The following is a reader contribution. Anything in bold is my own contribution for emphasis:

“Hi, after discovering your site and reading many of the testimonials about the classless behavior in Philadelphia, I felt compelled to share some really disturbing information with you. Due to who I am and the sensitive nature of the topic, I ask to remain anonymous.

I am currently working for the Buffalo Sabres as a moderator for their official fan page on Facebook. Every season we have to deal with the typical 3 or 4 trolling incidents from a couple of our rival fan bases. However, a full week before the Sabres/Flyers 2011 playoff series even started, we began taking a heavy assault on our fan page from literally hundreds of Flyers fans. When the playoffs actually started, it became thousands.

Not only were the numbers of people resorting to this type of behavior more than any other fan base, but the severity of the content they posted was worse than anything I have ever seen before. To highlight just SOME of the disgusting things they were posting, they:

- Told a 2-tour military combat veteran from Buffalo they hope he “dies in Afghanistan”.
- Verbally abused and threatened sexual assault on a female minor (16 yrs old).
- Made crude sexual comments towards female fans and wished cancer on another.
- Posted homophobic and racial slurs; the later towards Mike Grier of the Sabres.
- Made several credible threats of violence & death threats, towards fans and players.
- Posted pictures & video of the Clint Malarchuk throat-cut incident, bleeding on the ice.
- Several people “liked” the above image, and one called it “beautiful photography”.

The Sabres official fan page currently has 2,583 people on the “banned” list… and 1,629 of those were Flyers fans added during the Sabres/Flyers playoff series. When you’re dealing with numbers like that, the “few rotten apples” excuse no longer applies. It got so bad that the Sabres had to hire 3 new employees just so we could keep a 24/7 watch on the page, which was unheard of up until that point. I hate to judge an entire city, but we’re talking about 1,500+ people committing these acts. There’s no excuse. The people of Philadelphia really should be ashamed of themselves.”

And for anyone who will respond that every city has scummy sports fans, no one here has ever claimed it’s only Philly that breeds these idiots. OK?

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-philadelphia-eagles-fans-vandalize20110110,0,1905189.story

Lehigh Valley professor learns lesson about rooting against Eagles

Wisconsin native Craig Coenen says Eagles fans lived up to their reputation and vandalized his car outside the Linc.

By Tracy Jordan, OF THE MORNING CALL
6:25 a.m. EST, January 11, 2011

A college professor from Lower Macungie Township who wrote a book about the first 50 years of the NFL knew Philly fans had a reputation for mistreating visiting fans, but the Wisconsin native said he didn’t know how bad it could be until he went to the Eagles game Sunday.

Craig Coenen and his father, Peter Coenen, left Lincoln Financial Field jubilant after watching their beloved Green Bay Packers defeat the Eagles in the NFC wild card playoff game.

“We were just thinking about how nice a day it was and it was a good memory,” Peter Coenen said. “Then I looked up and said, ‘Oh my God.’ ”

His son’s Toyota Camry had been stomped on, kicked and beaten (kind of like the Eagles). Fans tore out the windshield wipers and motors and used them to scratch the paint, broke off the side mirrors and left footprints and dents on the hood, trunk and roof.

“It was just drunk, obnoxious Eagles fans,” Craig Coenen said Monday after getting a repair estimate of $2,163. “Philadelphia is notorious for this, but hopefully the fans who did this are the exception, not the rule.”

More likely, it will go down as another example of Philadelphia sports fans at their worst and add to their reputation as out-of-control, violent, destructive drunks and all-around sore losers.

“When I left Green Bay everyone said to be careful — the Philadelphia fans have a reputation,” said Peter Coenen, who still lives in Wisconsin and took his son to the game as an early birthday gift. “My son had a Green Bay Packers shirt on. As we drove in, they gave us the finger.”

The reputation dates to 1949 when fans threw glass bottles at an umpire for a bad call during a Phillies game. Incidents continued over the years, including the hurling of snowballs at Santa Claus at Franklin Field in 1968 and at the Dallas Cowboys at Veterans Stadium in 1989.

In April, Philadelphia Phillies fan Matthew Clemmens, 21, of Cherry Hill, N.J., became known as “Pukemon” after he purposely vomited on other Phillies fans, an 11-year-old girl and her father, an off-duty Easton police captain.

Coenen, 40, who grew up 20 miles south of Green Bay’s historic Lambeau Field, has been a Packers fan all his life. While working on his master’s degree at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, he embarked on research that eventually became a book, “From Sandlots to the Super Bowl: The National Football League 1920-1967.”The book ends with the Green Bay Packers winning the first Super Bowl in NFL history.

Coenen, who now teaches at Lehigh as well as Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, said he became well aware of Philly fans’ reputation during his research and from living in the Lehigh Valley for 18 years. And he admitted he should have known better than to wear Packers clothing to Sunday’s game.

After paying $25 to park, Coenen said he and his father stayed in the car listening to the Ravens-Chiefs AFC playoff game on the radio while a group of drunken young men carried on outside. Once inside the stadium, Coenen said he and his father enjoyed friendly banter with the Eagles fans.

“We had a very positive experience … until we went to the parking lot and the car was pretty well trashed,” Craig Coenen said.

Another car belonging to Green Bay fans met a similar fate, Coenen said. The owners, from Maryland, filed a police report at the same time as Coenen. He said they all agree the likely culprits were the group of six men in their 20s who were parked between them in a black extended-cab pickup truck.

“By the time we got back, the truck was gone and there was an empty case of Busch Light,” Craig Coenen said. “And someone had vomited in the parking spot as well.”

This isn’t the first time an out-of-towner had a car vandalized at a Philadelphia sporting event. In May, Flyers fans are suspected of vandalizing a car with a Canadian license plate belonging to a sports writer for the Montreal Gazette. He wrote a column about the city’s lack of brotherly love and the damage to his car, which included a flat tire and broken-off bug deflector. He wrote that Philadelphia fans may be as bad as Montreal fans, who booed the U.S. national anthem a few weeks earlier.

Coenen sees no comparison between fans in Philadelphia and Green Bay.

“The Packer fans are very cordial with fans who come to Lambeau Field,” he said, adding he feels confident even Eagles fans would “be treated nicely” there.

And he said he’ll never venture to another game in Philly.

“I still love football; it’s great,” Craig Coenen said. “And I’m very happy the Packers won — even more so, the Eagles are done for the season.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/sports_breaking/94001159.html

Reporter had tough time in Philly

By Pat Hickey

THE (MONTREAL) GAZETTE

PHILADELPHIA – This is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love, but the citizenry has strayed from the ideals espoused by its founder, William Penn.

Over the years, the city’s sports fans have earned a reputation as boorish fanatics. These are the folks who booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs at an Eagles game.

Probably because some Philadelphia fans – not unlike fans in other cities, including Montreal – have never learned that there’s a fine line between supporting a team and criminal behaviour.

I was disgusted by the latest riot in Montreal following a Canadiens’ victory over Pittsburgh. While Premier Jean Charest assured us that the miscreants weren’t Canadiens’ fans, former colleague Michael Farber asked the question: “Who do they root for? Are they Penguins’ fans? Colorado fans?”

There was certainly an element which took advantage of an opportunity to do some after-hours shopping at the SAQ and Foot Locker, but I saw dozens of photographs in which the out-of-control revelers were wearing Canadiens jersey. And, while the team won’t admit, the decision not to show the first two games of the Philadelphia series on the series on the giant screen at the Bell Centre, was made with an eye toward avoiding more trouble.

There were several incidents at Game 1 of the Flyers-Canadiens series here Sunday night. I saw fans in Canadiens jerseys heckled, which is fair game. I also saw several of them being bumped around, which isn’t acceptable.

Some vandals pulled the plug on a pregame telecast by Radio-Canada and another Canadian TV crew was harassed.

I found myself the unwanted centre of attraction when I went to my car after the game. One tire was flat, the bug deflector had been ripped from the hood, a hubcap had been snapped in two and the trunk and roof of the car were littered with beer cans. The windows were covered with beer and soda.

These were minor inconveniences. I bought a new tire and took a run through a car wash. And when you have 565,000 kilometres on a 1999 Honda Accord, you don’t worry about a bug deflector.

But my biggest concern was that some yahoo tore off my license plate. I spent three hours Monday, shuttling between police stations before I was able to fill out a report on the theft. I’m hoping that the report will help me clear customs Wednesday.

The attitude of some Philly fans – I have a lot of friends in the city and made some new ones on this trip – was in stark contrast to the fans in Washington and Pittsburgh, who were gracious throughout the first two rounds of the series and far more civil than the Montreal fans who booed the U.S. anthem.

Prior to Game 1, the Flyers passed out T-shirts with the legend: Relentless in the pursuit of history.

Relentless in the pursuit of idiocy would be a better slogan for a city whose history includes abusing Santa Claus.

Eagles fans brutal snowball assault on 49ers fans at last Sunday’s game.

You’re proud of behaving this way, aren’t you? Do you think that’s a cool way to act? You show time and time again how pathetic you are, Philadelphia……

1. No danger of hearing the dreaded word “threepeat”.

2. No parade and subsequent violence. Does anyone remember the looting and other crime that took place after the Phillies parade last year? Lighting fires and breaking store windows is a very classy way to celebrate a championship. In bizarro world, that is.

3. The Yankees were able to christen their new stadium with yet another World Series championship.

(Note to Yanks fan haters: Some of us like the Yankees because our parents were and took us to the stadium when we were growing up, just like your parents took you to Phillies games. I grew up loving the Yanks of Reggie Jackson and Bucky Dent and Thurman Munson, before salaries were ever an issue. You don’t abandon your hometown team regardless of the management. Neither will we.)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/10/31/2009-10-31_city_of_brotherly_bleeping_love_philly_fans_full_of_threats__profanities_for_yan.html#ixzz0VWNOaXSF

City of Brotherly (bleeping) Love: News reporter brings Yankee pride to Philadelphia and gets earful

BY Kenny Porpora
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Friday, October 30th 2009, 9:12 PM

The love started as soon as I stepped out of a taxi in Philadelphia on Friday, decked out in my A-Rod jersey and Yankees hat.

“Go back to New York!” shouted a kid skating by.

“You’re in the wrong city,” shouted another guy wearing a “Yankees Suck” shirt.

“You got a lot of nerve coming to my city!” shouted a woman walking her dog along South St.

And they were the nice ones.

As I walked throughout the City of Brotherly Love dressed as a Yankees fan on the eve of Game 3 of the World Series, cars rolled by just slow enough to welcome me to Philadelphia with a verbal lashing of expletives and some choice sign language.

Sometimes they’d save their breath and simply toss an empty beer can out the window.

Other times they’d just shake their head in shame.

And while I’ve often dreamed about spending my nights on Park Ave. with Kate Hudson, after the reception I got wearing No. 13, I wouldn’t trade places with A-Rod for anything.

“This is war, baby!” said Nicholas Talio, 22, of South Philadelphia. “And you’re the enemy. If you’re not wearing red, you’re not with us.”

Clad in Phillies garb and drinking a can of Bud Lite outside of Citizens Bank Ballpark, Talio cited Yankees fans’ arrogance as his reason for detesting the entire franchise.

“They think they have the right to every World Series,” said Talio, before his buddy, Anthony Vanderze, 25, also of South Philly, chimed in.

“But tomorrow, we’re going to show them why we’re the defending champs.”

With the series tied 1-1, emotions are flaring, and the mere sight of a Yankees fan is enough to send some Phillies fans over the edge.

“You suicidal?” asked a confrontational Oscar Alvarado, 28, of North Philadelphia. “You gonna come into my city dressed like that? It’s time to go home. Your boys are going to lose.”

He paused his tirade just long enough for a car stopped in traffic to roll down the window and insult my mother.

“You risking your health coming here dressed like that,” concluded Alvarado.

Steve DeGrazio, 27, of Landsdale, Pa., was tailgating with some friends in the parking lot of Citizens Bank Ballpark when he caught a glimpse of me.

He did not like what he saw.

“You must be lost!” he shouted incredulously. “You have to be out of your mind coming to my stadium dressed like this! Go back to your corporate shopping mall of a stadium. You don’t belong here, Yankee.”

Thank you for the warm welcome, Philly. I love you, too.