No brotherly love shown on Philly trip
Craig Robertson, an attorney from Lexington, Ky., is a lifelong Minnesota Vikings fan.
He’s lived in Kentucky for the past 40 years but is a Vikings season-ticket holder. As a 7-year old living in Rochester, Minn., his father took him to a Vikings playoff game and he said he’s been a fan ever since.
He wrote an open letter to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which was published Wednesday, to brag on his fellow Vikings fans and to share his experience along with his father’s in Philadelphia last week for the NFC Championship Game.
“Following the Vikings’ magical regular season this year, I decided it would be a good time to return the favor, so I arranged for airline tickets to take my now 75-year-old father to the Vikings-[New Orleans] Saints game on Jan. 14 in Minneapolis,” Robertson wrote. “Needless to say, it was an experience we will never forget, and it meant the world to me to watch my favorite team pull out a miracle win while I was with the man who has been most influential in my life.
“After the Vikings beat the Saints, my father and I decided to go to Philadelphia the following week for the NFC Championship Game. It turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made — and it had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. I witnessed, and experienced, the rudest, most obnoxious and violent behavior I have ever seen at a sporting event.
“From the moment we got on the subway to go to the game until the time we made it back to our hotel room afterward, we were subjected to constant verbal and physical assault. We were called names I can’t repeat because they are unfit for print. We were shoved, had objects thrown at us and were warned that if the Vikings won, we would be lucky to make it out alive.
“I have never been to a sporting event where I feared for my safety until last Sunday. All because I had the audacity to come to the game wearing a Vikings jersey.
“I wish I could say that this behavior came from only a few individuals. Unfortunately, it was pervasive. And those who did not participate stood idly by and watched it happen. I have no problem with Eagles fans celebrating a historic win. That’s the joy of sport. But you can do so with class and not ruin the time of fellow football fans whose only ‘crime’ is being from another part of the country.
“I am not sure how it became culturally acceptable in Philadelphia to behave in such a manner, but it’s a shame. I was literally embarrassed to be a human.”