Ah, the good ol’ City of Brotherly Love. To outsiders, that title brings nothing but irony. To us Philadelphians, that statement is nothing but the truth.

We are a city that is passionate about our sports. If you’re an athlete in Philadelphia and us fans feel that you are underperforming, we will certainly let you know. How we will let you know though, that's to be decided on how much you pissed us off.

Let's take the Flyer’s most recent playoff series against the Washington Capitals for example. To be completely honest, the Flyers shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. I’m a diehard fan sure, but those Flyers were not a playoff team. Still, the Philly faithful did what we will always continue to do until the end of time; Sell out every home game of that series, and cheer our fly guys on like that was the last series of hockey Philadelphia would ever be in.

Let's get this straight: There is a huge difference between a team who shouldn’t be in the playoffs that fights with everything that they have, and a team who just flat out gives up. When the Flyers underperformed against the Capitals in game three of the NHL Playoffs, enough was enough. The fans knew the Flyers weren't even trying at that point. In a city as tough as Philadelphia, that stuff doesn’t slide. When fans began to pelt Ed Snider memorial bracelets on the ice after the Capitals took a commanding 3-0 lead in game three while being up in the series 2-0, columnists and sports writers everywhere received more ammo than ever to continue to bash Philadelphians for another 10 years.

Am I condoning the behavior of the Philly faithful? Absolutely not. Not only was it incredibly disrespectful, but it was just plain out stupid. However, I am supporting the fact that Philadelphia fans have a passion that can’t be matched. Had the Flyers actually tried to win a game and not throw in the towel before the series even started, those bracelets would’ve remained on the wrists of the Philly faithful. Philadelphia fans are smarter than most columnists give us credit for. We are not robots. If we see that you give up, we won’t say, “better luck next year,” and take it on the chin. We will certainly let you know. To us, we’re the reason your salary is getting paid. You work for us.

Let’s talk about the rival sports teams. If you ever so happened to be cursed through sports hell and are considered a rival team of Philadelphia, say your prayers. No seriously, we’ll wait.

Eagles fans cheered loudly for Dallas Cowboys Michael Irvin's career-ending neck injury after he awkwardly hit the Veteran's Stadium turf in 1999. "Fans brought the city's reputation for boorishness to new lows," wrote SI at the time. Am I condoning Philadelphia for cheering a man who just suffered a serious spinal cord injury? No. However, cut us some slack. I’m sure fans saw the situation for what it was: A star player on a rival team getting taken out of the game, giving us Eagles fans a better chance to win. Not a situation where: YES! Our rival has just suffered a career ending injury! WOHOO!

I could go on and on about negative instances where the media immediately received a hard on for a new way to bash us Philadelphia fans. A Flyer’s fan falling into the penalty box and fighting Tie Domi in 2001, Phillies fans throwing batteries at J.D. Drew in 2002, Sarah Palin getting booed at a Flyers game, Ryan Howard getting a beer chucked at him last month, a woman offering craigslist sex to a man for 2008 world series tickets, a 17 year-old fan running onto the field during a Phillies game and getting tased, a jail being built at Veterans Stadium for unruly Eagles fans, and of course perhaps what started this all, pelting snowballs at Santa in 1968,

If you look at it all this information in retrospect, Philadelphia really isn’t all that bad. We’ve had our slip ups as fans, but all of it stems from passion and wanting people to be proud of our city. We take pride in where we are from. What the media doesn’t show is that when you give the fans everything you have, you will be praised and loved like a god. Allen Iverson is the perfect example, among with many other Philadelphia Athletes.

In Europe, they’re beheading of soccer athletes, stadium riots, destruction and death. Every fanbase has the good, bad, and unruly. Philadelphia just seems to get picked on.

To the people who hate Philly; you just can't handle brutal honesty. Philadelphians wear their emotions on their sleeves and aren't afraid to share their thoughts with you. You always know where you stand with a person from Philly...you just may not like to hear it sometimes.

I'll admit it, we're wild. Evil? Not so much. We're one of the best sports cities in the country if you go by loyalty and passion, and how else should you (rightly) judge a fan base?

Philadelphia, stand up.