April 19, 2016
Matt Slocum/AP
Ice crew personnel clean up promotional bracelets that were thrown onto the ice during the third period of Game 3 between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, Monday, April 18, 2016, in Philadelphia. Washington won 6-1.
Around 3 p.m. on Monday, the Philadelphia Flyers tweeted out a photo of a Wells Fargo Center empty but for a note and commemorative trinket affixed to each seat.
“Coming to tonight’s game? Get ready to light it up! Each seat will have a glow bracelet,” read that initial Tweet which was followed up with, “Please be sure to take only your bracelet as it is programmed to that particular seat.”
As Twitterers are wont to provide, one of the first snarky responses game from a gentleman who goes by the handle ChubFeet. Mr. Feet retorted that, “your overweight pug faced fans totally won’t throw these on the ice.”
Mr. Feet, as we’ve come to learn in subsequent hours, was totally right about what happened at the Wells Fargo Center near the end of a couple-hour hellscape that saw the home team get thrashed by a clearly superior opponent from Washington, D.C. (Abandon all hope ye who think Wednesday will offer redemption; this team expended way too much energy to overachieve and grasp a playoff spot. They’re facing a superior foe. David only won because Goliath had a single off night, not four in a row.)
It’s not as if that was a difficult prediction to make, considering this is Philadelphia and Philadelphia gets grade-school ticked off when our teams lose thanks to a civic DNA.
The Great Bracelet Toss of 2016 joins a long list of fan-involved atrocities that fuel those who (often justifiably) look down upon this fair city.
It’s gotten to the point where there’s a template for writing about these types of situations. It goes like this: [Guy who puked on girl, People who threw snowballs at Santa/batteries at J.D. Drew, Fans who clapped when a Dallas Cowboy got hurt, so on/forth] aren’t representative of all Philadelphia sports supporters so don’t brand an entire group because of the actions of an embarrassing few.
That template is right to a certain extent. Of course 20,000 bracelets weren’t thrown onto the ice when Game 3 went south. My uncle Mike kept his. See?
So, of course, all fans weren’t directly responsible for Monday night’s embarrassment, the reaction to which you can see below:
Lou Nolan telling #Flyers fans to have some class. pic.twitter.com/4nAuQJybPU
— Matt Mullin (@matt_mullin) April 19, 2016
Here's the video of Lou Nolan calling out fans throwing bracelets. Discussing on @WIPMorningShow @rheahughes pic.twitter.com/1QYimyrl8G
— Cindy Webster (@Cindy610) April 19, 2016
What’s been nagging at me all Tuesday morning – at the risk of getting pelted with novelty trinkets – is the thought that we are collectively responsible for these oft overblown atrocities.
There are bad fans everywhere because there are bad people everywhere, but the bad fans tend to act out with more regularity in the 215 than elsewhere. That’s precisely what happens when the tough-guy reputation in which we take pleasure/pride touting becomes so engrained in the civic DNA that we resort to trotting out the “but they did bad things too!!! argument” every time a situation like this arises.
Decry it all you (and I) want, but it’s time to stop pretending that the manufactured Philly aura isn’t the driving force behind it all.
The Broad Street Bullies ruled by intimidation (and won the Cold War in the process!) much in the same way that fans bask in the shine of visiting athletes – present, past and future – giving quotes about how difficult it is to play in Philly. (We got in their heads! Keep it up!!!)
It leads to diehard fans referring to the teams they root for as “we” in conversation.
Which leads to people who shelled out three digits for tickets to a woefully embarrassing playoff game declaring that booing just isn’t enough.
Which leads to gifts given to outsiders who love to get their digs in on the city and its fans.
Which leads to a short respite before it all happens again. Rinse. Repeat.
Enough’s enough, at least as it comes to me trotting out the same, old, tired defenses of local fans every time something like this happens instead of seeking the proper context for what unfolded on the local sporting stage.
I still can't believe a team that snuck into the playoffs is getting its ass kicked by a No. 1 seed.
— Brian P. Hickey (@BrianPHickey) April 19, 2016
It takes a village to raise a horrible sports fan. That village should stop pretending our self-crafted image doesn’t grease the skids for our basest elements to lash out because a sporting event didn’t go its way and admit to itself that things will probably never change around here.
