Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Gonzalez profiles Phillies fan puker Matthew Clemmens in a column this morning. The point of Gonzalez's piece is to prove that the nation is wrong to think last week's incident, in which Clemmens allegedly made himself vomit on a little girl as a form of retaliation, is simply another example of unruly Philly fan behavior. You see, Clemmens, 21, is actually from New Jersey, causing Gonzalez to write that the city of Brotherly Love is taking an unfair lashing in the media.

 

By now, you know all about 21-year-old Matthew Clemmens, the unruly knothead who disgraced himself at Citizens Bank Park the other night. You know Clemmens reportedly had words with Michael Vangelo, an off-duty Easton police captain who attended the game with his two young daughters. You know Clemmens and a friend were seated behind the Vangelos and were accused of cursing throughout the game and spitting on the family. You know Vangelo notified the CBP ushers, who quickly escorted Clemmens' boorish buddy from the stadium.

...As a quick aside, Clemmens isn't from Philadelphia or even Pennsylvania - he's from Cherry Hill. Apparently, we're now not only responsible for the isolated bad behavior of residents but we're also accountable for the actions of those who come in from other states. If someone flies in from Denver or Detroit and gets rowdy in South Philly, are we liable for that, too? What's the line of demarcation - the Rockies? The Pacific? East Asia? Or isn't there one?

The vast majority of Philadelphians attend games here and leave without trouble or run-ins with law enforcement. And yet the perception persists that we're all thick-headed thugs who carry tube socks packed with loose change for our regularly scheduled rumbles.

To that, I say bullshit. Clemmens is still a Phillies fan, and, while it is true that most fans of the team would never condone such behavior, you could make the same case for any all fan bases that are criticized for the actions of a few. Still, Gonzalez's article is worth a full read, because of the new information it reveals about Clemmens.

And for more on Clemmens, here is the fattie signing some Madonna in an old YouTube video. The video, of course, was released before anybody could have known about his future Internet fame.