I’m browsing through articles today looking for some interesting sports news and I come across this article from ProFootballTalk about Fox Analyst Daryl “Moose” Johnston making a comment on a Dallas radio program about Philadelphia fans giving him the finger. I guess there was nothing else to write about on ProFootballTalk concerning the Cowboys?
It’s articles and posts like this that really get under my skin and many other normal Philadelphia fans. Here we have a professional sports media outlet such as NBC Sports with talented writers and we have yet another story that draws on the cliche of Philadelphia sports fan. It’s unfortunate because there’s very little story here at all. The article does talk about Moose being received well by Cowboys fans in other cities but the main focus was clearly meant to try to get people reading and commenting by playing on emotions, fandom and using a reputation perpetuated by the American media.
Just take a look at the comments on this post. There’s 44 of them (as of the time of this post) on a story that quite honestly, isn’t very interesting without the Philadelphia mention (even with it, it’s not that interesting). Many are people jumping on the bandwagon of saying how bad Philadelphia fans are. And when Philadelphia fans step up to defend the vast majority who don’t act like idiots, they are countered by statements like these: “Philadelphia has earned that reputation” or “there’s more incidents in Philadelphia than anywhere else.”
Perhaps there are more ‘incidents’ in Philadelphia than in any other particular city, but you can’t deny that the media creates this perception that these things only happen in Philadelphia. Four fans were shot at 49ers games this past season, but how many people actually talked about it? I don’t remember seeing anything about it until I did some digging. You also have to consider that Philadelphia is one of twelve cities that can boast professional teams in each of the four major sports. Philadelphia is also one of the biggest media markets in the US, particularly for sports (last I checked Philly was ranked #4). This equates to more games, more fans and a greater possibility of an incident occurring and when something does happen it’s much more likely to become national news.
Clearly the post has served its purpose, making something out of nothing. Instead of focusing on Moose talking about how the Dallas Cowboys have a loyal fanbase spread across the country, author Michael David Smith instead places more focus on how Moose still gets the finger from Philly fans. He even entitles his post “Moose Johnston says Philly fans still give him the finger”. I guess this is what sportswriters do to keep readers interested during the off-season.
