To understand the city of Philadelphia, you have to understand the emphasis it puts on sports. The Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers pull more weight here than the mayor. Of course, most major cities have a great sense of pride for their teams, but fanbases in Philly are incomparable.Â
Some people remark on the fact that Philadelphians poorly represent the concept of Brotherly Love (I fully disagree with this, but that’s a conversation for a different article) but if that love is for sports, they will deliver every single time. In a survey published by The Athletic, NFL players themselves voted fans of the Eagles to be the most annoying fanbase in football. An anonymous player said they are “just loud, rude, and obnoxious.” Sports Illustrated claimed that Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies, has the best home-field advantage in MLB history. Eagles fans have thrown snowballs at referees, players, broadcasters, even Santa Claus.Â
They’ve also thrown batteries at their own quarterbacks, namely, Doug Pederson, who gave the team their first Super Bowl win when he returned as head coach in the 2017 season. A Phillies fan once threw the cell phone of a Mets fan out of the ballpark. The former stadium of the Eagles, the Vet, housed a jail and a courtroom underneath the field in order to corral fans. Time Magazine coined Philly fans as the worst and the best, simultaneously. Most sane individuals would say these were acts of hate, and I won’t dispute that–but the point is that they were driven by passion, and it’s a passion that you can’t find anywhere else. That’s what makes Philly special; the fans have passion and devotion that leads to things like this guy’s tattoos.Â
These people value their teams as much as their families, and sometimes more. I grew up in a household where my dad valued the Eagles Super Bowl win as the fifth best day of his life, apart from only marrying my mom and the birth of his three children. You don’t get that kind of lifelong faithfulness anywhere else.Â
This is not a guide on how to play sports or what you need to know about each team, but a rundown of how to be a fan in Philadelphia. You don’t need to understand how to play the game, and you don’t need to know the names of every player, coach, manager, and their birthdays (although there’s always going to be some contemptuous jerk who insists you should). I’ve been a Philly fan since birth and I didn’t know the rules to any major sport until 9th or 10th grade–and I still couldn’t tell you how hockey is played. What mattered instead was that I always wore my jerseys, and looked to each season with the same wide-eyed excitement. There was never a question of rooting for anyone else, even when each team was ending their season without even a hope of a playoff appearance.Â
The basic gist of being a fan in Philadelphia is this: it doesn’t matter how much you know, but it does matter how much you care. You can’t just roll in and assume you’re a fan because you live there now, but with time you can wear the colors, watch the games, and follow blindly with whatever trades, plays, or shots they make. Just commit yourself and the city will accept you without hesitation–as long as you’re not wearing Cowboys blue or Celtics green.