The whiners fans pulled this crap at Sofi last year too next to the SB Trophy, didn't they?

Eagles and 49ers fans troll and trash-talk at the Rocky statue ahead of Sunday’s NFC championship game
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Hometown Eagles loyalists were there to greet, and photobomb, visiting 49ers fans, who chanted "Brocky" at the iconic statue.

San Francisco fans unfurl their 49ers flag as they visit the Rocky statue at the Art Museum.
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

by Amy S. Rosenberg
Published Jan 28, 2023

Perhaps inevitably, visiting fans of the San Francisco 49ers tried their best to co-opt the Rocky statue ahead of Sunday’s NFC championship game with the Eagles.

Predictably, it did not go well.

As photos of the statue draped in 49ers red — the apparel around Rocky’s shoulders seemed less a jersey than maybe a … scarf? — circulated on social media, Eagles fans quickly turned the play into a score of their own.

“How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man,” tweeted Kendall Beck, as KBeckEagles.

There were reminders that when Minnesota Vikings fans tried this in 2018, it backfired, as the Eagles beat them by 31 points to clinch their Super Bowl berth (a Super Bowl played, in further Viking humiliation, in Minneapolis).

The iconic statue was soon draped again in Eagles green, with its usual line of photo-seeking tourists.

On Saturday afternoon, a group of Eagles fans arrived with a bullhorn and blasted Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares” as they booed and photobombed 49ers fans lining up for a photo op with Rocky.

Gold-jacketed 49ers fans also attempted the run up the Rocky steps, as Philly fans chanted “E-A-G-L-E-S.”


San Francisco fans, including Will Bass of Newark, N.J., run up the steps at the Art Museum.
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

“I didn’t know it was was a spelling contest!” one 49ers-jersey-clad step-climber lamented. Other 49ers fans demonstrated their first-down chant, which, while not involving spelling, sounds roughly like “A-ooo, A-ooo.”

San Francisco fans were also trying to claim the legend of Rocky Balboa for their own, calling their underdog quarterback, Brock Purdy, “Brocky” and circulating a mock-up of the Rocky movie poster.

Again, nothing like inviting bad karma, Frisco.

A group of 49ers fans brought a “Brocky” championship belt and posed for pictures with the Rocky statue, now draped in green.

They were quickly photobombed by Eagles fans.

“Brock’s going to be running for his life tomorrow,” said Michael Campbell, manning the bullhorn for the group of Eagles fan photobombers.“Thumbs down,” said Cuka Amaya of being photobombed with the Brocky pose.

“They’re out of line,” said Diana Mata. Both were in Philly from San Jose.

Meanwhile, a schedule of Philly-based events for a visiting group of 49ers fans circulated on social media, including an event Saturday afternoon at XFinity Live that was condemned by Jennifer Slay, wife of Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, who tweeted: “Hosted at Xfinity? What the what!?”



The visiting group of 49ers fans was scheduled to gather at the Rocky statue Saturday afternoon for a group picture in their “Gold Jackets,” according to the schedule circulated on social media, and indeed the gold jackets did show up.

That prompted a flurry of tweets suggesting that Eagles fans greet them in true Philadelphia fashion, with one fan suggesting fans come with “messy throwable foods.” What could go wrong?

To be fair, others suggested Philly fans just leave them alone and let them be tourists, like everyone else at the Rocky statue.

At the statue Saturday afternoon, a smattering of boos and some Eagles chants greeted a few of the 49ers fans, but there were also helpful recommendations, especially from Flip Gibson, the masked man in an Iverson jersey, for cheesesteak places (D’Allesandro’s).

He and other Rocky statue regulars said the 49ers-draped photo of the statue was actually from two years ago. (A reverse-image search did not turn up versions of the photo from before this week.)

“All the niners fans come to Philly for a cheesesteak and to lose,” said Gibson, who runs a YouTube channel called All Jerseys Matter.



Steve Singh, a 49ers fan, took a group photo in front of the Eagles-draped statue, which he said would actually serve to be a good-luck charm for San Francisco, noting the Viking fans’ misstep.

Christina Hernandez came from Lubbock, Texas, for the game and said she had been treated with friendliness throughout her time in Philly, though she had begun to wonder when so many people said, “Good luck at the game,” and would then add, “Be careful.”

Dave Semillo, 38, of Stockton, Calif., and his group turned over the Eagles shirt on the statue before they took their photo.

Others in maroon flipped the bird up at the green-draped statue.

“It’s rivalry, so everything’s on the line,” Semillo said. “I’ve heard worse.”

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#HelmetHornsMatter

“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.

“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood