For all of the negativity that surrounds the city of Philadelphia’s fanbase (focused on Eagles fans in particular) from national sports reporters and TV pundits, I decided to research the facts and find out who Eagles fans really are.
The casuals take on Eagles fans can be summed up rather quickly; Santa Clause, Boo Birds, your stadium had a jail, snowballs, cheering Michael Irvin’s injury, fights at the stadium (all stadiums have them, the common denominator is alcohol not who you root for) Bounty Bowl, Body Bags, etc, etc, blah blah blah.
But what’s true?
Let’s start with the elephant in the room!
1- The infamous, Santa Clause snowball story. You heartless Philadelphians!
December 15, 1968.
The Eagles were having (another) bad season. They were a half away from finishing the year with a 2–12 record. The only thing anyone had left to enjoy during this miserable day was the halftime show, right?
The halftime entertainment was changed due to inclement weather, initially, there was a Christmas pageant scheduled. (Can you imagine if pageant contestants were bombarded with snowballs? I don’t know which would have been worse.)
Instead, the now infamous, Santa Clause is introduced over the stadium speakers.
“The Philadelphia Eagles wish you a Merry Christmas!” Que Santa to center stage.
Santa, is 19-year-old, Frank Olivo. He stands 5’6 140 lbs and is about to be greeted a little differently than expected.
The band begins to play “Here Comes Santa Clause” as Olivo runs the field. When he reaches the end zone, snowballs start flying.
Olivo recalled the events of that afternoon in 2005.
“When I hit the end zone, and the snowballs started, I was waving my finger at the crowd, saying ‘You’re not getting anything for Christmas’”
For a 19- year-old, he sure took those events in stride.
“I’m a Philadelphia fan, I knew what was what. I thought it was funny.”
But he also had no desire to ever do that again.
“When I finished, Mr. Mullen asked if I wanted to do it again the next year, I told him, ‘No way. If it doesn’t snow, they’ll probably throw beer bottles.”
The events of that day followed him his entire life.
This is from his obituary that I read online.
As an avid and loyal Philadelphia sports fan, Frank cherished his place in Philadelphia sports history as the infamous Santa Claus during the snowball incident at Franklin Field in December 1968
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/delcotimes/name/francis-olivo-obituary?id=17819961
So were the actions of a few (hundred?) frustrated fans, on that fateful day, really that bad? Worthy of being discussed 50-plus years later? You decide.
The way this story has been portrayed in the media is about as real as, well, Santa Clause. One of the best summaries of the Santa story
2A- Buddy vs Jimmy, the Bounty Bowl
Did Buddy Ryan place a bounty on Aikman and Zendejas?
The Eagles played the Cowboys in Dallas, in a nationally televised game on Thanksgiving Day 1989.
The two coaches, Buddy Ryan and Jimmy Johnson despised one another and were both in rare form after the 27–0 beatdown the Eagles laid on the Cowboys that afternoon.
Jimmy accused Eagles Head Coach Buddy Ryan of placing bounties to injure his players and managed to comment on his weight all in the same presser.
Jimmy Johnson gave his version of what happened during a segment with the NFL on FOX broadcast. Yes, he was also hit with a snowball.
The alleged bounty on Aikman was $500 and the one on Zendejas, who was cut by the Eagles a few weeks before the game, was $200.
Buddy Ryan disputed those claims
“Why would I place a bounty on a kicker, who can’t kick worth a damn. The guy was in a six-week slump. I wanted him in the game.’’
That’s classic Buddy.
2B- Your fans threw snowballs at the Dallas Cowboys (really snowballs again?) aka Bounty Bowl two
Why yes, yes they did.
This Cowboys vs Eagles game was in Philadelphia a short two weeks after the one we just read about.
This epic snowball fight had a lot of people in their feelings.
One writer, thelandryhat.com, opined;
Top 10 Reasons To Hate The Philadelphia Eagles
I wasn’t planning today to write the top-10 reasons to hate the Philadelphia Eagles, but this post really got on my…thelandryhat.com
“The FBI should have arrested the entire Eagles organization and the fans for the snowball-throwing havoc they leveled on the Dallas Cowboys. These were dangerous flying objects that could have seriously injured someone. This is also a form of terrorism.”
(dramatic much?)
Verne Lundquist with fantastic sarcasm “I gotta tell you what a joy it is to come to Philadelphia and stand here and dodge ice balls, not snowballs, but ice balls. About 25 of which have been thrown into the booth in the last three minutes. This is really fun. I had an abscessed tooth and had a dental appointment last Monday that didn’t last this long.”
The Eagles fans were punished two weeks later when the stadium banned beer sales for the final home game.
(I was told that alcohol was also prohibited at all parking lot tailgates, but wealthy fans were free to buy booze in their box seats. Go figure.)
Maybe we can assume that the Eagle’s alcohol prohibition was about as successful as the one against Capone and that this led Philly officials to their next drastic measure that this fanbase is still ripped for.
Eagles Court, and subsequent stadium jail!
3- YOUR fans behaved so badly that the stadium had a court and a jail!
Yup, guilty as charged.
Now the facts:
A few city leaders decided that an “Eagles Court” would be an effective tool in reducing public intoxication while also deterring fights and other misdeeds.
Former Eagles Court Judge Justice Seamus P McCaffery stated in a 2011 interview that 95 percent of the people arrested were not from Philadelphia.
(Huh, imagine that!)
Also, former deputy mayor Kevin Feeley recalled
David Sharp, 38, of Dover, Del., was the first person to appear in court. “All right, guys, I’m a murderer. I killed four people,’’ Sharp said as he was led into the courtroom.
(now that’s hilarious)
He was arrested for challenging security guards who told him not to bring an open alcoholic beverage into the stadium. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined $198.50.
(What a menace to society!)
Lastly, by 2015 about half of all NFL arenas were prison-equipped. So I guess the Eagles were trendsetters.
Go Birds!
The #GoBirds Kid LIVE 2nite on the TonyBrunoShow
That’s right folks. The man, the myth, the legend – Hero of the week – Tyler Olivieri will be joining us at our Pre…www.youtube.com
4- Eagles fans cheered while Michael Irvin lay motionless.
It was on October 10, 1999, when a hit sent Michael Irvin down to the turf at old Veterans, where he lay motionless. It would prove to be a date that lives on in infamy.
Unbeknownst to most, if not all, in attendance Irvin had sustained a serious neck injury. The injury ended his career.
Yet, the Eagles players and fans found this hilarious. They cheered. This display was so disgusting that the hometown paper Philadelphia Daily News proclaimed in a headline “Unspeakable, even for us.”
What has Irvin himself had to say about the reaction in Philadelphia
“Jeff Lurie (Eagles owner) comes in. And I looked over and I said to him, I said ‘I’m good,’ you know, and I said “I understand your people, they’re very passionate like I am, they were just saying ‘get him off the field, he’s been killing us for ten years!’ And I do believe that that’s what it was.”
I was happy to read that Michael had such a forgiving take. I agree with Irvin that 99% of the fans thought that way. I was at the game that day. There were cheers when Irvin was tackled. A few more cheers when he didn’t get up right away, but nobody knew what, if anything, was wrong.
There were no Twitter and online accounts to look at, nor any instant replays available. There was just a bunch of fans staring down onto the field wondering what happened.
Over the years most fans have come to respect Michael Irvin’s play and enjoy his analysis of the game on television. I have never heard anyone rejoice that his career ended the way it did, in Philadelphia.
And to anyone who enjoyed, cheered, or got satisfaction from Irvins’ injury.
Shame on you.
5- You boo your players, like, a lot
Lastly, and certainly not least, the boo birds!
“you boo everyone, even your own”
(blah blah blah)
Philadelphia fans demand effort and accountability. If you are not putting forth the effort, you are going to hear it, literally.
A most recent example came during the baseball season. Alec Bohm of the Phillies is booed by the fans after a particularly rough game where he made 3 errors. He was seen on camera mouthing the words ‘I [expletive] hate this place.’
After the game, he didn’t duck or deny it. He owned it. Accountability.
“Look, emotions got the best of me. I said it. Do I mean it? No. It’s a frustrating night for me, obviously, These people, these fans, they just want to win. I don’t mean that.”
The next night, he received a standing ovation.
The fans embraced him, respected him, and showed him, love.
That’s Philadelphia. That’s who this fan base is.
They’re passionate, and they want their athletes to be the same. They aren’t demanding every player to be a star, they just want them to put in the same effort that they would if they were fortunate enough to play a sport for a living. They want blue-collar honest days pay, for an honest day’s work.
If you are here going through the motions to get a paycheck without putting in the effort you deserve to be booed!
And sometimes, the booing has proven to be beneficial to opposing teams, who may have been, clueless in certain situations.
So now you that have now read about the perceived worst Eagles fans, let’s talk about the rest.
Let’s talk about the best.
Who are we?
We are a fan base that embraces being the underdog and wearing underdog masks.
We are home to fans that risk their lives to catch babies being tossed from a burning home, while simultaneously still finding time to make a joke about a certain WR.
We are the fan base that turns someone like Mary Kate of Haverstown into an overnight celebrity via a meme. (no sound is needed, easy translation)
“Philly gets a bad rap, and that’s horrible because we’re just passionate. I was just having fun with my kids at the game, and my husband, and we’re passionate. That’s how we are.” ~ Mary Kate
We are the people who feel proud of the conduct of our QB (Jalen Hurts) and the dignified way he handled himself when a railing full of fans fell at a rival sports stadium. His first act was to lend a hand and help his fellow man.
Brotherly love personified.
We are fans that live and embrace a city that enjoys winning more than anyone outside of the area can fathom.
This fandom embraces their athletes, loves them, and they become a permanent fabric of our town.
We are a fan base that stayed loyal and supported our team through 57 years of not winning a championship.
We are the fans who had pictures of our loved ones who were no longer with us in our hands or set out in front of the television screen the night they finally won the Super Bowl.
We are the fans who went to cemeteries all over this region with SB flags that we laid on the ground of those departed or just to chat and tell them “Hey, we finally did it”
And lastly, we are a fanbase that if we love you, we will literally run through a wall/pillar for you. Just ask Jigar Desai.
In conclusion, are some fans mean? Yes.
Do we boo when players aren’t giving their best effort? Absolutely.
Are some fans rude? Without a doubt.
Are these behaviors exclusive to Philadelphia? Of course not!
The small percentage of fans who have, and will continue to, behave inappropriately, don’t get to define the millions of others who pledge allegiance behind this city and its sports franchises that never have, nor will, treat people without respect.
That is NOT who we are. After all, we are the city of Brotherly Love.
So, for all of the outsiders that still want to judge Eagles fans, judge them in their totality. Don’t believe the few overblown instances that have been glorified and falsified to fit the national media’s narrative to vilify the city.
Look deeper. You will find many good-hearted, warm, loving, everyday folk, who work hard, cheer harder, and love to have a good time.
And if you still can’t find any love in your heart for us, well we are also the city and fan base that has embraced that too.
