Eagles fans donate to Mike Zimmer Foundation following poor treatment of Vikings fans
Philadelphia fans aren’t always the friendliest bunch. They’ve thrown snowballs at Santa and beer cans at opposing fans and done plenty more that makes the “City of Brotherly Love” a misnomer when it comes to the sports supporters.
This week, though, they’re trying to make up for their rowdy behavior toward Vikings fans via donation, specifically to The Mike Zimmer Foundation, established by the Minnesota head coach.
Per ESPN’s Tim McManus, Eagles fans have donated over $7,000 to the charitable group, which gives back to the youth of Minnesota with football clinics, scholarships and Salvation Army partnerships, among other endeavors. The foundation was started in honor of Zimmer’s wife, Vikki, who died in 2009. Philadelphia-based donations have poured in since the Eagles’ NFC Championship victory.
While the anti-Viking behavior was limited to mostly isolated incidents, this episode continues a season of giving. Recently, Vikings fans honored Saints punter Thomas Morstead with donations that totaled in the hundreds of thousands after Morstead played through broken ribs. That episode came on the heels of Bengals fans donating to the Blake Bortles Foundation when he ousted Cincinnati’s rival, Pittsburgh, in the second round of the playoffs. Just weeks before that, Buffalo Bills fans sent huge sums to the Andy and Jordan Dalton Foundation after Andy Dalton led a game-winning drive against the Ravens to allow the Bills to sneak into the playoffs in Week 17.
