'Mary Kate of Havertown' explains her viral NSFW Eagles moment originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Early in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' Week 11 win over the Saints, a new Philly cult legend was born:
Mary Kate of Havertown. Or, Mare of Havertown. Or, the First Lady of Eagles Fans.
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Whatever we land on, we can all agree that Mary Kate Mink is the perfect representation of Birds fans everywhere.
Mink caught the attention of the Twitterverse on Sunday when the FOX cameras panned to her after a miserable roughing the passer call on Javon Hargrave gave the Saints some extra help as they looked to trim the Eagles' lead. New Orleans had momentum, things were looking less rosy than they did in the first half, and the call was trash.
So Mink let the refs hear it, and went viral:
There's no audio, but it doesn't take a professional lip reader to figure out what Mink so urgently needed to communicate to the officiating crew. It was like every Eagles fan in the Linc tapped into a larger consciousness and channeled their anger through Mink. Everything about the clip is perfect, from her palms-up incredulousness, to the absolute fury in her face as she shouts, to fixing her beanie immediately afterwards.
It's Oscar-worthy.
And after the game, Mink jumped on 94WIP to talk about the hilarious clip and how her life briefly turned upside down after it went viral.
You can listen to the full interview here, but these are my personal highlights:
"Well, my mom is mad at me. She asked me, 'Well, why did you have to curse?' I said, 'Mom, I didn't know I was going to be on TV.""
It's so good that Mink's mom is angry with her, even though something tells me this isn't the first time that exact string of words has come out of her daughter's mouth. Watch the tape again and look at how effortless it was; that's a seasoned swearer.
"I was with my two sons and my husband, and my son taps me and says, 'Mom, you're going viral on Barstool Sports Philly.' I was like, 'Why?' People around our section, I guess their phones are blowing up. Then I - I turn my phone off during the game, but I turned my phone on and I had 86 text messages. [laughs]"
So much to love here, including how strange it probably was for Mink to hear that she was going viral, but the best part is absolutely that Mink turns her phone off during the game. The dedication! That's a hardcore Birds fan right there. Most modern football fans are texting their friends, tossing a story on the IG, checking fantasy teams, placing bets - Sundays are a madhouse of entertainment. Not Mink. She's locked in on the Eagles. Fantastic.
"Philly gets a bad rap, and that's horrible because we're just passionate. I was just having fun with my kids at the game, and my husband, and we're passionate. That's how we are."
[...]
"I'm so passionate about Delco. My parents live in Havertown, I have so many memories of Delaware County, I met my husband in Delaware County, I just - we're passionate Eagles fans. 'Silver Linings Playbook,' that's like our family. We just love the Eagles. We love the Birds."
These quotes were separate, but they have the same core idea: Mink really just loves the Delaware Valley. She loves Philly and Delco, she loves the Eagles, and she loves her family. For such a silly sports moment, I thought it was really endearing and sweet to hear her talk about the things she loved and defend them.
Oh, and a sneaky highlight was Mink sneaking in the fact that the Birds are now in the hunt. You got that right, Mary Kate. It's playoff push time.
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