12/21/24
January 05, 2012
Flyers Fans Attacked Rangers Fans After Winter Classic: Philadelphia police have released video that shows three men in Philadelphia Flyers jerseys beating two men in New York Rangers jerseys outside Geno's Steaks in South Philly after the NHL Winter Classic Sunday. One of the Rangers fans, an off-duty New Jersey cop and Marine, was hospitalized for his injuries. One suspect may have posted on the Flyers fan site Broad Street Hockey. "It was me and my friends do something about it u fagits," the fan posted.
Man, they wasted time on Rangers fans when they could have been eating hoagies at Genos .. what a bunch of boneheads.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:12 PM on January 05, 2012
hoagie at genos? that sounds like a waste of time...
posted by myshtigo at 02:13 PM on January 05, 2012
Do you have to be an arsehole before you start supporting a Philly team, or does the existing fanbase provide training?
posted by etagloh at 02:23 PM on January 05, 2012
Going to Geno's after that game seems like something you'd do if you were looking for trouble. Not to blame the victim, but that wasn't ever going to be a drama-free situation.
posted by cl at 02:41 PM on January 05, 2012
How can you say "not to blame the victim" and then do just that? Maybe people who live in Philly know Geno's as a spot where out-of-towners get stomped, but to an out-of-towner, it's a place to go for the famous Philly cheese steak. Around here we call those "tourist attractions". As long as you can overlook the urge to eat a cheese steak in the first place, it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing for an out-of-towner to do, and hardly looking for a fight.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:08 PM on January 05, 2012
If that constitutes looking for trouble, wearing an out-of-town jersey anywhere in public in Philly after a game would qualify. I think our focus should be kept on the instigators of the fight. Wearing a jersey is not incitement to assault.
posted by rcade at 03:52 PM on January 05, 2012
The fools who assaulted the Rangers fans are completely to blame for their actions, and they should be punished in every reasonable means. They're the absolute worst. That's the story here, and I don't mean to redirect.
But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to think that Geno's would be an unstable and potentially unsafe scene for a couple of guys wearing Rangers jerseys at that very moment, and I think most hockey fans from Jersey would understand that very unfortunate fact.
I spent 6 years living just a few blocks from Pat's & Geno's, and it was an intersection I avoided after the stadiums let out, even wearing the right teams' logos, because it's just that kind of place.
posted by cl at 03:56 PM on January 05, 2012
If that constitutes looking for trouble, wearing an out-of-town jersey anywhere in public in Philly after a game would qualify.
No, it wouldn't. Geno's is a special kind of place.
posted by cl at 03:59 PM on January 05, 2012
What am I not getting about Geno's? It's a famous cheesesteak place that people all over have heard of, so out-of-towners are likely to want to go there.
posted by rcade at 04:05 PM on January 05, 2012
One more little entry for Kristen Lee's "Why I Love Philly" testimonial.
posted by beaverboard at 04:07 PM on January 05, 2012
But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to think that Geno's would be an unstable and potentially unsafe scene for a couple of guys wearing Rangers jerseys at that very moment, and I think most hockey fans from Jersey would understand that very unfortunate fact.
Why would they "understand" that? How would they even know?
I spent 6 years living just a few blocks from Pat's & Geno's, and it was an intersection I avoided after the stadiums let out, even wearing the right teams' logos, because it's just that kind of place.
And you know this how? Because you spent six years living in the neighborhood. How would an out-of-towner know any of that?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 04:27 PM on January 05, 2012
How about the various professional sports leagues placing Philadelphia on notice that any more fan violence might result in post-season games being played at a neutral site or in an empty stadium and no more all-star games or Winter Classics. Do you think that might get the attention of Philadelphia's authorities, business owners, and legitimate fans? Dump the hooligans, please.
posted by Howard_T at 04:47 PM on January 05, 2012
They would "know," lbb, because most humans are able to take visual and auditory input from their surroundings and use the data to create a pretty accurate model. They would also know, I'm betting, because they came from Jersey to watch a hockey game, not from Idaho to see the Liberty Bell.
I don't get the pointed remarks. I'm not even close to supporting what the Flyers fans did. I feel for the victims, especially if they truly weren't aware of the drunken hyper-machismo surrounding them.
posted by cl at 04:49 PM on January 05, 2012
They would "know," lbb, because most humans are able to take visual and auditory input from their surroundings ...
What does this mean, exactly? You think they should have fled after they got there at the first sign of hostile treatment? I have trouble believing anyone here would schlep over to Geno's while visiting Philly for a sports event and then leave without getting their cheesesteak because some locals didn't like their attire.
posted by rcade at 05:02 PM on January 05, 2012
do something about it u fagits
I hope what those fagits do is figure out who those guys are, sue them for assault and battery, and attach whatever minimal wages those neanderthals earn until they day they die.
posted by tahoemoj at 05:22 PM on January 05, 2012
I don't get the pointed remarks...I feel for the victims, especially if they truly weren't aware of the drunken hyper-machismo surrounding them.
Geno's shows up on every stupid "famous places to see when you're in Philly" show that was ever on television, and it doesn't look skeevy. Are you really saying that the reality is so horrifying that any sane person would take one look and flee in terror?
I don't know, it's hardly exhaustive research, but the comments on this blog don't seem to indicate that there's some big obvious fear factor at Geno's. The closest anyone came was a tongue-in-cheek "A true Philadelphian knows where to go for a decent cheese steak. Why were they at Geno's to begin with?"
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:32 PM on January 05, 2012
Shit. I'm moving there next month. Goddamn troglodytes.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:45 PM on January 05, 2012
Don't do it Weedy. I've been to Toronto and I've been to Philly. Even the mean women in Toronto are nice.
posted by beaverboard at 07:26 PM on January 05, 2012
Turns out one of the victims of the beating is a Purple Heart recipient from a tour in Iraq; the other,an off-duty police officer from New Jersey.
posted by NerfballPro at 11:17 AM on January 06, 2012
Say what you want about soccer but most places seem to deal with this crap the right way. Racist chants? Say hello to empty stands at the next game or three. Throw stuff at the refs or players? 30 year or lifetime stadium ban. Hell, look at the eight game ban handed to Suarez and the criminal charge Terry's facing for words.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:55 AM on January 06, 2012
But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to think that Geno's would be an unstable and potentially unsafe scene for a couple of guys wearing Rangers jerseys at that very moment, and I think most hockey fans from Jersey would understand that very unfortunate fact.
I don't know if I'd say most fans from Jersey understand that, but quite a few do. A friend of mine (from Central Jersey and a lover cheesesteaks) decided to just go straight home after the game because he knew he could find himself in trouble if he stuck around.
Say what you want about soccer but most places seem to deal with this crap the right way.
While I hesitate to commend the Philadelphia Union on anything, they do a decent job with visiting fans and security. Maybe they should've advised the city on how to handle this game. When Red Bull fans travel down there we're sequestered in a private parking area, escorted in and out of the game, and our section is lined with security guards and police officers. Their front office has all but flat out told me it's because of the behavior of their fans and not ours. I'm not saying that Rangers fans should have been segregated during the game. But there should have been ample security near the tourist spots afterwards, especially at a place like Geno's.
posted by goddam at 03:35 PM on January 06, 2012
As you might have guessed, the Facebook fan was a bum lead. I'm torn between which is worse, doing the deed or thinking it would be something to brag about.
posted by yerfatma at 05:02 PM on January 06, 2012
I can't decide whether fan violence is on the upswing or it's just better documented these days because of ubiquitous camera phones. In the '90s I could've filmed multiple fights at every Cowboys/Eagles game in Dallas -- right in the stands.
Regardless, it's a sorry spectacle.