This is not your grandfather’s Philadelphia.
Nearly 27 years ago, Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin laid motionless on the concrete jungle surface of Veterans Stadium for the last time. He was wheeled off on a stretcher to the cheers of Eagles fans who watched as the rival, who had dominated them for well over a decade, left with a spinal cord injury.
Irvin’s football career was over.
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On Sunday, Irvin was back in Philly and wearing his jersey in a local watering hole with not a care in the world that fans booed him. It’s good for business. The Playmaker is back in the City of Brotherly Love not as a villain, but as a guest podcaster/influencer for tonight’s MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby.
Is Irvin an odd choice for a baseball event? Of course, but if you’re going to intentionally fire up Philly fans, Irvin is a smart foil. He wants the heat.
“It was a compliment for Philly to cheer me,” the Playmaker said years later of the Eagles fans who cheered after he was carted off in 1999. “Philly wasn’t cheering my injury. They were cheering my departure,” he added. “Thank God he’s leaving the field, he’s been killing us. Thank God, maybe now we have a chance to win. You’ve never heard me say one negative thing about the Philadelphia crowd.”
Irvin, 60, carried that same mentality into McGillins Olde Ale House in Center City Philly.
“Eagles fans know tough when they see it,” one fan wrote on Instagram of the Pro Football Hall of Famer walking in and taking it.
“I love it. As a 45 yr old Philadelphian through and through. I love seeing this 2nd act of Michael Irving. Continue to inspire. Even though you heard boos, I know you could feel the respect and love,” wrote another fan.
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Yet, at the end of the day, these fans were literally cheering when it looked possible that Irvin had suffered a possible life-changing injury during that 1999 season. Through it all, Irvin hasn’t dwelled on the actions of Eagles fans.
“I remember my dad, and a lot of those fans are just like my dad,” Irvin recalled in 2013. “It’s the only place and the only time their opinion counts, the only way they can voice their disappointment, and I can’t have a problem with that.”
And, now, it appears the feelings are mutual. We’ve all lived long enough for Eagles fans to find a soft spot for one of their hated enemies.
