Eagles Fans on Sports Illustrated‘s Most Hated List

SI broke down the people, places and things people hate most about the NFL. Birds fans, you're on there.

Photo Credit: Jeff Fusco

Photo | Jeff Fusco

From throwing snowballs at Santa to having a courtroom and jail installed under Veterans Stadium, Eagles fans have long brought passion to the world of sports — and occasional shame to the city they call home.

Now Sports Illustrated ranks them among their most hated people, places and things in the NFL, along with the most-hated team (the Patriots), head coach (Bill Belichick), player (Percy Harvin, by players, and Johnny Manziel, by fans), fan base (see below), announcer (“the one calling your game”), and other football-related categories.

Says SI:

It all started in December 1968, when those disenchanted fans of the Eagles sitting at Franklin Field decided that the best way to unleash their invective was to hurl snowballs at Frank Olivo, a 19-year-old man who stepped onto the field in a Santa Claus suit. The fans were disgusted because the then-lame franchise was winning too much at the end of the season — winning their way right out of the derby for USC’s O.J. Simpson, who went to Buffalo as the first pick in the 1969 draft.

In 1998, the team installed a jail in the bowels of Veterans Stadium and hired a judge, the delightfully named Seamus McCaffery, to preside over the rowdiest of an infamous bunch. And in 1999, several of Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin’s teammates were understandably distressed when they thought Eagles fans were booing the future Hall-of-Famer as he lay on the field with the neck injury that ended his career.

Every fanbase is unfortunately defined by the minority who do stupid stuff like this, but it seems that Eagles fans are more defined than any other group.

Granted, this bit relies heavily on past groups of Eagles fans. And Chip Kelly is doing his best to change the culture of the team, which could change the culture of the fan base. But no matter how much times change, when the Giants and Cowboys — but not the Redskins, because who cares about them anyway? — come rolling into town, it’s still anybody’s guess as to how things are going to play out.

Follow @MaxGRettig on Twitter.