They’ve been known to throw batteries, pennies, bags of unidentified liquid substances, and (mostly) fists at opposing fans. They’ve become notorious for booing their own picks in the NFL Entry Draft. They’ve even razzed a visiting player (ex-Cowboy Michael Irvin) as he lay paralyzed on the field, mock-cheering even louder when he was finally carried into the locker room on a stretcher.

But what cemented Philadelphia fans’ reputation as the most amoral, loathsome collection in sports came at the expense of a certain Jolly Old Elf.

It was Dec. 15, 1968. The Eagles were home against the Minnesota Vikings. It was a game they would lose, falling to 2-12 for the season. Over 54,000 fans crowded Franklin Field for the contest, which was played during a snowstorm.

Eagles fans had a reason to be surly beyond their team’s awful record. Former Washington Redskins coach Joe Kuharich had been hired as the team’s coach/general manager in 1964, and produced just one winning season. He also traded quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to the Redskins for fellow signal-caller Norm Snead. In 1967, Jurgensen led the league in passing; in ’68, Snead had 11 touchdowns and 21 interceptions for the Eagles.

According to The Great Philadelphia Fan Book, written by radio hosts Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano, there was supposed to be a Christmas pageant at halftime of the Eagles-Vikings game. But the conditions were so bad that a float couldn’t make its way around the field. Instead, a 19-year-old fan named Frank Olivo — wearing a Santa Claus suit and fake beard in the stands — was invited to run through two columns of cheerleaders on the field in celebration of Jesus’ birth (or something like that).

Perhaps, as the authors suggest, this Santa was just a surrogate for Kuharich, Snead, and every other party to the Eagles’ demise. Whatever the case, Philadelphia fans heartily booed this pseudo-St. Nick, and pelted him with snowballs. From that moment on, the City of Brotherly Love became the City That Booed Santa.

The sports world should have learned its lesson about mingling Kris Kringle with Keystone State fans. But in 2003, Santa Claus and Philadelphia again crossed paths, although indirectly.

On Dec. 23, the New York Islanders offered a free ticket to any fan dressed in a red Santa suit along with a trip down to the ice after the first period for a holiday pageant.

Over 500 fans came dressed for the occasion, but a few had devious intentions. While on the ice, they took off their Santa duds to reveal jerseys of the hated New York Rangers. A melee ensued, and suddenly a three-minute publicity stunt turned into a nine-minute game delay and the lead highlight on that evening’s SportsCenter.

After the offending Santas were cleared from the ice, the Islanders skated back out to resume play against — you guessed it — the Philadelphia Flyers.