Philadelphia Crazies

I went to the Eagles game yesterday. This is the view from my company's season tickets. Nice seats. Although I am not a Eagles fan, I do enjoy a good football game. Getting to the game and back home was a huge pain. It was the "Perfect Storm" of events in South Philadelphia yesterday. The Eagles game, Game 4 of the World Series, and The Who in concert at the Wachovia Center. Nightmare! I digress... Yesterday I was privy to an up close and personal view of how crazy these Philly fans are... I heard the stories. During their dismal Eagles season of 1968, when they pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. When they booed perennial all-star and Phillies hall of famer Mike Schmidt. When they cheered as Michael Irvin of the Cowboys laid motionless on the field with an apparent neck injury. Okay, so I knew they were passionate. Yesterday I got a taste first hand of how passionate they were. They were playing the Atlanta Falcons, an okay team that is doing much better this year than people expected. I was sitting in our club seats with mostly men around me with a few ladies and kids scattered around. The first few minutes were fairly tame. I don't think the booze had kicked in yet. Then an egregious call for roughing the passer against the Eagles kept Atlanta's drive alive when they were deep in their own zone. Then it got loud... I have never heard a collection of 500-1,000 people within ear-shot use the "F" word so uniformly. Basically they all said "F" you in unison a couple of times. Then it was a variable "poo poo platter" of the screamer's choice of profane words and/or vulgar statements. This continued, with a smattering of boos thrown in, for a good 10 to 15 minutes, through the TV timeout and the Eagles next possession. As the game progressed, I thought that bad call would be forgotten. Nope. The fans used any lull in the crowd noise to make remarks about the Referee's sexual orientation and his prowess with blowing other items then a whistle. This continued until I left shortly after the start of the 4th quarter. All I could think of is when little Jimmy is at kindergarten tomorrow and he tells his teacher she is a !@%#&$. She'll inevitable ask him where he learned that language from and he'll calmly reply, "at the Eagles game". My point is if it isn't obvious, don't these people care about who might be around when using profanity? Doesn’t it cross their mind? I guess it was the way I was brought up… I have a friend who swears quite a bit. Alright, he had a tough upbringing and I am sure that gives him some carte blanche to say what he wants. But that doesn't stop me from cringing when he lets a few fly in front of strangers. Okay, now I am no saint when it comes to using salty language. Many a home project has begun and ended with me degrading my own mental fortitude with some not so nice nouns proceeded by a few choice adjectives. Many a driver has been on the receiving end of profanity laced tirade from me, but who hasn't done that? Unless you are a man/woman of the cloth, I am sure you swear as well. We all do. I however like to survey my surroundings before crafting my monosyllabic prose… Apparently they do not in Philadelphia…