美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Colorful History, Eagles Fans Call 'Psychotic' Reputation Overblown

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Maybe you heard on this show and others the Philadelphia Eagles play the New England Patriots¹ in the Super Bowl tomorrow. Eagles fans are considered passionate², devoted³ and often words we can't say here unless we're quoting someone in the White House. Aaron Moselle from member station WHYY tried to find out if Philly fans are really as insufferable as their reputation.

AARON MOSELLE, BYLINE⁴: It all dates back to December 1968 - the final game of a dismal⁵ two-win Eagles season. The Santa Claus the team hired for a halftime pageant⁶ didn't show up, so they improvised⁷. Glen Macnow - a sports radio host in Philly - describes what happened.

GLEN MACNOW: They managed to pull a 21-year-old kid out of the crowd in a Santa suit - little drunk, little scrawny. He marched across the field, and some Eagles fans decided⁸ to send some snowballs his way.

MOSELLE: A national reputation for having out-of-control fans was born. Three decades later, the Eagles installed a courtroom in the basement of the team's old stadium, where a real, live city judge handed out fines for disorderly conduct. That judge, Seamus McCaffery, says a lot of the incidents were soaked in alcohol.

SEAMUS MCCAFFERY: It went to urinating on the sidewalls. It went to rowdy, abusive behavior to the point where police were intervening just before blows occurred.

MOSELLE: But McCafferey says, despite everything he saw, he doesn't think Eagles fans deserve a bad rap.

MCCAFFERY: I'm hard-pressed to believe that other stadiums don't make their fair share of arrests for public intoxication⁹ - things along those lines.

MOSELLE: He's not wrong. Back in 2011, three fans were hospitalized after a violent San Francisco 49ers game. New York Jets fans have made a halftime ritual out of asking women to flash them. And yet Eagles fans continue to be held up as some of the country's worst. National media swarmed¹⁰ when the city tried and failed to stop fans from climbing street poles after the NFC title game by greasing them up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The Action Cam on the scene here with the police department employees there in South Philadelphia with a big can of Crisco, applying it to metal utility poles.

MOSELLE: Fans of the city's hockey, baseball and basketball teams are considered just as notorious. It's why Mark Liftin refuses to go to Eagles games with his friends from Philly.

MARK LIFTIN: Eagles fans kind of take it a step further than most other fan bases. They kind of wear their reputation as being a little psychotic as a badge of honor.

MOSELLE: Liftin - a New York native - says he's also experienced rowdy Philly sports fans firsthand. At a baseball game years ago, Liftin says Phillies fans spit at him for wearing a New York Mets hat and that a teenager slapped him. Macnow - the radio host - says he doesn't condone¹¹ that kind of behavior, but it does bother him that Philly fans, especially Eagles fans, are so routinely maligned¹². And yet he says the country will never change its mind about them.

MACNOW: Our grandfathers carried this. Our fathers carried this curse. We're going to carry it. And I expect my kids are going to carry it forever. Oh, you Philadelphia fans. It's just the way it's going to be.

MOSELLE: Fans may find that easier to take if the Eagles win their first Super Bowl on Sunday. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Moselle in Philadelphia.

1 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

2 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

6 pageant   

n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧

参考例句：

• Our pageant represented scenes from history.我们的露天历史剧上演一幕幕的历史事件。
• The inauguration ceremony of the new President was a splendid pageant.新主席的就职典礼的开始是极其壮观的。

7 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 intoxication   

n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning

参考例句：

• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。
• Predator: Intoxication-Damage over time effect will now stack with other allies. Predator:Intoxication,持续性伤害的效果将会与队友相加。

10 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

11 condone   

v.宽恕；原谅

参考例句：

• I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
• I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。

12 maligned   

vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She feels she has been much maligned by the press. 她觉得她遭到了新闻界的恣意诽谤。
• We maligned him dreadfully when you come to think of it. 回头想想，我们狠狠地中伤了他。 来自辞典例句