Bullying Works: The Athletic Does the Unthinkable and Lets Philadelphia Have a Say in the Fan Behavior Narrative
We tore apart The Athletic (with ads) story ranking best playoff atmospheres in the MLB a couple weeks ago after the authors ranked CBP #1 and still couldn’t help but make a joke about throwing snowballs at Santa. After all the flack they got from Phillies fans online they changed their tune, interviewed a bunch of fans around the city, and published an article that shows our true character.
Bullying works, folks!
They even let me get a quote in it!
The endless repetition of these moments inspires defensiveness. When Braves fans hurled bottles onto the field during the National League Division Series, Phillies fans were quick to notice. “The first text I got,” said Devon Davis, a 36-year-old from Medford, N.J., “was like, ‘This is hilarious. I can’t wait for them to blame this on the Phillies crowd.’” (The Athletic invited similar haranguing after a recent story referenced the old tropes: snowballs and Santa, Drew and the batteries. “You might not be too far off with the battery one, because when I read your article, I really wish I had a battery to throw at all three of you guys,” said Kyle Pagan, a writer for the website Crossing Broad.)
I couldn’t have asked for a better debut.
Shout out to those writers though. Not many sportswriters admit they are wrong or even care enough to follow up with the other side of the argument. Tons of the national media still publish the same lazy jokes every time they talk about Philly fans. We’re not the Dirty 30 going to boo McNabb anymore. CBP and the Linc are nothing like The Vet. We are a smarter, more rational fanbase than we’ve ever been. I mean, every weekend fans across multiple NFL games are behaving like animals. This isn’t just a Philly issue, but we somehow take the brunt of it when it’s us. I think this Phillies crowd you watch on TV captures Philly sports fans the best. We’ll put players like Orlando Arcia in a mental pretzel:
But at the end of the day all we want to do is party, win, and sing “Dancing on My Own” –
When you come to #Phillies playoff at Citizens Bank Park
you get to hear Dancing on My own after every home win#RedOctober #AZvsPHI pic.twitter.com/9qMfF9uF76
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) October 17, 2023
Plus people forget Santa forgave us already:
@crossingbroad Santa forgives #eagles fans for throwing snowballs @phansofphilly #flyeaglesfly #gobirds #santa #HolidayOREOke #phillysports #philly #eaglesfans #eaglesfan #philadelphiaeagles #bearsvseagles #fypphilly #fyp #phillytiktok