When telling American men I live in Philadelphia, some 50% will make a comment about Philly sports fans, considered the trashiest scene in sports.
Their infamy goes back to before I was born. In 1968, Eagles fans bombarded Santa Claus with snowballs amid a disastrous season. The consensus among Philly natives is that the media doesn’t tell the whole story: that this particular Santa deserved it.
Then in 1999, a player for my hometown team was the target of Phillies fans’ ire. JD Drew had been drafted second overall but refused to sign with Philadelphia, opting for the St. Louis Cardinals. When he appeared in a Cardinals jersey at Veterans Stadium, he was booed throughout. Toward the end of the game some fans threw batteries at him. FWIW, JD Drew was a disappointment in St. Louis.
Throwing batteries became something of a tradition in Philly. One native’s response to this: it’s the kids from the suburbs. Nobody who does that is from Philadelphia proper.
I remember this incident from 1999 which didn’t make national headlines so much, but you get the picture. Philly fans are known for booing. The first native (bad Santa) says that most Philly fans were delighted with Donovan McNabb, but one shock jock on sports radio led a campaign not to draft Donovan McNabb, who went on to be a six-time Pro Bowler and took the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2005.
My Experience
St. Louis is down to just two sports teams. I don’t have any Cardinals gear at the moment but I occasionally wear a Blues t-shirt. I get almost no harassment, but one day I wore my Blues t-shirt at the park and a native made a comment. We are now friends, he’s a cool guy and he was cool on this day. But to illustrate the mentality, his first words to kick off the conversation were, “Yo, Blues suck.”
I understand it’s a different experience if you’re wearing NY Giants or Cowboys gear around town. The NHL is the least popular of America’s major sports. The Philadelphia Flyers have sucked for a long time, so few people care. And the few people who do care will know the connections between the Flyers and the 2019 championship Blues.
- That Blues squad was coached and led to championship by legendary Flyers enforcer, Craig Berube.
- The Blues’ anthem for that run was christened in a south Philly bar. I’ve heard it’s become something of a pilgrimage for visiting St. Louisans.
- The Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues were the NHL’s first expansion teams beyond the original six.
Any Flyers fan worth their salt will know at least two of those. This guy I see at the park played hockey since junior high.
The only other harassment I get is from a transplant from New York, but who I consider naturalized after 30 years here. He doesn’t give me trouble for wearing Blues gear, he can’t completely let go of the Knicks. He doesn’t warn against arousing the locals’ ire, but says that I need to embrace the city fully in my heart of hearts. Wearing other teams is not embracing the Philly spirit.
Conversion: Blooper pokes the bear
The Phillies made a good run at the World Series last year. Before a playoff series with the Atlanta, the Braves mascot took a shot at the Phillies mascot that touched off a battle on social media. The Braves mascot was promptly humiliated in a one-sided defeat of course, see link for details.
And that made me chuckle. What were you thinking, dummy? If there’s one town you don’t go picking fights with in the sports fans, it’s Philly.
And with a touch of transplant pride, that led me to understand it a little. Couched in between New York and Washington DC, Philadelphia gets no respect. It occupies a lower place in popular imagination than smaller Boston, leaving Philly somewhere above Baltimore. For all its history as the original capital, site of the Constitutional Convention, it’s underestimated.
The rabid fanbase is like a manifestation of the underdog spirit which propelled the Rocky films to historic success and local adoration. Noone likes us and we don’t care!
The real kicker is the spirit has infected my 10-year-old son. He abandoned the St. Louis teams in just a few months here. Now he gets mad when I wear my Blues shirt.
Expat Chronicles 