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Sports fans forget `brotherly love'

"Philly fans are so mean that one Easter Sunday, when the players staged an Easter egg hunt for their children, the fans booed the kids who didn't find any eggs."

Former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Bob Uecker

Regarding the sports fans of this fair city, Pete Rose once said: "Some of these people would boo the crack in the Liberty Bell."

Bob Uecker -- the former Philadelphia Phillies catcher, turned-broadcaster, turned-movie actor -- once joked: "Philly fans are so mean that one Easter Sunday, when the players staged an Easter egg hunt for their children, the fans booed the kids who didn't find any eggs."

The good citizens from the City of Brotherly Love booed President Herbert Hoover at the World Series in 1930, and threw snowballs at Santa Claus in 1968.

Earlier this season, when the Philadelphia Eagles opened with two blowout losses at their spiffy new home, Lincoln Financial Field, the fans let them have it. In the third quarter of Philly's 31-10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 2, the fans let loose with sarcastic cheers when quarterback Donovan McNabb threw a bad pass.

Then some fans started chanting "A.J., A.J.!" It was a call to bench McNabb and bring in third-stringer A.J. Feeley. When McNabb left the field, an irate fan threw a water bottle at him.

The US$512 million stadium quickly earned the moniker "Stinkin' Financial Field."

When the Carolina Panthers venture there for today's NFC championship game, they'll face not only the Eagles -- who have won 13 of 15 games since those first two losses -- but the energy and wrath of what many consider the nastiest sports fans in America.

"Philadelphia fans are the most intense, the most passionate and the most loyal fans in sports today," proclaimed Glen Macnow, a former sports writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now a sports radio talk-show host.

Macnow became so fired up with his belief in Philadelphia fans he teamed up with fellow sports-talker Anthony Gargano to write The Great Philadelphia Fan Book.

It is 252 pages of anecdotes and memories, as well as an exploration of the psyche of Philadelphia sports fans that live and die with their beloved Eagles, Flyers, 76ers and Phillies.

"All of the national media blowhards ripped Philadelphia for having the worst fans in the country without understanding us," Macnow said.

The book is not an apology, but rather, a celebration.

"Sports is not just an entertainment venue here," Macnow said. "Sports is a deep religious bond here, something that people care about deeply. It is a huge part of their lives."

A stroll around downtown Philadelphia backs up Macnow's claim. As the Eagles prepared for their third consecutive NFC title game, office workers escaped the bitter cold, wolfed down cheesesteaks and talked Eagles football during lunchtime at the Reading Terminal Market.

"You're telling me that this team is better than last year's team?" shouted one middle-aged man to his lunch-counter buddy. "I'm telling you, we're lucky to get this far."

To which his friend replied: "Lucky? McNabb should have been the MVP. We're going all the way."

A longtime cab driver -- he said his name was Jack, just Jack -- explained Philadelphia's love-hate relationship with its sports team this way: "You know why they call this the City of Brotherly Love? Because we love like brothers. You know? Your brother might flick your ear, or punch your arm, or drink too much and embarrass you at your wedding, but you still love him. And he loves you.

"That's the way it is here. We cheer because we care and we boo because we care."

When Eagles coach Andy Reid was asked if he thought the fans' expectations added extra pressure to the Eagles' quest for their first NFL title since 1960, he said: "I don't feel any more pressure other than that of a normal game. The fans do a great job. When you come in here, you'd better be focused because those fans are going to meet the bus when it comes in.
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