Philadelphia sports fans get a bad rap, but as a group they deserve a lot more respect than they’re given.

As 2015 comes to a close, Philadelphia fans are suffering through an unprecedented level of sub-mediocrity. In fact, this year is close to being the worst year for professional sports in this city in more than two generations.

In a piece last week by Philadelphia Voice writer Richard Hoffman, a composite winning percentage of all four major Philadelphia teams – the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers – found 2015 one tenth of a percentage point better than 1972. Philadelphia teams this year had won 30.4 percent of their games compared to 30.3 percent in 1972.

The Phillies did a great job of helping 2015 to be a terrible year by tying a franchise record for most losses in a single season at 99. The Sixers are having a breathtakingly poor season, even by the standards of tanking the team has set over the last five years. And now, the Eagles are doing their part with a disastrous season that has found fans calling for coach Chip Kelly’s job.

Hoffman notes that 1972’s record is likely safe. 2015’s winning percentage would go up dramatically if the Sixers win a couple games. So far, they’ve been winless through 18. Last year, the team went 0-17 before winning, so the team is due (one would hope).

(Side note: One antidote to the misery of 1972 would have been the North American Soccer League Philadelphia Atoms, who won the league championship in 1973. But then, soccer was really a fringe sport and enjoyed by an average of approximately 12,000 fans a match. The city’s current soccer team finished this past Major League Soccer season with the third worst record in the league, which would not help 2015’s case. Even if the Union had been playing for the MLS cup this Sunday, it’s hard to believe many in the city would even notice.)

Sports really aren’t a big deal, though – right? But they are. They cast a shadow on the feelings of self-worth, particularly for fans. Eagles fans who are in a bad mood this week have good reason to be. In a Washington Post piece on New England Patriot fans who defended Tom Brady when he was accused of deflating footballs to make them easier to throw, author Eric Simmons noted the unique nature of the sports fan’s identity as it relates to the team he or she roots for.

“A sports team is an expression of a fan’s sense of self, as I learned from dozens of interviews and research articles I surveyed for my book 'The Secret Lives of Sports Fans,' is an expansion of a fan’s sense of self,” Simmons wrote. “In all kinds of unconscious ways, a fan mirrors the feelings, actions and even hormones of the players. Self-esteem rides on the outcome of the game and the image of the franchise.”

So, as we trudge reluctantly again into a cold winter, be aware that for many of us who enjoy sports, the times really can be bad. Forgive our bouts of surliness, our inability to get up and go and our failure to get excited about the positives. Our teams are a mess and, therefore, so are we.

-- Pete Mazzaccaro