being afraid of cameras. That's one thing i really struggled with this year, not just eviscerating that guy. Do what you're going to do, bro. You're whatever -- Retiring Oakland pitcher Trevor May's epic rant at A's owner John Fisher.

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Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television.