Posted on 01/15/2003 7:14:05 AM PST by dawn53
Philly trip not worth risk, Bucs fans say Eagles fans' reputation for being nasty to the opposition has Bucs fans staying home, hoping for a Super Bowl trip.
Eagle fans are notorious for being nasty to the opposition, referees, even their own cheerleaders.
By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published January 15, 2003
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TAMPA -- Margaret Bowles is a diehard Bucs fan who has missed just one home game in 17 seasons. She makes many of the away games, too, and was at Veterans Stadium two years ago when Tampa Bay and the Philadelphia Eagles met in the playoffs.
It was not, she recalled, the City of Brotherly Love.
Two security guards stationed themselves behind Bowles and her friend, but their presence didn't deter Eagles fans from targeting her black-and-red Buccaneers parka. It was a long afternoon. And the Bucs lost.
"They were just in our face, they would jeer at us, and poke us, and tell us to go home," Bowles said Tuesday after half-heartedly searching the Internet for tickets to Sunday's NFC Championship game in Philadelphia. "I vowed I wasn't going to go again."
As hosts, Philadelphia sports fans have, well, outdone themselves. Years of fisticuffs and upturned beers and taunting -- even Santa Claus was bombed with snowballs during a halftime show -- have given them a well-deserved reputation for inhospitality and even violence toward rival fans.
Although the winner of Sunday's game goes to the Super Bowl, Philadelphia fans' boorish reputation is one reason few Bucs fans will trek there this weekend, tour operators and ticket brokers said.
"BucFanTours WILL NOT be doing a game package to Philadelphia. This is sad, but the potential for problems and client injury has our insurance agent lying awake at night!" reads the Web site for BucFanTours, which organized trips to almost every Buccaneers away game this season and already is taking orders for Super Bowl trips to San Diego.
"As much as we want to support our team, the Philadelphia fans just don't get it. It's just a game!!"
Dennis Pfeiffer, the owner of BucFanTours, said he tried to get a large block of tickets for Sunday's game -- "so maybe we'd be like Custer at Little Big Horn" -- but could only find them in twos and threes. He scrapped the trip.
"I just didn't feel comfortable putting two Bucs fans out in a section of Eagles fans," Pfeiffer said.
Clients who have traveled to the Vet for previous games reported being hassled constantly, he said. Plus, Sunday's game is the last for Veterans Stadium, which will be demolished. Pfeiffer feared the fans would be even rowdier than usual.
"These guys are going to have a screwdriver taped to their leg or a tire-iron, and when the game is over, they're going to want to take their seat with (them), because they've been sitting in it for 20 years," Pfeiffer said.
Pfeiffer's concern doesn't come from soaking up too much sun in Tampa. The fans' lash is legendary. They have thrown snowballs at opposing players, referees -- even their own cheerleaders. They once cheered when Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin suffered a serious neck injury. Fights in the stands are routine.
The Vet even has its own jail and magistrate's court, so arrested fans can be adjudicated without leaving the building. This Sunday, an extra 120 police officers will be posted inside the stadium.
"There's no question, it's 100 percent true," said Ryon Smith, owner of Ticket King of Florida, a Tampa firm that is not sponsoring a trip to Philadelphia, either. "I've been there before, and I wouldn't walk in there with team colors unless I was with half a football team. It's that bad.
"There's nothing wrong with a little good natured ribbing, but it's not even good natured up there. They want to fight and be nasty. Everybody's heard of them booing Santa Claus. Nobody's safe."
American Cruises and Charter of Tampa is offering a one-day, round-trip flight for the game for $389, but as of Tuesday interest was only fair.
"It's a good price, it's just getting our fans to have a little more confidence they'll be safe," said Kim King, who was taking reservations.
"They're not shying away, but they're very jokingly like, 'Do you carry life insurance policies?' "
Ticket brokers also cited other factors contributing to a light Tampa Bay contingent Sunday: Fans didn't know until Sunday afternoon the Bucs were even going, and airfare is expensive on short notice. Tours are tough to organize that quickly, too.
Most fans with the money and the inclination would rather to see if the Bucs make the Super Bowl in sunny San Diego. Then they'll go in droves, brokers said.
And while tickets to Sunday's game are available, they're expensive, typically starting at about $300. Bowles, 50, a Tampa lawyer, found them on eBay, the online auction house, starting at about $400 each, but she decided to keep her vow and avoid Philly.
"That's pretty pricey for a bad experience," she said.
And the next weekend, she's already booked on a flight to California
No, that would be one of your many leaps of logic.
How do the fans cheering a hard hit know for certain whether the player was injured by it?
They don't, and they don't have to.
Should the fans not hold their applause until the player gets up and assures them he's OK?
No, they needn't hold their applause
But then again, the league encourages the fans to enjoy the really big hits, so go figure.
Nothing to "go figure" really, it is an accepted part of the game.
I guess that's the same thing as wanting them injured,...
No it's not.
... which as you say is the same thing as wanting their careers to be over.
I said no such thing. (You do argue well with yourself, though.)
None of the above justifies cheering an obviously injured player, as Michael Irvin clearly was. That was, and remains, my only point.
You feel the need, for some reason, to make a distinction between cheering an injury to a player ("shameful") and cheering a career-ending injury to a player (something you seem certain that Eagle fans wouldn't really do if they only knew that the injury was indeed career-ending). If this distinction is important to you, by all means, run with it.
Then you had no reason to disagree with me in the first place.
None of the above justifies cheering an obviously injured player, as Michael Irvin clearly was. That was, and remains, my only point.
Only point, exactly. But then, I said that before you did.
Actually I disagree with you more now, since you insist on equating apples with oranges.
Only point, exactly. But then, I said that before you did.
Yes, you did say it first. Kudos to you.
It was what you said afterward that I took mild exception to... and still do.
My experience in seeing the Flyers live has been quite safe and pleasant. I haven't seen the Eagles live, but for every horror story I've heard, I've had someone tell me that it's not as bad as the media claims. I don't doubt that it's worse than most other stadiums, though.
Earth, the planet where the Bucs can't win the big game. ;^)"
Okay, bro. We'll see. Come Monday, one of us will be eatin' a whole bunch of crow, and it won't be me (God, I hope not!).
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Well? How 'bout them Bucs now, doc? ;^)
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Ruh Roh!!!
Congratulations to them. I hope they win it all. They played adequately, which was more than enough to beat the Iggles yesterday. Last year, the Eagles left it all on the field and had nothing to be ashamed of. This year, they thought they could mail it in, and not show up.
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