Patriots Fans vs. Eagles Fans: Ahead Of The 2018 Super Bowl, Which Fanbase Is More Hated?

The fans of this year's Super Bowl teams are alike in the hatred they engender — if for very different reasons. New England Patriots' fans are seen as arrogant and entitled, and recurring cheating scandals haven't tempered their swagger. Philadelphia Eagles' fans are perceived as truculent and self-pitying.

Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight published a SurveyMonkey report in September that showed that the Patriots, arguably the league's most successful team, were the No.2 least favorite team in the league behind the Dallas Cowboys. But Paine pointed out that the Patriots "racked up their high dislike rate without the benefit of such intense hatred from specific fan bases."

Earlier this month, there were two separate incidents in Philadelphia of an Eagles fan punching a police horse. However, the misery of Eagles fans dates back decades, with a well-publicized incident in which Santa Claus was booed and pelted with snowballs.

There is plenty to consider when discussing the antipathy for both fanbases.

Breaking Down The Patriots' Fans

Between 1989 and 1993, the Patriots were among the most downtrodden organizations in the NFL, with a combined record of 19-61. In the final game of the 1990 season, half the fans at Foxboro Stadium were rooting for the New York Giants. Things got so bad that the Patriots were considering moving to St. Louis and their "fans" didn't seem to care.

Things have turned around for the Patriots in a big way, with eight trips to the Super Bowl since 2001. The team's reversal of fortune, and the overwhelming local enthusiasm that came with it, was not lost on the rest of the country. Boston Globe sports columnist Eric Wilbur summed it up best when he described Pats fans in 2014 as "spoiled."

"This current run of Patriots’ greatness came so suddenly and has lasted so long that history has seemingly been lost on some," Wilbur wrote of Patriot fans. "They have, in turn, become the whining, silver spoon fans that Patriots fans despised in their adolescence.

"Cynicism runs through a New Englander’s veins, which is why you can oftentimes tell the frauds among us. They’re perennially waving a foam finger and singing 'Sweet Caroline.' The majority of us used to scoff at those imported sit-ins. They have now become the majority."

Meanwhile, the Patriots' success has come with plenty of questionable events that seemed to be brushed aside by their fanbase. The Patriots' tight victory over the Oakland Raiders in the 2001 AFC Championship would be referred to as the "Tuck Rule Game" because of a crucial and controversial call in which quarterback Tom Brady was sacked and appeared to have fumbled. It was later ruled an incomplete pass because Brady may have been "tucking" the ball into his body.

The first scandal about alleged cheating was the 2007 "Spygate" controversy, which involved videotaping opposing defensive coaches' play signals. Then in 2015, the "Deflategate" controversy surfaced, which alleged that the Patriots intentionally under-inflated footballs to gain an edge.

In short, the Patriots are widely seen as a team with an insufferable fanbase because of all the negative storylines — and all the success.

Breaking Down The Eagles' Fans

Fans of the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills have plenty of reason to groan about disappointment.

But decades of failure and underachievement has bred a nasty disposition for Eagles fans that the rest of the country has grown to expect. Eagles fans' unruly conduct is the stuff of legend.

Two incidents that stand out were the ugly reaction to Santa Claus (scapegoated for the team's bad season) and the cheering of a serious injury to Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin. Fans even mercilessly booed when the Eagles drafted quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Individual bad behavior includes the punching of police horses, beating the Washington Redskins' unofficial mascot and plenty of stadium fights.

Veterans Stadium, home to the Eagles from 1971 to 2002, even had a courtroom and a jail.

Hollywood has also done its part in depicting Eagles fans as aggressive and uncouth.

In a 2005 episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," Mac, one of the lead characters, suggests breaking Brady's arm. "No more Super Bowls for that pretty boy," he says. In the 2011 film "Silver Linings Playbook," the Eagles fan father feels the need to tell his adult Eagles fan son, "Don't drink too much. Don't hit anybody. You'll be fine."

So Which Fanbase Is Most Deserving Of The Hate?

Tough call. Patriots fans are arrogant about their record of success; Eagles fans are insufferable about their history of failure. May the least-bad team win!