PhotoDude.com

Tue. Jan 07, 2003

City of Brotherly Love

City of Brotherly Love – It may be the only sports stadium in America that has its own jail. “’It’s an extremely tough place to play,’ [Coach Dan Reeves] said with a smile. ’[Fans] will tell you about your mother, and your father.’ [...] There have been instances in the past of visiting fans being beaten badly enough to be hospitalized.”

To some “fans” in Philadelphia, it’s not just a game, it’s an event worthy of publicly threatening strangers with death: “Eagles fan Larry Gunn sent this e-mail to an Atlanta reporter Monday: ’Tell the people of Atlanta that they better not think about making the trip up to Philly for the game. You and your pretender bandwagon fans are NOT welcome here. You will pay the price if you dare walk into Veteran’s Stadium! If you’re in the 700 level [upper deck], we will clip your wings and launch you over the railing where you will fall to your demise. If you’re in the lower level, we’ll just snap your neck!! That is if you make it into the Stadium.’ ”

Mere hours after it’s determined who the Eagles will play, and six days before it will actually happen, Mr. Gunn is sending threats of bodily harm to the newspaper. Maybe in Philadelphia, there’s not much else to live for, but one would hope Mr. Gunn will find some way to fill the next four days without giving himself a stroke or seizure of some sort.

The outcome will not affect your paycheck, your IQ, or improve the way you smell. Sure, have fun, trash talk, and spout off. But how can it be worth beating someone into hospitalization, as has happened in the past, or even threatening to do so, as Mr. Gunn does today?

It’s just a game, purely for entertainment and income (for the teams, and those who bet illegally). If it becomes more than that to you, like something worthy of assaulting strangers (or even threatening to do so), then perhaps you should reassess the fullness of your pitiful excuse for a life.