Philadelphia Sports Fans Are the Worst—Fact or Fiction?

In the new book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die , brothers Chip and Dan Heath define why some ideas stick and others don't. They say that for an idea to become "sticky," it must be presented as a simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional story. The authors were able to identify some common threads of stories, events, and myths that have stood the test of time. One urban legend that fits the bill is the famous Halloween story of people putting razor blades in apples. It was so widespread, I remember taking my candy to the hospital for an X-ray. This legend became out of hand that in 1985 an ABC News poll showed that 60 percent of parents worried that their children might be victimized. The authors note, that same year researchers studied every reported Halloween incident since 1958 and found it to be a myth! I would imagine that the Heath Brothers are not big Philadelphia Eagle fans because there is no more "sticky" story than the Eagles fans ... (link)