‘The Turnaround’ is a wonderful Philly sports fan story- it's just a shame about the timing
The short, about the time Phillies fans cheered Trea Turner through a slump, lands on Netflix Friday.
Philadelphia sports fandom is a subject that I have an opinion or two about.
Philly fans have a particular reputation for hostility, negativity, and sometimes even violence. They’re tough on opposing players and even tougher on their own players. History is littered with athletes who came through town and couldn’t handle the pressure, only to be derided as “soft” or “weak.”
As a sports fan from elsewhere in the country who moved to Philly in 2005, married into a Philly-fan family, and now has Philly-rooting children, this a subject that I’ve followed very closely. At first, I didn’t get it. Then, I slowly started to, and eventually, I grew to love Philadelphia sports fan culture. After all, the tailgates are fantastic- and even beyond that, Philly is a region where everybody cares, a whole damn lot, about the local teams. I’d hate to live somewhere where nobody gave a hoot about sports.
And then, in February of 2018, the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, and Philly sports culture was transformed. That existential angst and negativity, part of the city’s DNA for decades, went away, and even multiple playoff losses for all the local teams since then haven’t brought it back.
Since then, a beloved Phillies team has made the playoffs several straight years and even reached the World Series in 2022. And amidst that run came an episode that would have been unthinkable in Philadelphia even a few years earlier. That episode is the subject of The Turnaround, a new 25-minute short film that hits Netflix on Friday.
It was 2023. The Phillies, coming off that World Series run, had just signed free agent shortstop Trea Turner for 11 years and $300 million, but he was off to a slow start, both at the plate and in the field. The expected reaction, based on history and reputation, would be for Phillies fans to boo Turner, call him an overpaid bum, and demand his immediate trade out of town. And yes, some fans did precisely that.
But one fan had another idea. Jon McCann, who runs a popular Instagram account where he goes by Philly Captain, began pushing for fans, instead of booing the $300 million shortstop, to give him a standing ovation instead. McCann, who had battled mental illness and suicidal thoughts in the past, drew on his own experience to suggest that fans instead give him some cheers.
“My boy is in his head, and he needs some love,” McCann said in the now-famous Instagram post on August 3, 2023. “Not tough love, not right now. He needs love-love. So let's love Trea Turner this weekend and give him a standing ovation every time my man comes to bat.”
Word spread, fans did it, and Turner ended an 0-for-17 skid with a hit, and eventually a home run. He then went on a hot streak, and the Phils were back in the playoffs that season.
The film is The Turnaround, which has two co-directors: Ben Proudfoot, who won two Documentary Short Oscars (and was nominated for a third) before his 35th birthday, and Kyle Thrash, a local native who made Maybe Next Year, a documentary (later recut and retitled Maybe This Year) about that Eagles championship run (I interviewed Thrash here, about the earlier film.) Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas’ company, is on board too, and Netflix picked up the film last month.
The Turnaround, deservedly nominated earlier this week for two Critics Choice Documentary Awards — for Best Short and Best Sports Documentary — is a big all-around success. It finds a compelling subject in McCann and tells a story about Philadelphia sports and fandom that avoids most of the standard cliches, mostly because it transcends them. It also successfully depicts how much Philly sports culture has changed, in just 25 minutes.
Trea Turner is not interviewed for the documentary, although we do see McCann getting to meet the team he inspired on opening day in 2024. (Two of the best sports documentaries of the year, The Turnaround and the Pete Rose docuseries Charlie Hustle, are different as can be, both length-wise and attitude-wise, but both have crucial scenes set at Citizens Bank Park.)
And speaking of the 2024 Phils… the release date of October 18 was probably chosen for a reason: It’s right up against the baseball playoffs, in a season when the Phillies won their division and were expected to make a big run. If this had arrived amidst the backdrop of Trea Turner leading the Phils back to the World Series, it would have been pretty great timing.
But alas, that wasn’t to be. The Phillies lost a playoff series last week to the New York Mets, with Turner going 3-for-15 at the plate in the series, although he wasn’t the only Phillie whose bat went cold. After the last two years of movie premieres coinciding with postgame celebrations and moviegoers ducking out of films to check the scores, the annual Philadelphia Film Festival will kick off Thursday night without the subplot of a concurrent Phillies playoff run.
But what more fantastic lesson does this film have, then to embrace positivity in difficult moments?
Yes, Philly sports have changed. The local teams will always win some and lose some, but I prefer a sports culture where the struggling player gets cheered, as opposed to booed, into success.