Eagles Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins explains why Philadelphia sports fans are so intense: ‘Philly loves hard’
Brian Dawkins played the first 13 seasons of his Hall of Famer career for the Eagles. A dozen years after the safety played his final season for the Broncos and five years since he helped the Eagles win Super Bowl 52 as head of football operations for player development, he remains one of Philadelphia’s greatest sports legends .
When The Sporting News picked four pro athletes to be on Philadelphia’s athletic Mount Rushmore last summer, Dawkins was the Eagles’ top pick. There was a reason Dawkins was so popular in the City of Brotherly Love — he knew how to embrace Philadelphia’s unique brand of sports fandom.
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“Philly loves it very much,” he told TSN. “It’s not easy love. If they love you, it won’t stop them from how they feel. I will inform you about this.
“I’m a hard worker anyway. I don’t apologize and am quite responsible for my mistakes. I hold myself to a higher standard than they do. Things they might upset me about, I think made these other five mistakes you haven’t seen. So that never bothered me.”
Dawkins doesn’t dispute that Eagles fans in particular sometimes get a bad rap, but that stems from his passion for soccer and the other “Big Four” sports.
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“I don’t agree with everything they do, but when they feel like you care as much about the game as they do, and some more, they love you for life,” Dawkins said.
Another popular Philadelphia figure remains Chiefs coach Andy Reid, except when he’s training against the Eagles in Super Bowl 57. Dawkins remembers what it was like playing for Reid back then and how it feels to be working in Kansas City now.
“He’s not as strict as he used to be,” Dawkins said. “When he came to Philadelphia, he was the new guy and he was kind of the new sheriff in town. He was a really strict cat. But he has changed.
“That’s what I love about Andy and you can talk to any of his players about that, he’s very personable and he shoots right at you. You can really feel that he cares about you. Those traits make him a better manager – and also knowing it’s all about football.”
MORE: How Andy Reid learned from the Eagles’ mistakes and became a better coach with the Chiefs
Dawkins spoke to The Sporting News on behalf of Novo Nordisk and the NFL Alumni Association and, with the help of TruthAboutWeight.com and HuddleUpObesity.org, shared why it’s so important to learn more about the risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity experience .
“I’ve been blessed in my life to notice a few things in my life. Sometimes it’s later than I wanted – I didn’t know for a long time that my mother had diabetes. Then I found out she had it and my uncle had it. Now that I know these things, I live my life a certain way to stay away from what’s in my genes,” he said.
“If you’re out there going through this, you don’t have to stay where you are and there are people ready and waiting to partner with you to make you the best you can be.”