Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why would you expect it? Because the media told you to? Because some white trash vikings fans ran through tailgates flipping people off and recording the reactions they got? Santa had snow balls thrown at him two generations ago?
It's the media bias. Just read the comments of the posters on this site. People get fired up at football games all over the country. I am pretty sure you can find fans from nearly every team fighting somewhere in the stands or parking lot.
It goes beyond sports in which the media tries to paint Philly.
When my gf told her family that she was moving here, her old racist uncle was like "that's a black city"
I truly do believe though that the younger generations do have a different perception.
No, because I’ve lived in Camden County NJ for a few years (which is right across the river from Center City by the PATCO train) so I know what it’s like to be in Eagles terrritory as a Giants fan. Not to mention other NY teams too
I know Philly pretty well, and I like it. I think it’s a far better city than most in The US. That being said, there are some crazy sports fans there. Actually, I’ve always believed that the craziest Philly sports fans are from South Jersey, and not Philly itself.
The vast majority of Philly fans were peaceful, a tiny minority acted like a bunch of violent morans and made complete asses of themselves. The media and people outside Philly focused on the tiny minority of extremists.
Unfair to Philly, probably. But thats human nature to focus on the extreme minority. See: muslims and terrorism, black people and crime, whites and hate crimes, etc. Now these sterotypes arent complete fabrications, but they are vast oversimplifications of reality.
Why would Midwesterners or others .... hate the coastal cities? They hate being seen as flyover country.... same as Philly hates being overlooked in aspects over mighty NYC and DC. If boasting is tossed in ones face to denote superiority? That can be hated if it insinuates the other's city and region is much less.
Chicago had no overturned cars all around Wrigleyville and Downtown was peaceful. So National headlines had no BAD IMAGES TO BROADCAST. It too had a loooooong no win period though in baseball. No cars were turned upside down, no looting, no fires... and a couple polls knocked down from people climbing then were by Wrigley Field NOT in its heart of downtown. IF ANY TURMOIL WAS DOWNTOWN? YOU CAN BE SURE THE IMAGES WOULD HAVE WENT NATIONAL AS WELL.
Sadly with Philly these limited riot-like images HAPPENED IN CENTER CITY. That was not a good image as Philly NEEDS IMAGE BOOSTING MESSAGES EXPECIALLY FOR CC as it feels its time has come. So it certainly did not help and maintains stereotypes sadly.
Iii was the Bear's at Soldier Field? That is by downtown but its lakefront Grant Park is right there to hold crowds also.
I certainly would not liken it to the Baltimore racially motivated rioting. That was NOT compatible as alike. Next is the Parade.... in CC for the Philly team and all should go well.
The problem though, is the media are acting like this is something new or that it's unique to Philly. There have been sports riots going on for years, far, FAR, beyond what occurred in Philly last week. You are either very young or very dishonest. There were multiple, consecutive riots in Chicago in the '90s each time that the Bulls won a championship. REAL riots, with hundreds arrested, real looting, and deaths.
And not just Chicago, but supposedly "sophisticated" cities like San Francisco and Boston, each that had riots after their World Series wins, FAR beyond what occurred in Philly last week.
I'm not even gonna try to go back and document all of the other riots in various cities/towns, and I'm not condoning the idiocy that occurred in Philly (although the damage was minor compared to what occurred in other cities). But why does the media all of a sudden seem to get amnesia when it comes to what has occurred in other places following championship wins, and act like Philly is some type of outlier? I believe that in this case most journalists were simply lazy and chose to adhere to the simplistic, stereotypical narrative that they already had canned for Philly.
Last edited by Nomad443; 02-10-2018 at 05:40 PM..
Reason: grammar
Honestly, a video from 1992. When NY, Chicago and Philly had some of their worst crime numbers? Even 2004 is just no longer current enough. When poster mentioned Chicago .... I interject the current era last years World Series Win with really No issues downtown and misdemeanor arrest in Wrigleyville, with people trying to get into the ballpark from the lowest point where a fence is. Climbers of some poles caused their damage but no cars overturned or street fires. That was 2017 and clearly would have been news just as Philly of cars, fires ect. were going on.
As I said .... it was unfortunate these incidents were recorded happening in downtown CC Philly.
If it softens the blow to say other cities had some issues in the past? Hope this current issue goes away for you as if it never happened. and no lasting image tarnish. But any event where cars are overturned, fires set even just in streets and if any stores looted.... ESPECIALLY if in a city's core. It will BE ALL OVER SOCIAL MEDIA with cell phone videos. Doesn't matter the city today.
I also believe it was a mistake to stop Philly Citywide street-sweeper services a decade ago. It did not improve the cleanliness issue.... even though CC has business ay for private cleanings on CC.
At least ALL main streets should have big-monthly cleanings again. But it involves buying Sweepers again too. Baltimore still has it. Philly is the only major city without. I get the narrow streets with and row-housing tat has homes even too narrow for one good parking spot each home? Is difficult to clear even one side of streets foe cleanings. But it shows if it isn't done far more often then not. So tat ii's nother image issue that should not be.
As for Chicago's Core especially.... it has a reputation for Sophistication, Grandeur and Very Clean Core with more of its grit polished. It has city-side street-sweeping throughout the city. With off-main streets it is bi-monthly and if you do not move your car (at least the city has alleys in 90% of the city but its last growth to move them at least) you will get a nice ticket. Their standard lot size is 25' wide by 125' deep. So 25' is plenty for a car and adds up to extra ones on the block vs. a 12'-15' wide attached-home too.
According to the descriptions provided in the articles you posted, there doesn't seem to be any major difference between what occurred in Chicago after the Cubs won and what happened in Philly after the Eagles' won. Just slight variations of similar reactions. According one of the articles:
"'No cars were turned upside down as the Cubs changed the course of their history, though the partying was raucous as it spread across the city. There were fireworks but no fires, reports ofgunfire but apparently no one hit in the crowds of fans, poles torn down but no looting of stores, according to police."Around 3 a.m., officers radioed to report an emergency at Ashland Avenue and Addison Street, saying people were throwing bottles and bricks at police. No injuries were reported.
A store window was broken on Addison, as was a window in a media van, according to police. But no major damage was reported.
At least 14 people were arrested in Wrigleyville, which drew a crowd of "hundreds of thousands," police said. All the charges were misdemeanors, mostly reckless or disorderly conduct.
Someone managed to uproot a pole holding a parking sign near Waveland and Sheffield, and fans started to pass it overhead like a crowdsurfer.
People climbed on parked cars, scaled utility trucks and danced on the roof of Gold Crown Liquors at Clark and Newport. A few climbed a light pole at the corner of Clark and Waveland, to the delight of the crowd. One stayed for nearly 10 minutes, cheering and smoking a cigarette.
Another man fell off the pole and had to be treated by emergency medical workers nearby."
People climbed and uprooted poles in both cities, some fell. A window broken in both cities. No looting in either city. The only major difference is that in Philly one car flipped on its side, a food fight occurred in a gas station/convenience store, and a hotel awning collapsed. A Christmas tree and other trash was burned, but no actual property was set on fire. But in Chicago there was some gunfire and some people threw bottles and bricks at police.
Overall, the two scenes seemed to be somewhat similar. But a lot of the over-the-top, hyperbolic media portrayals of the events in Philly have many thinking that the city was damn near burned down.
It's all relative. The aftermath of the Cubs win in Chicago was "largely peaceful," but that perception is in the context of all the hell raised in its previous history in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997. Other cities (a couple mention in my previous post) have raised much more hell very recently, but the manner in which they were (and are) portrayed is no where near the way Philly has been portrayed. To me it's just lazy, and it seems easier for journalist to try to force their preconceived narratives into a preordained conclusion.
I'm not really interested in all that extra stuff you wrote about Chicago street cleaning and sh*t.
Downtown doesn't feel all that Northern to me as it's very polished and lacks the grit that defines most Northern urban cores. But the surrounding neighborhoods feel more Northern to me, at least in their built form.
Could that be because the grit has been gentrified?
As a DC resident, I won't pretend to be objective about this - but definitely DC has a better reputation than Philadelphia. DC itself might have more crime and be more crime ridden, but part of being the nation's capital is we get a lot of educated people to work here, all around the world. Philly is more blue collar and a bit more insular by comparison.
As a DC resident, I won't pretend to be objective about this - but definitely DC has a better reputation than Philadelphia. DC itself might have more crime and be more crime ridden, but part of being the nation's capital is we get a lot of educated people to work here, all around the world. Philly is more blue collar and a bit more insular by comparison.
I love both cities though.
Dc is more crime ridden than Philly? Doesn’t feel like that to me.
Dc is more crime ridden than Philly? Doesn’t feel like that to me.
Yeah. Based on City Data, the crime index for DC is 568.9 while for Philadelphia it's 469.6. However, in DC most of the crime happens in one area of the city so its relatively easy to avoid. Philadelphia is just much larger, so any areas that have crime feel so much larger than what they really are.
DC's suburbs are pretty safe though. Not sure about Philly's
Yeah. Based on City Data, the crime index for DC is 568.9 while for Philadelphia it's 469.6. However, in DC most of the crime happens in one area of the city so its relatively easy to avoid. Philadelphia is just much larger, so any areas that have crime feel so much larger than what they really are.
DC's suburbs are pretty safe though. Not sure about Philly's
They are, Chester excluded.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When NY, Chicago and Philly had some of their worst crime numbers? Even 2004 is just no longer current enough. When poster mentioned Chicago .... I interject the current era last years World Series Win with really No issues downtown and misdemeanor arrest in Wrigleyville, with people trying to get into the ballpark from the lowest point where a fence is. Climbers of some poles caused their damage but no cars overturned or street fires. That was 2017 and clearly would have been news just as Philly of cars, fires ect. were going on. 
gunfire but apparently no one hit in the crowds of fans, poles torn down but no looting of stores, according to police."Around 3 a.m., officers radioed to report an emergency at Ashland Avenue and Addison Street, saying people were throwing bottles and bricks at police. No injuries were reported.
