The 2011 season was filled with stories of Eagles players and fans battling with one another on Twitter. Lost in the bad tweets, was the twitter story in which players and fans got along, and ultimately shared drinks together. The one thing that brought players and fans involved with Twitter together was the account @HowardMuddFacts.The account is the Philadelphia Eagles’ version of Chuck Norris facts with Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd taking the place of Chuck Norris.
“Reasons Howard Mudd went to the Senior Bowl: 1. College girls. 2. College moms. 3. Shanahan’s wife. 4. He’s seen the leprechaun,” @HowardMuddFacts tweeted on January 24th.
The account was started by two former college buddies from Shippensburg University, who would like to keep their identity a mystery, so much so that Eagles Pro-Bowl defensive end Jason Babin placed a finder’s fee for the first person to identify @HowardMuddFacts’ creators.
“When Jason Babin imposed a “Finder’s Fee” on our identities, we had a lot of people guessing who we were; they ranged from Mike Mamula to Reno Mahe to Hurricane Schwartz.” @HowardMuddFacts said. “We ended up asking for them to cover a bar tab for us and friends and we’ll reveal ourselves.
Both Jason Babin, and Evan Mathis confirmed the story, luckily for the creators of the Mudd facts account Babin’s finder’s fee was converted into free drinks which was paid out at the 879 Lounge in Olde City Philadelphia, January 1st after the Eagles last game of the 2011 season.
“The night itself was awesome, all the players that were there were great, very nice easy-going people, and extremely generous. [Evan]Mathis introduced us to a bunch of his teammates simply as Howard Mudd Facts, which got some pretty hilarious reactions,” @HowardMuddFacts said.
So how does one, start a Twitter account that becomes so popular it results in invites to player parties?
For the first couple weeks, we didn’t really have a following, maybe 15 followers, but we eventually were followed by Jason Kelce who gave us a simple reply of “not true” to the idea of Howard Mudd rooting for Iceland in D2: The Mighty Ducks,” @HowardMuddFacts explained. “Those two little words really opened up the flood gates.”
Once Eagles starting center Jason Kelce came across the account other players began to follow the account. The account was mentioned and re-tweeted by Brent Celek, Jamal Jackson, Jason Babin, Evan Mathis, and Lesean McCoy. The Mudd Facts creators have received nothing but positive feedback from the players who appear to really appreciate the account.
“It requires real effort to consistently run a parody account so hats off to those guys for their commitment to comedy,” Eagles guard Evan Mathis said. “Howard Mudd is already a hilarious individual so adding the fictitious humor works.”
The Mudd facts creators wanted to give a comedic voice to a coach they saw as a throwback. The Eagles coaching staff has been filled with boring personalities the last 13 seasons and they saw Howard Mudd as a breath of fresh air.
“Coaches in Philadelphia are a weird phenomenon, Andy Reid plays it really close to the vest, Charlie Manuel barely speaks English, and the Flyers and Sixers never seem to really keep the same coach for longer than about three weeks,” @HowardMuddFacts said.” Things have never really been the same since John Chaney retired and stopped publicly threatening to kill his peers, out of nowhere the Eagles suddenly had this old bearded man on crutches on their sideline that does chest bumps and chews gum with a terrifying ferocity, yet, he never said a word. We, and we get the sense a lot of other fans, were instantly fascinated.
The Mudd Facts account certainly generated a fascination with fans, but did it generate a fascination from the soon to be 70 year old Mudd?
“We’ve never talked to him, but have heard that he has heard about the account, and his wife is afraid it’ll go to his head, considering some of the vile, chauvinistic things we’ve said, it’s truly amazing if that is her biggest concern. God bless you Shirley Mudd,” the Mudd facts creators responded.
The most impressive thing in this story is the Mudd Facts duo would like to remain anonymous; in today’s Philadelphia sports scene where so many fans attempt to make themselves into a celebrity or profit off of fandom it is refreshing Mudd Facts can create a following interact with players and are content with it. However, they might credit their anonymity to other reasons.
“We both actually have corporate jobs with standards and practices that most likely frown upon offensive, politically incorrect tweeting while impersonating a senior citizen.”
If Eagles fans take away anything from this story, it should be this: Fans that show a dislike for Eagles coaches get their sign torn down, fans that adore a coach get a free night out in Olde City. So with that knowledge, who’s going to start the twitter account @JuanMoreYear? Your move Eagles fans, drinks are on Jason Babin.
This is awesome!