It's 'hell' for Giants fan in Eagle country

1/8/09
giants
By Ryan Chatelain

It's 'hell' for Giants fan in Eagle country

Photo credit: Game Face

Brian Murray, left, attends a Giants-Eagles game with Philadelphia fans.

BY Ryan Chatelain

Philadelphia Eagles fans have pelted Santa Claus with snowballs and cheered when ex-Cowboy Michael Irvin suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury.

So imagine being a fan of a rival team while living and working in the heart of Eagles territory.

Welcome to Brian Murray’s personal hell.

“They’re brutal here,” said Murray, 30, a lifelong Giants fan and Brooklyn native who now lives in a Philly suburb.The Giants will host the Eagles on Sunday in an NFC divisional playoff game. If Philadelphia upsets Big Blue, not only will it be a dejected end of the season for Giants fans, Murray will undoubtedly never hear the end of it from friends, co-workers and even in-laws.

“The Eagles can definitely win, but I think the Giants are going to come out like a pack of rabid dogs and smack them in the mouth,” he said.

Murray, a computer network engineer, moved to Mount Laurel, N.J., four years ago so that his wife could be closer to her family, all of whom are Eagles fans.

He’s since been denied entry to a sports bar for wearing a Ron Dayne jersey, been beaten up outside Lincoln Financial Field and had “what seems like the whole store” at Best Buy chant “a--hole” at him for sporting a Giants cap.

Sean Presner, 26, remembers his first encounter with Murray. When Presner drove up to a movie theater to meet his future brother-in-law, he noticed a man wearing an Eli Manning jersey.

“Sure enough, that was the guy she was with. And we were like, ‘Oh, crap!” said Presner, an Eagles fan.

Murray said he’s had to leave family functions early because he feared heated conversations with his wife’s uncles might escalate into something “that I don’t want to happen.”
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It's 'hell' for Giants fan in Eagle country

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