The truth emerges about viral video of Eagles fan running into subway pillar
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this five-second video clip of a crazy Eagles fan running face-first into a subway pillar is worth an entire article:
The guy who got blindsided by the pole is Jigar Desai, and he’s been interviewed by Deadspin, had his story picked up by the Associated Press and found himself on the news, as WTFX-TV in Philly interviewed the guys who captured the viral video in question:
Two heroes interviewed on the news tonight pic.twitter.com/UEiKogQIVe
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) January 23, 2018
The 42-year-old Desai was on his way to the NFC championship game at Lincoln Financial Field, where the hometown Eagles pasted Minnesota 38-7 to keep the Vikings from having the first Super Bowl with home-field advantage, as the Eagles head to US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to take on the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Desai was a bit well-oiled from having had a few drinks while watching the Patriots knock off the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he saw a bunch of Eagles fans on the train passing by.
He decided he wanted to fire up the crowd on the train, so he took off running, wearing his Brian Dawkins jersey and cheering, until his open-field dash to the end zone was abruptly halted by a fantastic tackle by the post.
He also managed to hit the train itself, prompting Deadspin’s Dan McQuade to remark that “Desai is one of the few people on earth who have been hit in the head by a train and can talk about it.”
Desai, speaking to his love of the team, which the whole world got to see, said, “Yeah, I hit the pole, but the passion is there. It reflects the passion of the entire city. We are good fans. Yeah, there are a couple of bad apples in the mix, in any city you’re going to find that, but I think as a whole we have supported this team for years and years and years. I think this city is ready to bring home the hardware.”
Indeed, the bad apples were out on Sunday as well; some Eagles fans threw beer bottles at Vikings fans who dared walk the streets of Philadelphia wearing the wrong color in the kind of tribalism for which excessively zealous fans are rightly criticized.
Another Philadelphian of questionable judgment got himself arrested for punching a police horse.
Desai, his sense of humor intact and not at all knocked out of him by the pole, said, “I’m not throwing bottles or punching horses. It was just running into a pole.”
And indeed, it’s great to see a city get so fired up for a sporting event, especially when the game itself is shaping up to be a New England Patriots vs. The World scenario.
Yahoo’s Kevin Kaduk referred to the Eagles as “America’s Team”; after all, this is only the third Super Bowl appearance for the Eagles and they’re seeking their first championship since the AFL-NFL merger. They’re running a backup quarterback, Nick Foles, out there against quite possibly the greatest of all time, and the five-time champion Patriots are cast as the evil empire, a pro wrestling heel with a wicked thick Boston accent.
So of course Philadelphia fans are going to be exuberant as their team takes on the seemingly impossible.
And the fact that a guy running face-first into a stationary object in support of his team doesn’t even rank as the weirdest thing to happen in Philly on Sunday is just the icing on the cake.
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