Eagles fans get different reception in Dallas than Cowboys fans in Philly

The Eagles face the Cowboys this weekend with the winner going to the playoffs and the loser going home. The game will be played in Dallas, where it’s probably safer to be an Eagles fan than to be a Cowboys fan in Philadelphia. 

David Boyer of the Washington Times is a Philadelphia native who has kept his love for the Cowboys hidden in the closet for fear of reprisals.

“I’ve been a Phillies fan all my life,” he said. “I’ve been to a lot of Phillies games and seen how Phillies fans treat opposing fans, so I was very conscious about wearing Dallas colors around anywhere in Pennsylvania, especially in Philly.”

Eagles fans can become hostile when confronted with a posse of Cowboys fans, evoking images of a Jets versus the Sharks rumble in “West Side Story.”

It’s a different story in Dallas, where native Philadelphian Robert King says he can wear his Eagles cap or shirt with pride, and without fear of being roughed up because the people are … “nice.” It took King a while to adjust to such as place.

“I felt at that point my speech was slowing down, country music was making sense, I felt the desire to buy a shotgun with the taxes I wasn’t paying and I started worrying about it because I thought I was losing my inner edge,” he said. “The only way to get through it was there are a tremendous number of exiles down here and we get together at a bar and watch the Eagles on Sundays, and that sort of gets me through the rest of the week.”

Cowboys Fan Brad Alman will proudly wear his Cowboys gear Sunday in Philadelphia. Even though Tony Romo won’t be the quarterback, Alman said he believes Dallas will win the game.

“The ultimate answer to me, quite honestly, that neither team is going anywhere anyway this year. Neither team is capable of beating the Saints and that’s the sad truth,” he said. “On any given Sunday, anything can happen, but you are not going to beat Seattle, you are not going to beat the Saints and you aren’t going to beat San Francisco. You aren’t going to beat one of those three is going to represent the NFC.”