I already knew this statistic, but thanks to Thacover2, I can now share with the rest of the world.
According to Tim McManus of Birds 24/7, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told Eagles players in 2012 that crime actually goes up in Philadelphia when they lose.
“He basically said crime rates jump up significantly when we lose,” Kendricks recalled. ”He told us that, and I was like, ‘Damn, if that’s a real statistic, we better start winning.’ “
We took Kendricks’ advice and decided to look it up. More specifically, we contacted the Police Commissioner’s office to see if they could provide any data that would potentially support this theory. In response, they listed for Birds 24/7 the number of arrests, by category, on days of 1 o’clock Eagles games dating back to the 2011 season. There were 24 games in all, 11 of which were wins and 13 losses.
In this particular sample size, there was no significant difference when it came to serious crimes. There was a noticeable spike in the number of disorderly conduct arrests on days the Eagles lost, however. There were 19 disorderly conducts cited after wins and 64 following a loss. In other words, the number of those kind of arrests/gameday nearly tripled on days of losses in this sample.
Interestingly, 25 of those 64 arrests on the day of a defeat (40 percent) came during the two home losses to the Giants.
The conclusion? Philly gets a little more ornery following a loss, especially when New Yorkers are in town to rub it in. Sounds about right.
Let the harsh slander about my city begin in 3,2,1.