Why Would Eagles Fans Boo Santa? Sun conjunct Pluto

Philadelphia fans have a reputation for being abusive and obnoxious. It is often said that Philadelphia fans would “even boo Santa Claus.”  This adage emerges from an actual incident on Dec 15, 1968, when Philly fans not only booed Santa Claus but threw snowballs at him.

The 1968 season was a grim one for the Eagles. They began the season a miserable 0 and 11. With the worst record in the NFL, they were on their way to locking in the number one pick of the draft: Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson would soon be theirs. But then the team did the unfortunate: they won two games. With the improved record, dreams of the number one pick and O.J. Simpson in an Eagles uniform became just another dropped pass. On December 15, the Eagles would host the Vikings in the last game of a pathetic season in which even wins had displeased their fans. The gametime weather at Franklin Stadium included freezing temperatures in the 20s and winds of 30 mph.  The halftime show was scheduled to include a Christmas float complete with a fiberglass reindeer, cheerleaders dressed as elves, and a Santa. But the float would become stuck on the muddy field. Also, a snowstorm the night before prevented the hired Santa from getting to the stadium. Twenty-year-old Frank Olivo was a regular fan at Eagles games. Since he was wearing a Santa Claus outfit, he was drafted to replace the professional Santa. Olivo played the part by tossing candy canes to fans. But this Christmas pageant didn’t bring any holiday joy to the cold and surly fans. Instead, the Eagles fans booed their second-string Santa and pelted him with snowballs.

Why did this happen?  Let’s look at the Eagles’ birth chart.

The obnoxiousness of Eagles’ fans emerges from the conjunction of their Sun and Pluto in the sign of Cancer. In a mundane chart, Cancer and the Moon represent the people, the masses of humanity and the collective sway of their emotions. In the chart of a sports team, Cancer and the Moon represent the fans. Any team that has a fanbase becomes a depository for collective emotions. A team gives its fans an instrument to let out their emotion whether good, bad, or ugly.

Fans of the Eagles have been given a rather loud instrument for their emotions since their team has the Sun in Cancer conjunct to Pluto. The energy of Pluto contains dark unrefined energies and passions: hate, anger, jealousy, resentment, revenge. These id impulses are usually repressed,  sublimated, or otherwise held in check by the law or by the manners people are taught. But when the Sun is conjunct to Pluto in an institution such as a sports team, these dark urges are given license to express themselves. Foul language and uncouth behavior becomes the norm. Furthermore, the coarse behavior of the Eagles fans is given even more license from the team’s rising sign of Scorpio, the ruling sign of Pluto.

On the day the Eagles fans booed Santa Claus, the Eagles’ Pluto of 22 Cancer was experiencing multiple transits. The Sun at 23 Sagittarius approached it from a quincunx.  The Eagles’ Pluto was also sandwiched between an opposition of Saturn at 19 Aries and Mars at 21 Libra. Saturn brought the frustration of the 1968 season then Mars added the extra aggression.

Another notable aspect for the day was a triple conjunction of Uranus and Jupiter at 4 Libra and the South Node at 5 Libra. All three were conjunct the Eagles natal Mars of 1 degree Libra.  Santa Claus is an embodiment of the planet Jupiter. Crammed between libertine Uranus, disrespectful Mars, and the malefic South Node, Santa was going to have a bad day.