Philly Sports' Claim to Fame

For some reason it seems like Philly fans are incredulous recently when people suggest that their sports fan base are out of control animals who actually know very little about the sports they follow. I've heard it in the papers, talk radio, and with the people who seem quite enthralled with the fact that the Philly fans gave McNabb a brief ovation on his first trip back after leading the Eagles to their best era of football ever before they booed him right out of town. Maybe you didn't see how great they were when Holliday threw his no hitter? (Not perfect but close and the strike zone was way too disputable for a playoff game.) These "fans" suggest that of course there are a few bad apples, the media blows these cases out of proportion, the whole booing Santa thing was so long ago, and for the most part Philly fans are really great.

So I decided to compile a list of 25 specific instances where people from Philly have demonstrated they are the most vile, idiotic, repugnant collective sports fan base in the nation, not just in a few instances, but over a sustained period of time. This is not to say that there aren't a few good ones, just as I'm sure there were a few decent people living in Germany during Hitler's time. Needless to say, I think most people wish they could erase that era of history, just as most sports fans wish they could wash the entire Philadelphia fandom off the map. Some of these pertain to specific individual acts, many to the collective fan base as a whole, all are published incidents. I have not included countless stories that I am sure all have heard from people that have been to Philly to witness their brutishness first-hand. These are not in any particular order, because I do not want to quantify morally what is worse; beating a man to death or vomiting on 11 year old girls, but here is Philly's reminder for why they are so hated.

1.Philadelphia riots after Phillies win World Series (as pictured above.)

2. JD Drew: Drafted by Philly, for some reason did not want to play for those fine people, was pelted with batteries his first time in Philly when playing with the Cards.

3.Eagles Court/700 level at the Vet- they had to put video surveillance in Philly stadiums when even that was not enough.

4. Vomiting Incident- The girl was 11

5. Tasered Fan- Typical Philly idiot, and the very next night some idiot Philly DJ does the same thing again, ruining a great game for Cole Hamels.

6. Flyers fan jumps into penalty box, tries to fight Tie Domi. (That guy was one of the toughest enforcers of the last decade, pretty dumb.)

7. Near riot starts, several people are hospitalized when Eagles fans beat up their own after 2003 NFC Championship Game loss to the Bucs.

8. A woman named Finklestein prostituted herself on Craig's List for tickets to a Phillies game. Was caught by the police, jailed, and promptly given free tickets by a local Philly radio station and car dealer.

9. Toddler swigs beer on national television, adult Philly fans in frame all laugh about it.

10. Another Phillie fan charges field, gets too close to players, specifically Matt Diaz, who knocks him down.

11. Fans throw batteries at Dick Allen, the town's first prominent black athlete, so often he is forced to wear a batting helmet in the field. This was in the 60s, 20 years after Jackie Robinson integrated the Dodgers.

12. Flyers fans attack and overwhelm St. Louis Blues coach and fans in a game in 1973. (I put these two side by side because many Philly fans claim they got their "rough edge" from the Broadstreet Bullies, and took it from the ice to stands everywhere. This was before the Flyers had won a Cup, and in fact this has been going on since.........)

13. 1949- Phillies game is called when fans won't stop pelting umpire Rich Ashburn with batteries.

14. Santa booed- 1968. Given a chance to redeem themselves in this overplayed story, the same Santa is brought to a 76ers game in 2003. He is booed again.

15. Phillies fans booed Adam Eaton in his first game back from winning the World Series. They continue by brawling as the World Series pennant is hoisted for the first time.

16. Cheering Michael Irvin's career ending injury- Ok to be honest its not the worst thing ever, the guy was a horse's ass his entire career, but they could have at least waited until they screwed his facemask off and made sure he wasn't paralyzed before doing it.

17. "Bounty Game"- Eagles fans, including the future Pennsylvania governor, pelted Cowboys with snowballs, as no snow is cleared away in the Vet before the game that was highly publicized to be nasty. Buddy Ryan put a bounty out on the Dallas kicker. Wow, that is pretty tough.

18. Phillie Phanatic's head stolen at a charity event at Wachovia Center.

19.Chief Zee thrown down concrete stairs, has eyeball dangling from his shattered orbital bone, and is confined to a wheelchair for a year.

20. Booed McNabb in draft. Booed Kolb as well. Should have booed Cunningham a lot more than they did.

21. Clinton Portis' mom assaulted, soaked in beer at the Linc.

22. Phillie fan points laser pointer in Albert Pujols eyes repeatedly. The fine people of Philadelphia hide the fan from authorities, keeping the nationally televised game delayed for over ten minutes. Then they mock the entire state of Missouri for being "backwards."

23. Same game, a 22 year old named David Sale is beaten to death by "multiple hits and kicks to the head" in a bar connected to Citizen's Bank Park.

24. Philly fan launches a green flare across the stands during a Monday Night Football game at the Vet.

25.Phillies fans boo the gentleman who received the first full hand transplant as he throws out the first pitch.

26. MNF again, so many Philly fans need to be subdued by mace at Fedex that the mist is caught in the player's fans and shot out onto the field, delaying the game and giving the players a brief scare a year after 9/11.

27......


I said I was going to only do 25, but the point is, the stories are endless. In general, the trash that emanates from that city speaks for itself. The fans that are actually reasonable should either stop their counterparts or hang their heads in collective shame. Just don't complain that the facts are unfair. Go five years without an incident and we can review the issue.