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Comparing the baseball playoffs to the NBA playoffs is a bit unfair. The extra series brought on by the wild card only adds a week to the entire affair, while the NBA playoffs drag on for what seems like months.

I, too, am baffled by Atlanta's residents. I drove down to Atlanta two weekends ago to see the Braves play Florida the day after they clinched the division. If there was any game to avoid, it was the one I went to. The regular starters sat and the game was meaningless, but lo and behold, there were 42,000 fans in attendance! WTF?

And what's up with "sacrafice" on C1?

You know Rob, as a longtime Braves fan who has listened to you rant about this topic ad nauseam, I've given this quite a bit of thought.

First, I will concede that Atlanta is not a true baseball town, like St. Louis for example. And I might even concede that Baltimore is a real baseball town. But Philly? Please. On what basis. That a lot of people came out the first year of a new ballpark? Wow. That's true love.

Second, it's incredibly simplistic to say "Well, if Baltimore was in the playoff you can be sure they'd fill the stands." Of course they would. Because it's been a while since the Os have been there. It's novel, it's new.

Tell you what, we'll conduct an experiment. Let's have a team - other than the Yankees who have such an enormous metro population that they can't help but fill their stadium - and let's send it to the playoffs year after year after year. Then let's see if postseason attendance starts to dwindle.

What's that? No one else does it? Now you see my point. Comparing Atlanta to Philly - Philly!? - or your beloved Baltimore is an exercise in futility becuase IT WON'T HAPPEN ANYWHERE ELSE. We don't know if fans would fill Citizens Bank Park after consecutive post-season No. 13 because the Phillies haven't made it to the post-season 13 times in their friggin' history.

Here's how Atlanta fans have begun to view the playoffs (pre-World Series that is) - as an extension of the regular series. The Division Series happens every year, just like mid-June date with the Pirates. Until the Braves reach the World Series again and actually have a shot to win it all you won't see those stands filled by Braves fans again. Everything else has been done before, many times over.

Does that make them jaded? Yep. Cynical? Yep. Spoiled? Oh yes. But you really can't throw stones until you've actually been in the same situation. And if you live in Philly or Baltimore, you never will be.

OK, now I've been dragged into this debate with this preposterous Philly-bashing. Hey, you can rip them all day long for booing Santa Claus and small children. But, if I'm not mistaken, Jim, you've tried to make this case: Fans in Philly and other towns are no more passionate about their sports teams than those in Atlanta. It's just Braves fans have grown immune to the excitement of playoff baseball because it's become so old hat for them.

What about the Yankees? OK, they haven't won 13 division titles in a row yet, but they're getting close. And, love 'em or hate 'em -- I recommend the latter -- there appears to be no apathy in the Bronx.

Philly would be the same way. They like winners there, if you hadn't noticed. Maybe it's because they've had so few. They fill their buildings, make noise and throw foreign objects come playoff time, whether it's the Flyers, Sixers, Iggles or Phillies -- I was there in '93 for one of the Braves early postseason flops, so I know what I speak of.

Atlanta? Maybe it's becoming a Falcons town. But, go to a game involving the Braves, Hawks or Thrashers, and what do you hear? Crickets chirping. As Rob said, don't blame traffic and poor public transit. If it's the bleepin' playoffs, you find a way to fill the seats. Ever heard of civic pride?

It's good to know at least one guy in Greensboro will care if the Astros win.

Glad to see my Philly comments had their desired effect. And I love that you used the phrase "civic pride" when talk about Philly fans.

Actually Rob started this by calling Philly a "baseball town." I'm not saying that Philadelphians can't jump on a bandwagon as well as the next set of fans, only that I wouldn't characterize the home of cheese steak, NFC Championship game chokes and the Big Five as a "baseball town."

Clearly, when you made your Yankees comments, you skipped over my comment that their massive, masssive metro population exempts them from this conversation. There's always 56,000 fans in the tri-state area willing to watch the subway races and that moronic Cotton-Eyed Joe video.

Finally, kudos to you and your fellow Phillies fans for being there in 1993. Now, if Philly had returned to the playoffs for the next 12 years, we could have this discussion.

Until then, we'll all just have to agree that Hawks fans really, really stink.

OK, I apologize. I forgot Atlanta had such a paltry population. You can't expect a small hamlet of 2-3 million to produce, oh, say, 30,000 baseball fans. I was just being unrealistic.

At least we can agree on the Hawks. And the fact that the Braves dynasty has the same number of World Series titles as the Phillies since 1980. RIP, Tug.

How about we look at total yearly attendance as our guidepost. Wouldn't that give us a better overall picture of fan support than simply looking at two 4 p.m. games in the post-season?

My guess is that the Braves rank near the top of the middle.

And by the way, this is the 13th year I've watched my beloved Braves make it to the post-season (12th year I've watched them lose). Even this year, I've grown to expect a run at least through mid-October. Maybe fans close enough to drive to The Ted feel the same way, Rob.

Looks as though I had to answer my own question. And it looks as though I was right. Braves fans may not be the best in the world at showing up, but these numbers don't support the theory that its fans lack passion.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance