Out of curiosity, why is this? I mean, from the Flyers side, you guys were never a rival of our until 2005. Sure we had some playoff wars and we never liked Jagr, but we never had the same level of hatred for the Pens/Pens players throughout the 80s/90s/early 00s that you guys always seemed to have for the Flyers.
Was it the 20-consecutive seasons of never winning once in Philly? Little brother syndrome? I'm really curious where the 1-sided hate came from. - jmatchett383
I can only say from my standpoint as a 40 year old Pens fan. I obviously missed the entire 70's and early 80's, although was told many stories by older Pens fans about how the 70's Flyers teams combined both skill and violence and were often not content with just winning but also liked to beat up their opponents as well. My earliest hockey memory was watching it on tv in 1985 (first grade for me and Lemieux's rookie season) and my first game was in 1987 (against the Rags). However, I didn't seriously follow the team until 1989 and one of my earliest "clear" memories was losing to the Flyers in that second round matchup. No big deal, the Flyers were the better team that time (although it was very close). However, it was a little "startling" seeing Hextall become unhinged and chase Rob Brown around.
For me the rivalry really began in the late 90's. The Pens had lots of great teams back then with players like Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, etc. but these teams tended to lack some amount of physicality. They would often put up great numbers and win lots of games but as soon as they played the Flyers would get beat up physically, even if they did manage to win. The Flyers of course managed to revive a "mini-Broad Street Bullies" team at the time with players like Lindros and Leclair who combined skill and physicality (often too much, in my opinion). In order to compete the Pens tried to "goon-up" with players like Leroux and later Barnaby but these players were just goons and did not have the skill to rely on. As a Pens fan it was frustrating to watch. Then there was the 5OT overtime in 2000, which I stayed up to watch to the end.
Also, there is the fans. I could probably list dozens of things here but will just mention on thing - the blog on this very forum on Ray Emery's death a few days ago. Flyers fans posted and reveled in his famous/infamous assault on Holtby. I think that the fans of the 30 other teams in the league would be embarrassed to lose 7-0 and then see their goalie skate the length of the ice to attack the other goalie but Flyers fans loved it - both then and now. It was probably the highlight of the 2013-14 season for them. That was something right out of pro wrestling. While it is true that there is a high degree of similarity between fans everywhere and all fanbases (including the Pens) have their idiots the Flyers seem to have a higher percentage of fans who crave unnecessary violence.
Penguins/Flyers stuff at 9:30 and 37 minutes explains a little about how not winning at the Spectrum, and finally beating the likes of Kerr and Hextall, was a big step for the Penguins.
"it was one more hurdle cleared by the kid from Ville-Émard, who was clearly on a mission."
The Penguins and their fans were jealous of Philly's string of excellence from the 70's to the 80's. It was a one-sided rilvalry like the Penguins/BJ's, or the Steelers/Browns. The Browns can go 1-15 and still succeed if they beat the Steelers, while I wouldn't consider the Browns rivals since they left Cleveland. - hardnosed
How well we know this story, at least those of us old enough to remember. I'm 62 and really started playing at 42 because of being inspired by Mario. Then came the next generation, Sid and Malkin. It has been a pleasure to watch it all.
Bit of advanced stat hating, or bloggers using it, going on in the new Jets?Trouba blog hahah - MattStrat
I don't know what type of Dman Trouba is, but his name gets thrown around a lot by fans wanting him on their team.
This is an example of how much a player is worth. If you follow what Tessier put up & say that's it judge him on his analytics - how much is he worth? Should he be 'compared' to other players & their salaries or will the player just say (frank) you, I want more. Doing that means his agent believes his worth is more than what the organisation wants to pay. Whether that's his worth or what others will pay him. So again its actually the market that dictates worth not ability or analytics.
So I can't see how anyone can complain about a players worth if organisations are willing to pay more than he may be 'worth'. People can laugh thinking they wouldn't pay it, but those laughing are sitting at home on their lounge probably eating a hamburger.
I can only say from my standpoint as a 40 year old Pens fan. I obviously missed the entire 70's and early 80's, although was told many stories by older Pens fans about how the 70's Flyers teams combined both skill and violence and were often not content with just winning but also liked to beat up their opponents as well. My earliest hockey memory was watching it on tv in 1985 (first grade for me and Lemieux's rookie season) and my first game was in 1987 (against the Rags). However, I didn't seriously follow the team until 1989 and one of my earliest "clear" memories was losing to the Flyers in that second round matchup. No big deal, the Flyers were the better team that time (although it was very close). However, it was a little "startling" seeing Hextall become unhinged and chase Rob Brown around.
For me the rivalry really began in the late 90's. The Pens had lots of great teams back then with players like Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, etc. but these teams tended to lack some amount of physicality. They would often put up great numbers and win lots of games but as soon as they played the Flyers would get beat up physically, even if they did manage to win. The Flyers of course managed to revive a "mini-Broad Street Bullies" team at the time with players like Lindros and Leclair who combined skill and physicality (often too much, in my opinion). In order to compete the Pens tried to "goon-up" with players like Leroux and later Barnaby but these players were just goons and did not have the skill to rely on. As a Pens fan it was frustrating to watch. Then there was the 5OT overtime in 2000, which I stayed up to watch to the end.
Also, there is the fans. I could probably list dozens of things here but will just mention on thing - the blog on this very forum on Ray Emery's death a few days ago. Flyers fans posted and reveled in his famous/infamous assault on Holtby. I think that the fans of the 30 other teams in the league would be embarrassed to lose 7-0 and then see their goalie skate the length of the ice to attack the other goalie but Flyers fans loved it - both then and now. It was probably the highlight of the 2013-14 season for them. That was something right out of pro wrestling. While it is true that there is a high degree of similarity between fans everywhere and all fanbases (including the Pens) have their idiots the Flyers seem to have a higher percentage of fans who crave unnecessary violence. - PghPens668771
I was at that game, the Emery/Holtby fight game. Not only were the Flyers losing 7-0, but they had started the season 0-3, their coach got fired after the 3rd game, they were 2-9 at the time, and that entire sequence was just flat-out frustration. Frustration makes you do things "right out of pro wrestling", much like when Malkin, for no reason whatsoever, chased Henrik Zetterberg around the ice for several seconds, while Zetterberg had his gloves on, and proceeded to start punching him after Miro Satan knocked him down. But as a fanbase that despises those kinds of things, I'm sure the entire Pens' fanbase was irate when Bettman decided to lift the automatic suspension given to Malkin for Game 6 of the SCF...right?
However, for whatever reason, that entire sequence ignited the team and they went on a tear for the next 2 months that propelled them into the playoffs. I don't care for the fight as much as what it seemingly did for the team. And no, that was far from the best part of that Flyers season; the following were all far better:
- Beating Pittsburgh all 3 times on the road (including a 4-0 shutout), including clinching a playoff spot against them on the 2nd to last game of the year
- Finally beating the Rangers at MSG, in the playoffs no less
- Steve Mason emerging as a reliable, consistent starter
- A mid-March OT game between the Flyers and Caps where the Flyers came back from 2 goals down in the 3rd, including a Giroux goal with just over 1 minute to go, and Lecavalier's OT winner
- for fights, seeing Luke Schenn beat up Tom Wilson later was far more satisfying.
That's just off the top of my head (had to check on the Schenn fight and the 4-0 shutout), so I'm sure there are more. So yes, Philly fans get a rep, and it's 100% earned. We love physicality, we revel if fights, and we don't like pretty gloating players. But honestly, although we have a deserved rep, people often put "Philly fans" and "Flyers fans" into the same category. and that's unfair. Flyers fans din't throw snowballs at Santa, didn't throw batteries at JD Drew, didn't cheet Michael Irvin being paralyzed, and we didn't intentionally vomit on a young boy...although the bracelet thing was on a few hundred idiotic Flyers fans, granted.
By the way, the average amounts of arrests at sporting events in Pittsburgh is about double that of Philadelphia (haven't been able to find the article), so I don't think that Philadelphia is the nation-leader in idiotic fans.
So yes, Philly fans get a rep, and it's 100% earned. We love physicality, we revel if fights, and we don't like pretty gloating players. - jmatchett383
So pretty much the hockey equivalent of Steelers fans?!? You could almost say that the Broadstreet Bullies teams of the 70's mirrored what was going on at the time across the state on the gridiron.
