MORNING CALL: A college professor from Lower Macungie Township who wrote a book about the first 50 years of the NFL knew Philly fans had a reputation for mistreating visiting fans, but the Wisconsin native said he didn’t know how bad it could be until he went to the Eagles game Sunday. Craig Coenen and his father, Peter Coenen, left Lincoln Financial Field jubilant after watching their beloved Green Bay Packers defeat the Eagles in the NFC wild card playoff game. “We were just thinking about how nice a day it was and it was a good memory,” Peter Coenen said. “Then I looked up and said, ‘Oh my God.’ ” His son’s Toyota Camry had been stomped on, kicked and beaten (kind of like the Eagles). Fans tore out the windshield wipers and motors and used them to scratch the paint, broke off the side mirrors and left footprints and dents on the hood, trunk and roof. “It was just drunk, obnoxious Eagles fans,” Craig Coenen said Monday after getting a repair estimate of $2,163. “Philadelphia is notorious for this, but hopefully the fans who did this are the exception, not the rule.” More likely, it will go down as another example of Philadelphia sports fans at their worst and add to their reputation as out-of-control, violent, destructive drunks and all-around sore losers. MORE
RELATED: In December of 1968, the Eagles were a bad team. They opened the season 0-11, and by the time they played the Minnesota Vikings on December 15th, fans were seethed at the meager two game winning streak that was hurting the Eagles draft status. The Eagles owner, Jerry Wolman, had pulled apart a regular contending team, in his tenure leading up to 1968, which was inciting fans. He even traded Hall of Fame QB Sonny Jurgensen to the Washington Redskins (sound familiar Donovan McNabb(notes)?) Over 50,000 fans still showed up that day despite a major snowstorm. So the Eagles were bad, with terrible ownership and horrible coaching, and the fans were cold and frustrated, braving a blizzard to watch their 2-11 team. Also, a halftime Christmas show was promised that day. That’s important. […] Remember that Christmas show that was promised? That never happened. The event was canceled, according to the Eagles, because of the weather. The original idea to have Santa move around the field on a nice Christmas float never happened. In fact that man hired to be Santa never arrived, for reasons still unknown. In their infinite wisdom, the Eagles PR people found a barely 20 year old guy in the stands in a Santa suit to fill in at the spot. Obviously, this was far from what the Eagles promised. MORE