Philly QB’s Lawn Burned with Diesel Fuel
Philadelphia sports fans have a nasty reputation. This is partly due to myth – such as the 40 year old snow-balling of Santa – as well as fact – when fans threw D-cell batteries at Phillies-holdout signed by the Cardinals JD Drew in 1999. Philly fans encourage this myth whenever they can; after all, it simply adds to their smack-talk when visiting teams come to town. It doesn’t help that the city is cursed with a borderline-gay motto, “the city of brotherly love, ” no doubt coined in an early era when the city was run by Quakers instead of the current era of machine politics (a better motto would be “Pay to Play” but Chicago had already trademarked it.)
In the case of the Santa attack, the nuances of the story are lost in the soundbite - how Eagles fans were attending the last game of a pathetic 2-12 season, hated the quarterback Norm Snead, as well as Coach Joe Kuharich and owner Jerry Wolman. Being presented with a pathetic excuse for Santa Claus at a cold and wet game at the tail end of that otherwise forgettable season was simply too much for the fans to bear and they let fly with boos, catcalls and a few snowballs. All this happened in 1968 four decades ago. As for the JD Drew appearance at the late lamented Vet, only two batteries were thrown at him – not the shower one would expect from the story telling by visiting sports commentators, nor the fact that eight people including the battery throwers were promptly arrested.
Perhaps lacking such a colorful history themselves, an idiot duo in Phoenix took it upon themselves to prank Eagles’ QB Donovan McNabb by burning “Go Cards”, “Go Kurt,” and “I heart AZ” in his lawn with diesel fuel. McNabb called police when he smelled the diesel in his yard. The Associated Press’s calling the attack a “prank” kind of makes you wonder how they would similarly describe a KKK cross-burning: “Just some good old boys wearing bedsheets and playing with matches.”
I’m left to wonder if Phoenix fans will be unfairly tarred and feathered by the national media for the actions of these two middle-aged underachievers. Somehow I doubt it.
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