FanNation - The Republic of Sport

The unoriginal Philly fan bashing is inherent among the sports media in general, as well as fans in other cities who only are aware of what they hear. Now, this is by no means intended to claim Philadelphia fans are angels. They are not. There have been some incidents that were embarrassing, specifically the JD Drew battery incident. People will remain to be uniformed when referring to Santa getting hit with snowballs. It was 40 years ago, the team was 2-12, the Santa was a drunken skinny back up Santa, people were pissed, and there were snowballs. Last I checked, snowballs may hurt, but they are a lot less lethal than say, a baseball. We'll touch on that in a minute. The Michael Irvin injury incident is also a bit hazy as for the true story behind it as far as it has been reported on television and in print. I was there. Now, I'm not going to say there weren't a few people heckling the guy being injured. I'm sure there were. That happens everywhere. But the real noise was being directed towards Deion Sanders doing a shaman-like heal dance around Irvin. It was out there, and people were letting him have it. Anyway, **** happens everywhere. Philly has the reputation...whatever, I get. But this holier than thou approach by uninformed people is pretty funny, yet very ignorant. Poll 95% of the players that have ever played in Philadelphia, and they'll tell you they wouldn't have wanted to play anywhere else. Hell, poll 95% of opposing players and they'll tell you the fans are top notch.

People will continue to have their views, and that's fine. Hate on. It's fun. But remember, things happen in other cities all the time. Such as:

At the Washington Senators' final game at RFK Stadium against the New York Yankees on September 30, 1971, fans angered by the team's impending move (to Dallas-Fort Worth, where the Senators were to become the Texas Rangers in 1972) stormed the field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and vandalized the stadium

Disco Demolition Night: On July 12, 1979, the Chicago White Sox held a game in which Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl came onto the field to blow up a box full of disco records between games of a doubleheader. Rowdy and intoxicated fans, who had packed Comiskey Park beyond capacity, immediately stormed the field, engaged in various acts of vandalism and theft, and refused to leave the field until the arrival of Chicago Police in full riot gear. Umpires postponed the game. American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers.  Speaking of Chicago, didn't a guy and his son jump out of the stands and beat up and the old first base coach of the Royals? Classy.

Ten Cent Beer Night: A promotion held by the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974 backfired when intoxicated Cleveland fans jumped onto the field and attacked Texas Rangers outfielder Jeff Burroughs. This led to a riot in which the drunken and rowdy fans, armed with an array of debris (including chunks of the stadium seating), brawled with players from both teams as well as with staff members. Umpires declared a forfeit win by Texas. Speaking of Cleveland, nice move with Derek Anderson getting hurt last week and getting cheered for being injured. That's pretty cool. No really. It is.

On August 10, 1995, the St. Louis Cardinals were visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers, and leading the game 2-1 as the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Dodgers had given away thousands of baseballs to fans coming to the game as a promotion. The first batter, Raúl Mondesí, was called out on strikes and then ejected by home plate umpire Jim Quick for arguing, as was Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda immediately after. The crowd became agitated, and soon Dodger fans began throwing baseballs onto the field of play. Because of this dangerous situation for the visiting team, the Cardinals left the field and the baseballs were removed, but when the fans started throwing balls again after the Cardinals came back onto the field, the umpires forfeited the game to St. Louis. Don't forget, in this past season's NLCS, gang fights among LA fans along with harrassing women and children who were Philly fans.

Want more?

Here is a list of other cities' phans' transgressions (also note the Gary Sheffield incident in Boston, repeated Milton Bradley scenes, and Barry Bonds in every other city outside of San Francisco, as well):

• August 26, 1986: A knife with a five-inch blade was thrown at rookie Wally Joyner of the California Angels after beating the Yankees. Joyner was grazed on the left arm but was not seriously harmed.
• September 24, 1999: A fan jumped out of the stands and tackled Astros right fielder Bill Spiers in the bottom of the sixth inning. Spiers had a welt under his left eye, a bloody nose and whiplash.
• November 24, 1999: Broncos fans throw snowballs with batteries in them at Raiders.
• May 16, 2000: Backup Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter was hit in the head by a fan, who also stole his cap. Kreuter and several Dodgers went into the stands and a brawl followed.
• August 29, 2002: In the Majors' final game before the strike deadline, fans threw foul balls back onto the field and chanted "Don't Strike! Don't Strike!'' as the Anaheim Angels beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-1.
• April 15, 2003: A fan ran on the field at U.S. Cellular Field and attempted to tackle an umpire during a game between the White Sox and visiting Kansas City.
• April 19, 2003: Texas Rangers right fielder Carl Everett was beaned in the back of the head with a cell phone in Oakland.
• April 24, 2003: A fan was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct for throwing a cell phone, which hit San Diego Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs, during a Chicago Cubs game.
• April --, 2003: A fan almost bit off a police officer's pinkie finger when the officer tried to help Coliseum security break up an argument between fans.
• June 10, 2003: One Orioles fan threw cork at Sosa from the stands and another ran onto the field throwing cork at him.
• July 8, 2003: An 8-year-old boy at the Oakland Athletics' game against Tampa Bay had burns on one of his legs when another fan tossed a cherry bomb from the upper deck of the Coliseum.
• September 20, 2003: A Giants fan in the Dodger Stadium parking lot shot a Dodgers fan. "Apparently we have multiple suspects who are Giants fans who got into an argument with a Dodger fan," Officer Adriana Sanchez, a police spokeswoman said.
• December 24, 2003: Two fans at an Islanders game, dressed up as Santa Claus due to a promotion which invited fans to dress up as Santa Claus for free admission to the game against the Philadelphia Flyers, were permitted to parade across the ice between periods, along with the almost one thousand other Santa-fans. The two removed their red jackets to reveal jerseys of the rival Rangers, and were knocked to the ice and had their shirts ripped off by Islanders fans.
• September 11, 2005: Baltimore Ravens fans cheer quarterback Kyle Boller reeling in pain due to a hyper-extended left toe, after being tackled by Larry Triplett.
• September 15, 2005: Ohio State tight end Ryan Hamby received hate letters since dropping a sure touchdown pass during the Buckeyes' loss to Texas.
• September 22, 2005: Several Giants fans spewed New Orleans Saints fans with taunts about Hurricane Katrina during a game at Giants Stadium. "Where's your swimmies? I hope you have your swimmies!" one fan asked a New Orleans resident. "You deserve what you got," another said. "New Orleans people are stupid."
• October 16, 2005: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox fumbled a snap, threw three interceptions, including one in overtime that was returned for a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fans subsequently threw trash on his lawn.
• October 25, 2005: Houston Astro Craig Biggio's wife Patty was slapped by a White Sox fan after Scott Podsednik hit a game-winning homerun.
• March 22, 2006: Philadelphia Flyer R.J. Umberger was hit from behind and spent considerable time on the ice before getting to his feet and skating off under his own power while being booed by New York Rangers fans.

Umberger had a similar incident in Buffalo when he was knocked out cold. Cheers. Loud and long. What about the Yankee fan that killed the Red Sox fan? Wasn't there a Mets fans put into a coma at Yankee Stadium? I could go on and on. Feel free to throw in any other incidents I may have left out, as I know there are a ton more.