Open Letter to Ignorant Philly Fans

3rd & Goal, originally uploaded by Mark K_NJ

Donovan McNabb was booed by much of the home crowd as he came out of the tunnel yesterday.  He was booed sporadically throughout the game.  Kevin Kolb received an ovation when he entered the game.

Dear fellow Philly fans,

What's your problem?  So Donovan McNabb is a little sensitive?  This is nothing new, deal with it.  The guy has been the franchise for almost a decade now.  Show some respect.

Those who decided to boo Five yesterday are a bunch of morons.  People all over the country rip on us for being loud, drunk, ignorant morons.  I spend a lot of time trying to defend us and prove that these Philly haters are wrong.  Those who decided to boo yesterday, you are a bunch of loud, drunk, ignorant morons.  Stop giving the rest of us a bad name.

Booing McNabb yesterday was a disgrace.

For more on this subject, see this post.

Sincerely,
The Average Intelligent Philly Fan*

>>Previously: DONOVAN MCNABB DID NOT 'BRING UP' RACE [The 700 Level]
>>Elsewhere: McNabb turns boos to cheers [Inqy]
*Yes, we exist.  Get some new material.

Comments

[jeremy]

Agreed 100% completely. I love most Philly fans but booing Donovan was disgusting.

[Ben]

I went to the Monday Night Carolina game last year and heard dozens of people around me booing Garcia and Andy Reid. They were still chanting for AJ in the 3rd quarter.

[Li Evans - EaglesChick]

Couldn't agree with you more. Last week as I sat watching them get beat and Charles Barkley and Jaws were commenting about Philly fans and how they treat there stars, I couldn't help but agree.

In any other city both Andy and Donovan would be rejoiced, but here in Philly at the slightest hint of trouble we're looking toward the other pasture. Things aren't always greener on the other side folks. Just look at what happened when Kolb did go in, he made a mistake no veteran would make and that resulted in a fumble.

The guy just came off a serious knee injury and was still wearing a brace, most players don't come back for a year, Donovan came back in 10 months. The guy's helped us get to one consecutive NFC East championship after another. After yesterday's performance, the haters just need to shut up (we know that won't happen, unfortunately) and stop crying "wolf" the moment the Eagles don't win.

~Li, EaglesChick.com

[schoe]

the majority of the people that booed mcnabb wont be reading your rant because they arent sophisticated enough to have the internet...and i use the term sophisticated extremely loosely, considering everyone and their grandmothers have the net now....

with that said:

5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chris]

Great post man, I hope that McNabb doesn't keep getting this reception. If he does, people should be embarrased.

[ryan]

Well said enrico. For me the hardest part of going to Eagles games is dealing with the moron sitting next to me who immediately wants the backup quarterback in, the head coach fired, and the personnel overhauled. The Eagles front office has done an amazing job over the last 10 seasons, nobody goes 16-0 so have some faith in your team and be a semi-respectable human being. Some Philly fans have embraced being asinine boo birds and have become caricatures of themselves. There is a time and place for a good boo, Donovan rarely gives you a reason for it though.

[Frank]

Just brutal...

[Matt P]

that picture is amazing.

[Civil Negligence]

In defense of those who boo'ed McNabb because of his HBO comments, I think they were deserved. For those who boo'ed McNabb because of the 0-2 start, I agree with you, Enrico; but you needed to make this distinction.

What McNabb said on HBO was inane and served no useful purpose. As many have pointed out, his claim about black QB's was way off and not grounded in facts. It only brought unnecessary attention to an 0-2 (at the time) Eagles team. I think McNabb should have been boo'ed for being so reckless in his actions. No question.

[TMC]

The funny thing about fans booing him for being too sensitive is that they're openly flaunting their own oversensitivity by whining and crying like teenage girls because their quarterback has opinions they don't agree with.

[josh a]

"What McNabb said on HBO was inane and served no useful purpose. As many have pointed out, his claim about black QB's was way off and not grounded in facts."

thats amazing, i didn't know you were a black QB? are you jason campbell? is that your randall?

the man was asked a question in an interview and he answered honestly. your opinion about his opinion is just that, your stupid asshole opinion.

but i'm really exited to find out who you are. vince young maybe? he doesn't seem to be that bright

[theKrisheim]

"I spend..."

"Us..."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

anyone who cares what the national perspective is on the fans in philadelphia is just as bad as any of these athletes who whine, complain or makes stupid comments.

people in the city know how great the fans are, and so do the players who come through here. who really cares what they say on TV, in writing or good forbid ON BLOGS!?!?!

yesterday the QB deserved better, but unfortunately there's a group of fans out there who chose to boo just to be dicks and because they feel like that is the "philly thing to do."

[Civil Negligence]

Wow, glad to see we have those intelligent commenters here who resort to ad hominum attacks. (Me thinks we need to have commenters approved in the future.)

My opinion is based off of people like Terry Bradshaw who totally disagreed with McNabb (he was a QB, wasn't he?).

Moreover, there is no way you can argue that the most criticized QB of the past several years, up until last year, was Manning. That boy sure seems white to me.

I would suggest some research in the future, josh a, before calling people names and discrediting my opinion because I am not exactly in their shoes. If your standard for judging anything (i.e., you need to be exactly like the person who made the comment to judge the comment) was the case, this world would have far too few critics.

[Civil Negligence]

PS: I am the Walrus. Coo-coo-kachoo.

[Gaze]

I never agree a player should be boo-ed during introductions. As B-Dawk said on 950 this morning, if Donovan is throwing passes into the dirt (as he was the first two weeks of the season) then he deserves to be boo-ed. I certainly don't believe many fans in Philadelphia care about what color he is. The only thing that matters is how he plays and up until yesterday he was shaky at best...

[wolf]

great posts and i'm pretty sure enrico solved the debate about mcnabb stating black quarterbacks face added scrutiny and have to do something extra. mcnabb was answering a question about being a black quarterback, a question white quarterbacks don't get asked, which equals added scrutiny and requires more of him than white quarterbacks. i can break it down as a proof if any one else needs it. but there you go, mcnabb was right. its math.

[michael]

Whether they booed him for his black quarterback comments or his poor play in the first two games, they are completely entitled to it. You, yourself, say that McNabb has been the franchise for almost a decade... so when the franchise is failing, who do you blame? The Eagles fans decided to blame McNabb. They were dissatisfied with his play, and even more so for his excuses. When you're a public figure, and you're the face of the franchise, you are going to be criticized when things are going poorly. Period. That's a fact of sports, whether you think fans are ignorant or not.

[Annie]

As a Philly resident and a longtime Eagles fan, I'll go on the record saying the booing was inappropriate and personally offensive to me as a fan. I don't want to lumped in with those bad fans, and they are BAD FANS, who boo our NFC title winning and Superbowl playing QB. That said, at least we aren't Jets fans, who cheered their QB's injury as he limped off the field and was scratched from the game. This fan thing isn't a Philly problem, it's a nationwide sportsfan issue.

[ColeHamelsIn2008]

As a season ticket holder in 3 of the 4 sports in Philly that matter, I anticipated fans would boo McNabb when he was introduced. These are the same fans who no more than 10 minutes into the game were the biggest McNabb fans in the world. As a die hard Eagles fan, I am sometimes appalled by the fickle Philadelphia fan. When there were boos coming from my section when they introduced McNabb, I turned around and remembered their faces and yelled “You won’t be booing at all in about half an hour.” Then after every single McNabb touchdown pass yesterday I ran up the aisle, took my McNabb jersey off held it up and pointed to the name. It were those same fans who booed, who were now standing and cheering as McNabb had led the Eagles down the field yet again. And as a side note, those fickle few, were also the ones calling for A.J. Feeley in 2003 and Andy Hall in 2005 and now Kevin Kolb in 2007.

By the way, you know what two of those supposed Eagles fans said when I held up the McNabb jersey? "You're white! Sit down white boy!"

Unbelievable.

[Krista]

The majority of the booers (or boors, I might add) are a bunch of fair-weather fan/drunks who care more about their alcohol consumption and related obnoxiousness that they do about the actual game. Show some respect for a guy who despite what he's endured from us over the past 10 years continues to be an upstanding fella.
If you want to boo anyone, it should be Reid, who was obvioulsy calling the offense for the first two games.

[JMac]

I have been denied (once again) entrance into the Black Quarterbacks League, so I can't comment about Donovan's HBO interview. Here are some things I can comment on.

1) Donovan McNabb is probably the third best quarterback in the NFL (Brady, Manning would be 1, 2).

2) Donovan McNabb is the best quarterback the Eagles have ever had.

3) Donovan McNabb is a good man and a classy person.

4) Donovan McNabb is coming off a horrible injury that takes more than 10 months to fully recover from.

The fact that he gets treated like Eli (I'd rather be fishing) Manning and Mark (AARP) Brunell is disgusting. And the fact that people compare how those guys get treated to how McNabb gets treated is also disgusting. Those guys are bums. McNabb is a Hall of Famer and a winner.

[Johnny Goodtimes]

"That said, at least we aren't Jets fans, who cheered their QB's injury as he limped off the field and was scratched from the game."

Annie, apparently you've forgotten that game early last December when Eagles fans cheered when Garcia got injured and thought Feeley might come into the game. That was before the Eagles got hot. Then those same idiots were waiting in line at Foreman Mills three weeks later to buy Garcia jerseys. The bottom line is that Eagles fans are fair weathered fans who don't stand by the players on their team unless they play perfectly.

[Kulp]

You're all making a bigger deal of this than it really is. McNabb talks about race. McNabb gets booed at home. I don't care about any of it.

I especially don't care what McNabb has done prior to this season, because none of it involves winning a Super Bowl. Somebody says that he's a winner and Hall-bound, and he's neither yet.

And all this nonsense about the booing... look, I don't agree with it either, but #5 has been under the microscope from the beginning. Not everyone in Philly is a fan, and they don't need to be. I support the team, and I don't have to like every player or coach or personnel decision. All I care about is winning.

Right now, like it or not, Donovan gives us the best chance to win. But don't tell me he doesn't have a lot to prove or that he has earned a free pass against criticism. Just show me on the field, and let everyone from Donovan to the fans form their own opinions.

[carlos]

Hear, Hear! As I have said before, Eagles fans in Philly can be a different bunch that Eagles fans around the country but, of course, there are local relevant divisions. Kevin Kolb looks nice but McNabb is McNabb! How quickly some people forget.

Again, hear, hear!

[jim]

"In defense of those who boo'ed McNabb because of his HBO comments, I think they were deserved."

Really? Go to the link

[jim]

'scuse me, click my name

[Sara]

I had the unfortunate experience yesterday of seeing my favorite sports team, the Philadelphia Eagles, play football at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Yes, you read right: unfortunate. Despite their amazing 56-21 victory and what would have been a great time, I had one of the worst experiences of my life.

Some people said I should have known what to expect. Had I been warned, it still couldn’t have prepared me for the disgusting verbal display that my boyfriend and I heard once we sat down. As we made our way to our seats in section 221, otherwise known as the 700 level, we hunkered down, excited just to be at the stadium, seeing our team.

The sun was blazing as the Eagles took the field and I was excited to see my favorite quarterback, Donovan McNabb. Despite losing the first two games of the season and controversy surrounding his racially charged comments made on HBO, I was thrilled to watch him in action. The players emerged and the energy in the Linc was high. My boyfriend hadn't even sunk his teeth into his sausage sandwich when we were met with horrid screams coming from directly behind us. An older white man continued to scream in my ear, "McNabb you f_cking n_gger, McNabb you f_cking n_gger."

Where the hell was I? Was this happening? After the fourth and fifth series of hate-filled words and expletives were uttered I abruptly left my seat to inform a staff member about this man's behavior. Upon relaying the information to a security guard dressed in red, I was told that he was not responsible for my section and that if it happened again to tell the other guard.

I sat back down. I hadn’t eaten anything all day but felt no need for food: my hunger had turned to nausea. We were expected to endure this? Surely no.

Our plan was to hold out until the end of the first quarter, then leave. We didn't make it that long. As we sat, unable to focus on the game, our section-mate seemed to have cleaned up his act. I heard bits and pieces, things said in jest like "I said a bad word, we're going to get in trouble." He was refraining from using the N-word and had now taken to a tirade of, "Waa, I'm black, waa” and “Why aren't there more white players?”

While my boyfriend, being a reporter, tried to mentally record what he could, I couldn't take it anymore. Standing up I shrieked, "Why the f_ck are you here if you are a racist? Why do you even like the Eagles if you're such a racist?" My only regret now was using the F-word, but to my defense I was an irate woman. Upon confronting the 'man' I was met with screams of protest. Oh no, these were not protests in my favor. Two, three and four men all around us began to scream at me. Me! "We pay to be here, it's a free country!" chimed in a few of the 'man's' new found friends. The tirade against me continued, "...get out of here, we pay for this, we can say whatever we want!" No one, and I mean no one, out of the dozens of people in our section spoke out in my defense, aside from my boyfriend. I honestly could not believe what was taking place.

I was, obviously, flustered. I got up to leave and report the men to yet another, Linc employee. Ted, staying behind, continued to converse with the many people who were now all verbally ganging up on us. He informed them that he was a reporter and that he would be writing an article about the incident and asked if they would provide their names for clarification. He was met with silence. I was curious as to why, if people wanted freedom of speech, no one wanted to provide their names. They were able to scream these hate-filled words for dozens of people to hear, yet wouldn't take credit for it.

Still determined to alert someone, anyone, at the Linc, we then went to Customer Service and filed a report of the incident. They were receptive and offered to change our seats. Our seats. Almost a joke, right? No.

I’ve spent all day today, the day after these disgusting events took place, calling the Daily News of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Inquirer in an attempt to get my story out there. Both publications took my name and information, I have not heard back from either. I also called the Linc. again and spoke to, yet another person, conveying my extreme disappointment with the way the situation was, or was not, handled. The reply was, “…we’ll look into it.” I’m also supposed to hear back from them with a follow up. I won’t hold my breath.

The reason for writing this story is so that it could be heard. If you or anyone you know has anyway or means of sharing this with the people of Philadelphia, please forward them my information.

Oh, I forgot the saddest part; the ‘man’ spewing the hate-filled remarks was there with a child, no older than sixteen.

Written by Sara Fendelman on September 24, 2007