bad day

Philadelphia sports fans have a bit of a reputation for not always being the most upstanding of citizens.

If you’re wondering why, just ask the kid who had a home run ball snatched from his glove and given to the woman not-so-affectionately known as “Phillies Karen.”

You could also ask former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin.

Or some Pennsylvania State Police horses.

Or Santa Claus.

All that said, though, it’s hard not to feel a teensy bit bad for Philly fans after what they endured Thursday night.

The Phillies suffered a season-ending playoff loss (pausing here for L.A. fans to respectfully compose themselves — you’ve had plenty of time to celebrate after the Dodgers won 2-1 in 11 innings on a shocking throwing error by Philadelphia relief pitcher Orion Kerkering).

Then over in the NFL, the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles were dominated by NFC West rival New York Giants 34-17 on “Thursday Night Football.” And in the NHL, the Flyers lost their season opener 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.

For any other city’s fan base, that might be considered the worst day ever. But believe it or not, Philly fans had to endure a similarly disheartening day nearly 42 years ago, according to sports statistician Greg Harvey.

Harvey pointed out on X that Oct. 16, 1983, was the only other time in history that one city’s MLB team team suffered a season-ending loss in the postseason while its NFL and NHL teams lost as well. And that unlucky city was Philadelphia.

That was the day that the Phillies, nicknamed the “Wheeze Kids” that season for all the veteran players on the roster, fell 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles to lose the World Series four games to one.

Meanwhile, the Eagles were off to a 4-2 start to their season before losing that day to the Dallas Cowboys 37-7. It was the start of a seven-game losing streak for the Eagles, who wound up finishing the season 5-11.

The Flyers suffered their first loss of that season — 5-4 to the New York Rangers — after starting the year with five straight wins. Months later, they ended up finishing third in the Patrick Division before being swept out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Washington Capitals.

So maybe, just maybe, you might want to take it easy on the Philadelphia sports fans in your life — at least until the next time one or more them does something that makes the rest of us cringe.

And hopefully those fans extend the same courtesy to Kerkering. Maybe he’ll end up being the one person who can tell Santa Claus and the others that Philly fans aren’t all that bad after all.

Dick Van Dyke was reportedly under the weather Saturday and couldn’t host his recurring Vandy Camp fan event with his wife at the couple’s namesake theater at Malibu High School.

Introducing herself as “not the Van Dyke you were expecting,” Arlene Silver explained, via People, that “when you’re 99½ years old, you have good days and bad days … and unfortunately, today is not a good day for him.”

Van Dyke and makeup artist Silver, who married in 2012 when he was 86 and she was 40, usually helm the celebrations together, along with their musical group the Vantastix.

Silver told the audience that she had to wear her “big girl pants and hold the reins without Dick here as the safety net.”

Fans were disappointed but undaunted as the show — described by Silver as a “whimsical, vintage circus” — did go on.

“All of the people at the event were so kind and amazing. Many had flown in from around the world and country. I did fly in from the Bay Area,” one fan, Christy Vaca, wrote on Saturday night on Facebook. “It turned into everyone sending amazing messages to Dick Van [Dyke] who was watching at home. He means so much to us all.

“It was really Heartbreaking.”

Last time we checked in with the “Mary Poppins” star, he was being rescued by neighbors during the Franklin fire, which started in Malibu in early December 2024 and burned for nine days.

“I’m out there laying on the ground trying to undo this fire hose, and the fire’s coming over the hill,” Van Dyke said a few days after the fire started. “What I did was exhaust myself. I forgot how old I am, and I realized I was crawling to get out.”

Neighbors managed to get the beloved entertainer, wife Silver and a number of their pets into a vehicle and out of danger, he said. Cat Bobo was missing, but he turned up when they returned home the next day. Thousands of people had to evacuate.

The neighbors “carried me out,” he said, “and came back and put out a little fire in the guesthouse and saved me.” Van Dyke’s home was spared. Twenty structures were destroyed and 28 were damaged in the fire, according to Cal Fire.

The Van Dykes did not evacuate a month later during the tremendously destructive Palisades fire, Silver said on social media in January.

“Keeping Dick warm and entertained has been the two things that have been my top priority, so, you know, we don’t have power […] or regular electricity, so we don’t have Wi-Fi,” she said, via Page Six. At the time of her Instagram live, they were cooking and charging their devices courtesy of her small camper-trailer.

“I don’t know of any other person of, you know, senior citizen age that would put up with this,” she added, calling her husband a “trouper.”