Today marks the 55-year anniversary of Eagles fans throwing snowballs at a drunk Santa during a 2-12 season:

It’s a day that will live in infamy because sportswriters, radio hosts, and anyone who isn’t an Eagles fan gets their rocks off to it every time Philly fans are in the news. It’s almost become a law in sports writing that when you talk about Philly fans, good or bad, within the first paragraph you have to mention something about them throwing snowballs at Santa. It’d be like writing about Braves fans and not mentioning they delayed two playoff games in the last decade because they threw trash on the field because they didn’t like a call. Or talking about Boston Celtics fans breaking into Bill Russell’s home and spray painting racist shit all over the walls and shitting in his bed after he won them multiple titles. That last one happened around the same time as the snowballs and we never hear about it.  You know, embarrassing and heinous shit like that instead of the harmless act of throwing snowballs at a drunk Santa during halftime. But no, we get the brunt of it, take it on the chin, and keep moving forward. Silent protectors we are here in Philly.

Here’s the entire story of that day from the great Ray Diddy and Glen Macnow as well as the guy who filled in for Santa, Frank Olivo, that day because the regular Santa didn’t bother showing up:

See? No harm, no foul. But the one thing people forget is that Santa already forgave us:

@crossingbroad

Santa forgives #eagles fans for throwing snowballs @phansofphilly #flyeaglesfly #gobirds #santa #HolidayOREOke #phillysports #philly #eaglesfans #eaglesfan #philadelphiaeagles #bearsvseagles #fypphilly #fyp #phillytiktok

♬ original sound – Crossing Broad

See? “It’s overblown.” Water under the bridge. Straight from the fat man’s mouth.


If you ask me, the snowballs at Santa jokes are slowly dying out in sports writing. One it’s because sports teams in Philly are good right now and people are realizing how exciting the fanbase is. Major publications, like The Athletic (with ads), are writing stories about how out of touch they were when they made a joke about throwing snowballs at Santa. I was even able to voice my opinion on the whole thing:

The endless repetition of these moments inspires defensiveness. When Braves fans hurled bottles onto the field during the National League Division Series, Phillies fans were quick to notice. “The first text I got,” said Devon Davis, a 36-year-old from Medford, N.J., “was like, ‘This is hilarious. I can’t wait for them to blame this on the Phillies crowd.’” (The Athletic invited similar haranguing after a recent story referenced the old tropes: snowballs and Santa, Drew and the batteries. “You might not be too far off with the battery one, because when I read your article, I really wish I had a battery to throw at all three of you guys,” said Kyle Pagan, a writer for the website Crossing Broad.)

FOR THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’!