Comments on: In Defense of Philadelphia Sports Fans

By: Adam Malliet

Adam Malliet — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:16:25 +0000

I was offline for like 3 days in a row, it was crazy.

By: ed

ed — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:24:35 +0000

Adam, where were you two days ago? Right on. It’s all on the table in Philly. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

By: Adam Malliet

Adam Malliet — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:48:25 +0000

It is my belief that Philly fans participate in a kind of sporting version of “speaking the truth in love”. We love them by showing up every week and suffering along side of them, we speak the truth by booing them when they suck.

Do not be fooled though, oh ye of sports cities that have fallen for a less wild lover, we love passionately and in public, we fight and we and reconcile in public. Its all out there on the table, we are not passive-aggressive and manipulative like some other cities. And lets not be coy, the make-up sex, so to speak, is mind blowing (i.e. 2008 World Series Champions Phillies).

So other cities, lets a call a spade a spade, and let’s call it jealousy. Envy born out of a lackluster relationship with your own sports teams; we get it, the flame has died and your looking for a way to fan (pun intended) the flame. My advice, love your team enough to boo the hell out of them when they suck.

By: ed

ed — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:45:50 +0000

Hah! Glad I got you riled up Geoff. I see you point about kids, though in my own experience the parents at the games are the problems, not kids. I don’t remember any booing going on with my own sports teams growing up, and never saw anyone boo a high school or college team. However, I have seen parents make complete fools of themselves.

So I don’t want to discredit your experiences, but I just haven’t seen that play out. You do bring up the point that kids are watching and we need to be aware of what they see. That’s a good call for discretion. Of course, we could also make the point that athletes sometimes make troubling role models without even getting into the fans…

By: ed

ed — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:28:11 +0000

I did a bit of booing in the first half of the game tonight. At least they showed up for the second half even if they couldn’t dig themselves out of their hole.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:01:35 +0000

I’m an Australian, so this comes with a limited knowledge of the American professional sports scene, but I follow an Australian Rules football team (Richmond Tigers) who have a bit of a reputation for turning on their own.

So I take your point about these being professionals, and this being an expensive form of entertainment. But here’s the thing: to the kid sitting at home watching the TV with his Eagles jersey on, seeing supporters of his team booing every time there’s a perceived lapse in performance – there’s a very different message. So we end up with kids who think it’s OK to boo your own team, and it comes into the little leagues and the high school games.

As I say – I’ve got no idea about the Eagles (the only thing I knew about them before today is that their kicker, Saverio Rocca, is a former Australian football star) but I can’t agree. And I’m also a little disturbed that of all the things you’ve written on here in the past while, this is the one that fires me up enough to post a comment

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:02:27 +0000

While I don’t want to get the cart ahead of the horse, I have a proposition.
If there is in fact a Pittsburgh/Philly Super Bowl, how about a blog off? A whole week of defending our sports pride. I don’t have the sense of loathing for the Eagles the way I do for the Fliers, but I’m sure I could whip something up…
And by the way, I couldn’t agree more. If your team bites, boo. It’s just that simple.

Godspeed,