I think so.. (http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/nfl/request.dll?MESSAGE&room=nfl_phi&id=182477)

I'm a huge Eagles Fan, but that guy should be stripped of his right to cheer for this team.

Then again, there are a ton of idiots in Philly, so what do you expect.

That's disgusting. As another huge Eagles fan I'm ashamed by that sort of thing. Absolutely revolting.

Hmmm... I couldn't find (from the link) what started everything all up. I saw lots of responses, but couldn't figure out how to find the original post.

But, coming from Philly, I don't need to see a whole lot more to have an impression.

I don't know happened, but something about Joe's kid and Joe pulled the plug on him. I assume, Joe has something to do with the Eagles and his kid recently died.

Didn't Joe Jerivicious' (sp?) lose his child in the offseason?

Joe is Joe Jurevicius and his kid died last Winter (or Spring)... Don't know the whole story (if he "pulled the plug" or not) though...

That was simply a low blow. Took me some time to piece it together...

FM

Disgusting.

They had a story on this on Countdown last night - the Jerivicious' baby was diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease, and they chose to take him off of life support rather than have him suffer. A sad, sad story. Philliesfan is right, anyone who would write that doesn't deserve to be an Eagles fan.

So because of one idiot, the entire group gets labeled. Wow, that's close minded. Isn't that like saying since you saw one black person eating fried chicken...

Originally posted by EagleFan
So because of one idiot, the entire group gets labeled. Wow, that's close minded. Isn't that like saying since you saw one black person eating fried chicken...

It is stupid to label everyone because of one idiot. Eagles fans do have a bad reputation though. From a bunch of them cheering while Michael Irvin lay motionless on the turf, to them cheering Sapp for the same thing, to the unruly behavior at football games so poor they have to have a courthouse in their stadium.

I don't think all Eagles fans are like that. I certainly don't think all Eagles fans hold the opinion of this scumbag. Reputations are a tough thing to fight off. It'll take awhile for that to happen.

TroyF

It also seems that a lot of Philadelphia sports fans purposely cultivate this image of the "bad boys" and the "rowdy fans."

I am curious, EagleFan, as to whether, in your experience, most Philadelphia sports fans appreciate this image, or whether most of you wish that it would go away, but a vocal minority of jerks keep it in the public conciousness?

Lone gunman.

Originally posted by albionmoonlight

I am curious, EagleFan, as to whether, in your experience, most Philadelphia sports fans appreciate this image, or whether most of you wish that it would go away, but a vocal minority of jerks keep it in the public conciousness?

It is a badge of honor!

It's a vocal minority. Unfortunately that's what gets heard the loudest. Even most of them aren't as bad as that poster though. That was just flat out poor taste.

As for the Irvin thing, that was overblown some. There was again a minority that cheered longer than they should have. What football fan hasn't cheered when a hated rival gets leveled. Once it was seen that he was hurt, and maybe seriously, it got relatively quiet, except for that vocal minority.


There have been many good things that never see the light of day because it's much better press to show the negative, like the Mario Lemeiux return in his first game back when he was getting chemo, he was given a loud and long standing ovation when he stepped on the ice for his return. We all (even the lowest common denominator) respect someone with courage.

Are we tougher than some fans? Many are. I haven;t really had to deal with the past Philly sports history. Growing up the Phillies were a perenial playoff team and won the World Series, the Eagles were in the Super Bowl (downhill to follow though), the 76ers were going through a storied rivalry with the Celtics and won a championship, the Flyers had come off their cup years and were always giviung us a contender. Because of this, I don;t have the true hopelessness of the older fans that sat through one losing season after another in most sports.


But we all have to be realistic. There are the same bad seed elements in every sports town. It's just fashionable to overplay the Philly reputation in the media. Look at that icebowl incident in New York, Philly fans took more heat over the Jimmy Johnson snowball incident than the Giants fans took for that (over a longer period of time). Hell, in Chicago you have fans attacking umpires and coaches. The Rangers have the 'blue seats', if you wear an opposing jersey on those seats you have a good chance of getting hurt for doing nothing more than wearing the jersey.


As I said, sterotyping just isn't right. No matter how it's being done.

I've been an Eagle's fan since the 70s and I refuse to go to a game because of the fans that attend. So there are a bunch of assholes that are fans. There are assholes everywhere. Regardless of where this thread was posted, it is reprehensible.

Strikes me as there are a group of Philly fans just like the Black Hole at Oakland who like the 'bad boy' image, and end up getting the enitre group labelled.

I can't even read through that thread. It's a bunch of teenage punks that just want to act big. Or a couple who think they are cocky and funny. Message boards like that aren't exactly the place to go to find a good cross-section of fans. You'll either have the die-hard fans that are just there to discuss the team or the trouble makers who are only there to talk trash, regardless of the topic.

Also, there is this, posted a little later.

Appology (http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/nfl/request.dll?MESSAGE&room=nfl_phi&id=182477)

The guy who posted it has the handle VTHokie2006, wouldn't that be a Virginia Tech fan then?!?

dola,

I'm a Philadelphia fan, and I think that we are pariah because of a few bad apples and the media loves to sensationalize it. I also hate the Philly sports media, they love to aggravate and are the biggest doomsayers of the bunch...

The loudest group sounds like the largest but then you have incidents like:

Cataldi and the booing contigent when McNabb was drafted.

Booing Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton wouldn't even talk to the Philly media (or anyone else for a while).

The whole Eric Lindros thing.

The only thing you could do to stop troublesome fans is to:

1. Better monitors
2. Ban alcohol
3. Raise ticket prices to discourage the rowdies (etc. The 700 level fanatics).

None of which seems to be happening except ticket prices...(Flyers games are calmer now then at the Spectrum)

The comment against Joe is horrible, but I think it would have been a comment against him against any team...not just a depraved and misguided fan (not worthy of being an Iggles fan).

In all honesty I've found in my 25+ years of following NFL football and Major league baseball that there are two cities that seem to stand out far andaway as the rudest and most assinine fans:

Cleveland

and Philadelphia


For cleveland I can only point back to the beer bottle throwing and the hilarity of the dog pound snowball throwing fads as support. Both incidents stained the fans in cleveland for a long time to come. A friend of mine attended a Browns Bengals game, and chose to show his support for the Bengals. He went home covered in food stains from people throwing their mustard and other condiment covered leavings at him for 3 hours.

Philadelphia fans have always been known as a rough bunch, even back in the 50's and 60's they were riding the ragged edge of acceptability. This latest drop in class ranks right up there with the battery throwing incidents in baseball some years ago.


I actually like the teams on both cities, but I will never pay to be abused by their fans. They , In my opinion, are not worth the crushed rubber they fill the new turf fields with.

This may be the work of a few malevolent asses in both towns, but when fine upstanding fans let it happen (in the case of repeated battery throwings and snowball attacks) I can't see clear to limit my disgust to just the perpetrators.

There was a snowball incident in Cincinnati a few years back, when Sam Wyche threatened to pull the Bengals off the field if it continued, 15 people were arrested after being dragged bodily out of the stands by their peers and taken to the security forces.

I honestly hope somebody took this guy out back and kicked his ass thoroughly. just a pathetic and sad attack on a decent man who went through a tragic situation.

It should be noted that the guy is also a Virginia Tech fan.

I live an hour and a half from Philly and after a few games in that city I put a selp imposed ban on any sporting event there. Its not fair to label the whole group due to the fact that only a percenatge are assholes, however its that asshole percentage that ruins it for me.

Originally posted by ctmason
It should be noted that the guy is also a Virginia Tech fan. How is that relevant?

Originally posted by albionmoonlight
Didn't Joe Jerivicious' (sp?) lose his child in the offseason?

Actually, his kid died I believe the week either before or after the NFC Championship Game. What I was shocked in he continued to play during the Super Bowl, and did pretty well.

I agree with the vocal minority opinion. Unfortunately, my grandfather was afraid to take me to a game at the Vet until I was 12 (an Eagle game that is - we went to Phillies games since I was 4.) He died a few years later and I always wish we had gotten to go to more Eagles games together as we watched everyone that was on TV for years together. I'm a huge Eagles fan and I'm ashamed by the behavior of the vocal minority that embarass the city in this way. However, there are plenty of decent Eagles Fans out in the world.

Apparently.

-Anxiety

Originally posted by SunDancer
Actually, his kid died I believe the week either before or after the NFC Championship Game. What I was shocked in he continued to play during the Super Bowl, and did pretty well.

He died in March.

Before the Super Bowl, his kid had "a bad week" (I say the because I forget the exact reason, but the point is it got bad enough for Joe to fly home for awhile). But he didn't die, and cuervo said.

Originally posted by sabotai
Before the Super Bowl, his kid had "a bad week" (I say the because I forget the exact reason, but the point is it got bad enough for Joe to fly home for awhile). But he didn't die, and cuervo said.

Alright, thanks for the correction...I remember he was in difficulties for a week or so during that week.