Larry Brown Sports

Philadelphia sports fans are notorious for their harsh behavior. They boo their own players, they boo opposing players, they hassle family members, and they’ll even boo Santa Claus if they feel up to it. But one thing that makes the booing worse is if players complain about it, because then it seems like the athlete is too weak to handle the pressure.

Chase Utley didn’t come out and say he couldn’t handle the boos, but he did say they don’t help.

The Phillies second baseman went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs in Philly’s 6-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday. After the game, he was asked by Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen of 94.1 WIP about the crowd at AT&T Park, and that prompted him to voice a complaint about Phillies fans.

“Obviously, they have a great fan base out here, they’re into the game, obviously booing us. But that makes it exciting,” Utley said of the Giants fans. “The last few games at home we didn’t play that well, the fans let us hear about it, and it doesn’t boost your confidence that way.”

Here is the audio via Crossing Broad:

You got that, Philly fans? We know you’re not going to change the way you operate, but Utley has made it clear that the boos do not help. The Phillies lost back-to-back games to the Miami Marlins over the weekend, so we understand the fans’ frustration. But they have won two in a row against the Giants, and Utley is looking good again after three straight injury-plagued seasons.

Utley’s comments really shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, remember what he said in 2008?

Bryce Harper may only be 19 years old, but it sounds like he has a decent grasp of baseball history. With the Nationals visiting the Phillies on Monday for a three-game series, Harper knows the fans will probably give him much less than a warm welcome. He really didn’t do anything to them besides take a pitch off the backside from Cole Hamels for no reason, but they are sure to let him hear it anyway. The rookie phenom says he is perfectly fine with the boos — he’s just hoping to avoid having batteries chucked his way at Citizen’s Bank Park.

“Hopefully, I get a couple of boos,” Harper said Sunday according to the Philadelphia Daily News. “That would be awesome. I’m excited to get in there and play and hopefully they won’t throw any batteries or whatnot at me. We’ll see.”

As you may know, fans in Philadelphia have a reputation for doing various inappropriate things including but not limited to throwing beer at opponents buses, booing videos about cancer, and throwing batteries at their own and opposing players. Only time will tell what they could have in store for the cocky new superstar from D.C.

Photo credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE

For the second time in a week, fans from Philadelphia have been accused of cheering for an opponent’s injury. We know Sixers fans cheered when Joakim Noah went down during a game last Friday because we could hear it on the broadcast. According to Jayson Werth, Phillies fans pulled the same classless move on Sunday night when he broke his wrist at Nationals Park.

“After walking off the field feeling nauseous knowing my wrist was broke and hearing Philly fans yelling ‘You deserve it,’ and, ‘That’s what you get,’ I am motivated to get back quickly and see to it personally those people never walk down Broad Street in celebration again,” Werth wrote in an email to the Washington Post.

Whether Werth deserved the astronomical amount of money the Nationals gave him or not, you can’t fault him for taking it. Apparently some of the fans in Philadelphia do. Does it surprise us that they feel Werth deserved to break his wrist simply because he left via free agency? If we were talking about a fan base that didn’t have a history of making players’ fiancees cry or throwing beer at opponents, we might scratch our heads a little. Unfortunately, it’s just reaffirms what we already knew.

Photo credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Who’s more immature, the three Phillies fans that wrote “Pujols are stinky” on their towels, or us, for posting the picture and laughing about it? I dunno, but I’ll consider it a win for the internet. Plus, the fans that had the Pat Burrell signs last year were far more creative.

Thanks to good man CJ Fogler for the pic

There was a big stir caused when it was announced a robot would be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Phillies game this week. I don’t get the fuss; how is this much different from an old school pitching machine like the one Jimmy Dugan hit off of in A League of Their Own? But I digress. The robot was wheeled out to throw the first pitch at Wednesday’s Phillies game and it did not go well. Like Jimmy Traina said, the robot didn’t quite Baba Booey the throw, but you could hear the boos after the robot bounces the pitch:

Honestly, I would have been disappointed and worried that Phillies fans were losing it had they not booed the robot. This is Phillies fan we’re talking about — perpetrator of the lewd, crude, and rude. Way to live up to your reputation, Phillies fans. Nicely done.

Ryan Madson just became the most wanted man in Philly, and his wife is the female counterpart. During a recent charity event in support of Manna, the organization that provides meals to aids and cancer patients, Sarah Madson made some extremely negative comments about Phillies fans. Oh yeah, did we mention that her husband is a relief pitcher for the Phillies? From Deadspin via Naked Philadelphian:

Sarah Madson declared, “I hate the fans. It is bad enough that they bother us during the season, but they will not leave us alone in December when we go out to eat. We stayed here during the off season last year, but we will be going to California this year. There must be something particularly bad about Phillies fans because all the players leave in the off season.”

I understand the Madsons may be upset that Jose Contreras became the Phillies’ closer with Brad Lidge out instead of Ryan, but that doesn’t mean they had to concoct a plan to get him traded out of town. I mean seriously, there are other ways to go about this than by ensuring you’ll get J.D. Drewd by Philly fans every time you play them in the future. Just a bad, bad idea for Sarah. What are they going to do with their green-efficient mansion now too?

But honestly, I understand where she’s coming from here. In fact, Phillies fans have their own dedicated section here at LBS for all their mind-numbing antics such as …

- Phillies fan vomits on little girl
- Little kid drinks a beer at Phillies game
- Phillies fan runs onto field, gets tased

Photo via

A day after giving pitcher Tim Lincecum the poster treatment, Phillies fans decided to break out with some Pat Burrell hate. Burrell of course was drafted by the Phillies and played there from 2000-2008. He left the off-season after they won the World Series in 2008 and signed with the Rays who cut him. The Giants picked him up mid-season and he’s played well for them. Now that he’s back in Philly for the NLCS, they wasted little time in welcoming him back in a way only Philly fans can:

By the way, the guy on the left is not calling Burrell a wife cheat; the “S” was covered up, implying that Burrell’s wife is the one who cheats. I’m sure that’s gotta be comforting to see on a sign.

When it comes to Phillies fans, that’s nothing. Check this, this, this, and this out to see what I mean.

Photo Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images