© Bill Streicher | 2023 Aug 4"I'm in a group photo with Will Ferrell, Martha Stewart, Selena Gomez, Pharrell--the guy who sings the Happy song, you know?--Bill Murray, Bill fuckin' Murray . . . It's been a great day. I just got done seeing Ferrell's new movie, we're taking a break and then we're gonna go see the premiere of the new Saturday Night Live movie."
The Philly accent in its purest form booms through my phone. Jon McCann, better known as popular YouTuber the Philly Captain, is speaking to me from the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. In previous years, Telluride hosted the American premiere of films such as The Crying Game, Mulholland Drive, Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Saltburn, among other critically acclaimed films.
This year, the festival hosted the debut of The Turnaround, the tale of McCann's leading role in a standing ovation that changed the course of Trea Turner's 2023 season. The film's production company is Higher Ground, an entity led by Barack and Michelle Obama, and it was directed by Philly native Kyle Thrash. Two-time Oscar-winner Ben Proudfoot is listed as a co-director and producer.
The ovation is already a legendary story in Philadelphia. Turner signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phillies in December 2022, but struggled through the first few months of the 2023 season, hitting .235/.290/.368 (.658 OPS) through 107 games. As the Phils neared the end of an early August road trip, he was at rock bottom. Turner went hitless in five at-bats in an August 2 game in Miami and botched a ground ball that cost the Phillies a win. He hit .103 overall on the trip and was set to return to Philadelphia as public enemy number one.
But in Turner's next game at Citizens Bank Park, on August 4, Phillies fans instead gave him the warmest welcome imaginable.
Philly's got ya, Trea 👏 pic.twitter.com/KRIO03u8sN
Turner started a ten-game hitting streak that day. He hit a three-run home run the next night in a 9-6 Phillies win. And in the 48 regular season games after the ovation, Turner hit an incredible .337/.389/.668 (1.057 OPS) with 16 home runs in 193 ABs.
So how does this happen? What makes an entire fanbase, stereotyped as the meanest in sports, suddenly decide to harness the power of love?
I asked the man at the center of it all: the Philly Captain himself, a self-described "social media jerkoff."
"I went to Pittsburgh the week before the ovation to watch the Phillies play, and [Turner] played like shit," McCann said. "And we had the Marlins series and he played like shit. So I’m in a group text with the [Phandemic Krew] guys. We’re really good friends, we watch every game together in [section] 301. I’m looking at the group text and my one friend Todd is super negative, and he says, 'Fuck Trea Turner, you guys are stuck with him for ten years.'"
"And I’m like, 'You guys?! You’re a Phillies fan too!' He’s like, 'Yeah Trea Turner’s the worst.' But then about two hours later he sent a text and said, 'You know what? I’m actually really worried about his mental health. Something bad could happen . . . If we boo him it could really fuck him up.' Because he was gonna get booed out of that building."
McCann could relate. He was no stranger to mental health concerns.
"In 2012 I had a mental breakdown and I was suicidal," McCann tells me, in a tone as casual as someone talking about what they ate for lunch. "My mom and dad surrounded me with love at a time when I was, like, losing my mind. I was out of my fucking mind . . . And that’s one of the reasons why I felt sympathetic for Trea Turner, because I saw his body language and I was like, I just wanna help the fucking guy."
McCann had an idea. And he had a platform: his YouTube channel with tens of thousands of subscribers. He also had significant followings on other social media accounts.
Before the fateful Phillies homestand, he shared a video that he filmed in his car.
"Yo guys. Can you do me a favor? If you're goin' to a Phillies game this weekend, let's not boo Trea Turner this weekend."
The video immediately resonates, because McCann looks and sounds exactly like the type of guy who would boo Trea Turner that weekend.
"Let's give him a standing ovation, every time he comes to bat this weekend," McCann continues. "My boy is in his head, and he needs some love. 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."
McCann ends the video clapping his hands with a hearty, "C'mon Trea. Let's go!"
I asked the Captain if he has spoken with Turner. "Spoken? Not really. Man, it’s like the end of the movie, I don’t know if I can talk about it." Fair enough.
It's all very heartwarming. In a statement, Thrash and Proudfoot stated, "Jon’s is an American story for our time. We all have a choice of how we want to approach the world around us and all its challenges. Do you boo? Or do you give all the love you can give? Jon’s answer inspired us to make this film."
Those already familiar with the Trea Turner ovation saga may be wondering about the role of another well-known Philly sports personality in all this. WIP sports talk radio's Jack Fritz has been widely credited for initiating the standing ovation. Here are writers discussing Fritz and the ovation for the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Fox Sports, all without any mention of the Philly Captain. Fritz discussed the idea on-air and over twitter around the same time that McCann was promoting the concept. It's unclear exactly who broached the topic first. Things get murky in internet-world. For example, here's a random twitter user named @dalmonte_p suggesting the idea to Fritz on July 25, 2023.
To his credit, McCann doesn't seem particularly concerned about Fritz getting the lion's share of fame for the ovation idea. He is clear, however, that "Jack Fritz played no influence in me making my social media."
"I made a little video and put it on Instagram," McCann said. "After the video went on Instagram, BarStool Philly shared it, and that got over 100,000 views. In one day. It got a mad crazy amount of views. And if you see my thing, I said, let’s give Trea Turner a standing ovation all weekend. Which is what happened.
"The Trea Turner standing ovation was a fire. And there were many logs to build that fire. My Instagram post, having Barstool Philly share that post . . . the fact that people stood up all weekend? I think people saw my post. Now, Jack Fritz has a platform in this city . . . And when people listen to that radio station, of course that’s what they’re gonna think. But like I said, the way I put it is it’s a big fire, we all put logs."
And after all, the film will now forever cement McCann's role in the Turner story. Why care about who the Inquirer decided to credit?
"Know what happened today?" says McCann near the end of our call. "I asked Will Ferrell if he put ketchup on a hot dog. And all is right in the world. I don’t give a fuck."
(You'll be happy to hear that Will Ferrell does not put ketchup on a hot dog. Because he's not a psychopath.)
I had one more question before I could let the Captain go hang with the Hollywood elite. Would the Turner story and the film change the national perception of Philadelphia sports fans?
"They'll never let us change the perception of Philadelphia sports fans," said McCann. "Maybe my movie will make a little difference, I don’t know."
