View Full Version : I want to get to the bottom of the stereotype of Philadelphia sports fans


Big C
01-21-2009, 02:11 AM
One of the stigmas, stereotypes, and reputations I have heard about in sports is that some Philadelphia sports fans- not all of them, just some of them- are... less-than-gentlemanly, if you will.

I am buddies with Philly sports fans Wreckless and MrIggles, and Solomon lives there, so they probably are familiar with this.

I have always felt that for every good Philly sports fan, there are four or five who are a little bit over-the-edge.

In other words, it seems as if the bad outweighs the good.

While it's perfectly normal to boo a team for struggling or players for a complete lack of effort, there is a lot of damning evidence to the counterpoint. (I'm sure the Philly guys can fill in this part)

This reminds me of a joke that I read once: "When a game is rained out, Philly fans go to an airport and boo a bad plane landing."

The other side about Philly fans is that they can be very loyal. Wrecky and Iggles lived through a string of bad years for their teams in the 1990s, yet they remained loyal, never deserting the teams even at a time when they were going nowhere (The pre-Iverson 76ers, the 1998 Eagles, the 2006-07 Flyers- boy, have they had some rough stretches.)

Contrast that with some sports fans who have notoriously inconsistent with their attendance to support their team through tough times (bandwagon fans, for instance).

With that in mind, I'd like to get to the bottom of this whole thing.

TVFactFan
01-22-2009, 01:19 AM
One of the stigmas, stereotypes, and reputations I have heard about in sports is that some Philadelphia sports fans- not all of them, just some of them- are... less-than-gentlemanly, if you will.

I am buddies with Philly sports fans Wreckless and MrIggles, and Solomon lives there, so they probably are familiar with this.

I have always felt that for every good Philly sports fan, there are four or five who are a little bit over-the-edge.

In other words, it seems as if the bad outweighs the good.

While it's perfectly normal to boo a team for struggling or players for a complete lack of effort, there is a lot of damning evidence to the counterpoint. (I'm sure the Philly guys can fill in this part)

This reminds me of a joke that I read once: "When a game is rained out, Philly fans go to an airport and boo a bad plane landing."

The other side about Philly fans is that they can be very loyal. Wrecky and Iggles lived through a string of bad years for their teams in the 1990s, yet they remained loyal, never deserting the teams even at a time when they were going nowhere (The pre-Iverson 76ers, the 1998 Eagles, the 2006-07 Flyers- boy, have they had some rough stretches.)

Contrast that with some sports fans who have notoriously inconsistent with their attendance to support their team through tough times (bandwagon fans, for instance).

With that in mind, I'd like to get to the bottom of this whole thing.



It started with the Booing of Santa Clause in a 1968 Eagles Game that is still talked about.

Philly Fans throwing snowballs at Jimmy the Greek, a CBS analyst in 1980

Philly Fans Booing Mike Schmidt after he just was part of a 1980 World championship.

Philly Fans throwing Snowballs at Jimmy johnson in 1989 at the Vet and throwing snowballs at CBS announcer Verne Lundquist

Philly Fans fighting on national TV during a 1997 Monday Night Football Game

Philly Fans Cheering when Michael Irvin laid on the Field at the Vet in 1999

Philly Fans booing Mcnabb when he was drafted in 1999

Philly Fans threw a beer at Mcnabb in 2003 when the Eagles started 0-2




So you can see it's a long history of Philly fans acting crazy.