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Post by jellybean on Jul 11, 2013 15:32:54 GMT -5
I was recently out of town waiting in hotel lobby for my ride to dinner. I overheard a group of people who were Green Bay Packer fans. They were discussing of all things how bad Philadelphia fans were. This one guy said " they are animals. Every one of them. They even have a jail in the old Vet." All true except the "every one is an animal." There was a judge and jail cell there. In fact the judge was Seamus McCaffrey a La Salle grad. A nice story until you find that the greatest amount of "criminals" where there for peeing in the sink at halftime of Eagles games.
When this clown was finished and my ride arrived, I passed him and said he was clueless. He said " what are you from Philly?" I said "yep and I won't eat you."
Got me to thinking about why Philly ALWAYS has national announcers bring up booing Santa Claus and Mike Schmidt. I think we deserve some criticism but it seems like it is Sports Casting 101 mandatory reading to get the cliches (sic) in about how bad Philly fans are. John Feinstein had a piece on the Ryder Cup where the Boston golf fans were so obnoxious towards Colin Montgomery that Payne Stewart had hecklers removed from the gallery.
So let's have something to do this Summer. Add a city and something their fans did that deserves the national media to mention it everytime that city is on television. Plus it beats our Annual Spencer Heywood discussion.
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MisterD
The Baptist Himself
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Post by MisterD on Jul 12, 2013 9:26:18 GMT -5
This is the never-ending (and never-to-end) argument between Philadelphians and those who aren't from Philadelphia. As part of the latter group, I've engaged this a thousand times and its always the same: Philadelphia fans aren't unique in their bad sporting behavior, its just more pervasive. I grew up an Eagles fan in NY (Cunningham + Brown + a contrarian nature does that) and after about 3 years as a season ticket holder, I was off the fanbase entirely because the Eagles winning would have made those horrible people happy. Not all of them, of course, but too many to call them outliers. And it wasn't singular flashpoint incidents like Santa or whatever, I agree those are overblown, it was the repetitive minutia, from the non-stop McNabb garbage (which was just part of a trend of eating almost every single great hometown player, except with a racial tinge) to the treatment of the security guys (and other fans) that made it impossible. There was a perverse pride in trying to be as awful a person as possible as soon as you entered the stadium that I just couldn't handle. So maybe I'm too soft for Philadelphia or whatever, but if that's the case, good. Thank you.
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MisterD
The Baptist Himself
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Post by MisterD on Jul 12, 2013 9:27:54 GMT -5
(And really, announcers bringing up Santa Claus only helps Philadelphia fans. It a victim complex rallying point that objectively isn't bad at all, just stupid.)
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Post by thehawkisdead on Jul 12, 2013 16:03:14 GMT -5
Well said, sir. I'm not feeling the whole Eagles fan in NY bit, but everything else is spot-on.
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Post by theneumann64 on Jul 14, 2013 0:20:12 GMT -5
Every city has it's good and bad fans, and I'm sure most fans in Philly are fine, but the tendency to celebrate the scumbag fan is something that has become way too emphasized in Philly. It's NOT a quirky, endearing trait that they had to have a court house at the Vet; it's a serious problem. The cannibalizing of the greatest athletes in the city, which Mike Schimidt, Dr. J, Donoavan McNabb, and every one of the top athletes in the city endured is another thing that's got to count for something. It's kind of a weird anomaly that the Eagles QB's for the last 20 years have all essentially been black, and I do agree that a racial component exists.
Again, I think the average Philly sports fan is a good one, but there's too much catering to the guy who got drunk and called Troy Aikman a fag.
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Post by explorer88 on Jul 14, 2013 9:09:11 GMT -5
Los Angeles has had 2 instances of fans killing other teams fans in the past 10 years and they don't get the same reputation as Philly fans.
I agree each city has good and bad fans but why Philly maintains the top spot after what happened in LA is one of the great mysteries of life.
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Post by jellybean on Jul 14, 2013 9:43:29 GMT -5
Good point 88 except didn't a fan get killed at CBP parking lot in last couple of years?
My point was not necessarily to say "that Phila. fans are getting a bad rap or are angels." Rather what is the national media's fascination with getting in a dig at the city and/or fans EVERY broadcast? Yet never bring up issues over the years in other towns.
Remember Rick Monday pulling the US flag away from a Dodger "fan" who set it on fire?
Where did the term "Bronx cheer" come from?
The best baseball fans in America (St. Louis Cardinals) had a World Series game stopped for throwing objects on the field.
Packer fans trashed Ahmad Green's lawn at his house in Green Bay.
Joe Buck and Tom Brenneman always feel the need to get in a couple of digs at Philly on every broadcast.
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Post by belfieldhappyhour on Jul 16, 2013 19:33:40 GMT -5
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