Just to support Snakes here. I heard an interview with this guy and in his defence he said he was so drunk that he thought that he was a big Pez Dispenser and was just trying to give the little girl some candy. He was really trying to be a good guy so lay off the Philly bashing.
Snakes Gould wrote: im sure you've all heard that story but im sure most dont know why he was pelted with the snowballs. just one of the many stories.
Beacuse the Eagles were 2-12 that season? That's a good reason
mostly because the "santa claus" was a drunken mess and his beard was falling off, among other things. seems like a good reason to me.
Sounds like you may need to revisit the "Santa Claus incident" yourself.
Frank Olivo -- the erstwhile Santa in question -- wasn't drunk, nor was his red suit in tatters that December day in 1968 when he walked onto the field for the halftime show, only to be met by a chorus of jeers and a snowball fusillade from Eagles fans.
Either way the fans of Philly probably get a little more flak than they deserve. They are under the microscope more than other cities around the country. That's just the way it's become for Philly fans, here's 12 reasons why it is that way, including the "Santa Claus incident". Stories of adults intentionally throwing up on children aren't helping their cause.
Last edited by Metroid on Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
also, the "Santa" at that game was some dude they pulled out of the stands in a Santa costume because the real one was unable to make it ... so I'm sure he wasn't expecting to stand in at a halftime show when he pieced his outfit together.
They're not all bad, remeber they cheered for Michael Irvin
i'm kind of with Snakes Gould here. Anything that fits the almost-pre-scripted, essentially-media-driven-narrative (that was a lot of dashes!) of how the rest of the country views Philly sports fans is going to have legs and become a national story. If this would have happened anywhere else (with the possible exception of a Raiders game), it would probably have been a short story on the local sports pages, because it's Philly, though, and it plays into our prejudices, it's all over the national media. It's the same reason that it becomes a big controversy everytime Terrel Owens opens his mouth--regardless of what he saying--while someone like Peyton Manning could criticize coaches or teammates with near impunity: it fits the narrative.
That said, none of that changes the fact that, whether this happened in Philly or anywhere else, it did happen. The media focus on Philadelphia sports fans doesn't excuse the actions of those fans.
Because of the media-driven (and some would argue media-created) narrative that Philadelphia sports fans are the worst-behaved of all fanbases in the country. This kind of thing (maybe not this particular thing, though I wouldn't be surprised if this has happened somewhere else too) happens all over the place. I've been spit on and had beer poured on me at Dodger Stadium, I've seen a guy in a Dodgers jersey get assaulted and have his jersey ripped off then burned in San Francisco, etc., etc., etc. Philadelphia doesn't have a monopoly on unruly fans, but it does have a monopoly on the perception that its fans are far worse than everywhere else, so something that would be a local issue everywhere else becomes a national story when it happens in Philly.
I have a hard time believing "the media" just woke up one day and decided to call Philadelphia fans the worst in the country arbitrarily, or that the newsreading audience across the country did, forcing the hand of the media to follow along.
In some cases I'd agree with Art's viewpoint...maybe in a less ugly incident...but not this one. Anywhere this story happened it was going to be covered. It's disgusting on a whole new level.
There are bad fans everywhere but come on Philly has earned their reputation. People get cursed at, beers get thrown and fights break out at every sporting event. People don't induce vomitting on other fans anywhere else that I've heard of. And you can bet that if someone induces vomitting on a cop and his 11 year old daughter this is going to be news no matter where it took place.
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