What type of Padre fan are you?

When Eric Lauer gave up a single to Adam Frazier in the 3rd inning of Thursday nights game, Padre fans could only sigh and shrug their shoulders.

8,020 games without a no hitter. The only team is history without one.

San Diego sports fans are used to this sort of thing. Between the Chargers (when they were in town) and Padres, the history of our sports teams has not been pretty.

Some may have a different perspective, though. At last nights game, I had a few conversations with fans about the history of the Padres. The question was simply “how do you feel about the historic lack of success of the organization?”

The first fan was a man who called himself Charles Finley(I imagine he was making a play on Chuck Finley). He was wearing a floppy hat and had a mustache, so it was easy to strike up a conversation with him. When I asked that question, he paused for a few moments and took me to school. “I wear it as a badge of honor. We may not have a World Series or a no hitter, but our history is special. Randy Jones, Jake Peavy and Tony Gwynn are our pride and joy. Alan Wiggins stolen 70 bases in 84’. Fred Mcgriff made his first all star game here. Dave Winfield proudly wore that Padre hat to the Hall of Fame. Ricky Henderson broke the walks and runs record in addition to getting his 3,000th hit with us. We have arguably the greatest closer(Hoffman) the game has ever seen. I can keep going. That means something!”

That’s one side of things. A passionate, committed Padre fan that couldn’t be more proud to call the team his own.

What about the other perspective?

Some time later, another gentleman I spoke to only identified himself as Anthony. I didn’t catch his daughters name, but she seemed intrigued by the question as well.

“Honestly, it’s embarrassing. I legitimately have nightmares about Mark Langston giving up that grand slam against the Yankees in 98’. Tonight isn’t surprising to me. It’s a never ending hard luck story, but here we are. I just want to win something, anything.” When I asked how long he’d been a Padre fan, he simply replied “since before you were born”. Fair enough.

Out of the 10 or so people I talked to, most perspectives aligned with one or the other. Either they emphatically defended the teams honor and history, or explained that it was borderline humiliating for them.

That presents a question for all readers on Gaslamp ball. Where do you stand on this question? Are you proud of the history of our organization, or do you align more with Anthony and feel more embarrassed?

Let’s hear your thoughts!