Deniz Selman’s family moved to Philadelphia from Turkey when he was four. His parents were basketball fans and quickly became attached to the Sixers, who won the NBA title that season, but the Eagles were an afterthought. The sport was unfamiliar.
Selman first attended an Eagles game when they hosted the Miami Dolphins in December 1987. His family had seats in the first row of Veterans Stadium from which it was basically impossible to see the game, so they ended up getting glimpses of the game while wandering the stadium. The Eagles lost, 28-10, as Dan Marino threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns. Despite that, Selman quickly got hooked on the Birds.
Around ninth grade, Selman decided he didn’t want to miss another game. He’d moved by then, but would visit his dad on weekends in Philly to watch games. In college, at the University of Virginia, he’d hit a sports bar on Sundays. In 1998, one of the worst Eagles seasons in history, Selman drove from Charlottesville to Philadelphia for four home games.
“So the team was 3-13, and I went to all three wins,” Selman told Defector. “I was so proud of that ... it got me addicted to this idea that I have to be at Eagles games. I can’t just watch them on TV. It's so cool to be at the stadium. It was this miserable, terrible team that was going nowhere, but I was still a big fan.”
After graduation, Selman finagled a job in Philly and got season tickets in Section 707 of The Vet, back when fans could just call up the Eagles and get them. He’s had them since. Over the years, Selman has refined the gear that he brings with him to every game; he estimates it takes him about five extra minutes to get into the stadium as a result. Defector talked to Selman, a contributor to the PHLY Eagles podcast, about his everygame carry.
Name: Deniz Selman
Profession: Senior Lecturer of Business Economics and Public Policy at The Wharton School
Primary Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Primary Stadium: Lincoln Financial Field
Attends: Every game in Section 204
Pregame Ritual: Walks down to the first row of the stadium to watch warm-ups
Notable Sicko Moment: Having his wife call him and put the phone next to the radio so he could listen to the Eagles’ radio call at Super Bowl 57
Team Depth Charts, Customized Stat Sheets and Pens in Three Different Colors
Selman watches football with the level of detail you'd expect from a professor who teaches a course on game theory. He has always brought a stack of papers to games. Currently, he brings depth charts for both teams and “one little stat sheet that I made myself that’s a quick guide to things, certain numbers, and then a typed-out kind of scouting report of the other team’s offense and defense, which I typed out myself during the week.” He folds it into fourths and keeps it in his pocket. During the game, he’ll take notes on those papers with different-colored pens.
“I’m not trying to note what happened on each play or anything like that, but I don’t want to be thinking, ‘Was that the third drive or the fourth drive,’ you know what I mean?” Selman said. “And it helps me a little bit in terms of just a fidget thing as well.”
Sangean PR-D18RD AM/FM/Portable Digital Radio with Protective Bumper
Selman likes to listen to the Eagles broadcasters at the stadium. He uses this particular radio because it was recommended for picking up signals that may usually be hard to get. WDEL broadcasts on both AM and FM, and the AM signal is live along with the game. At the Linc, the Wilmington station’s signal is right on the border of “local” and “distant” according to Radio-Locator, but this radio is good enough that it does the trick. I picked one up myself in hopes of getting the Phillies broadcast at the end of the Wildwood beach this past summer. The radio has a speaker; Selman plugs in wired earbuds with an extender cord so he can put the radio down below. It does have a protective bumper.
“Back in the ’90s, I was not the only person in my section listening to the game,” said Selman, recalling the bright yellow Sony Sports headphone radio as the most popular ear accessory in those days. “Over the years, I slowly have become the weird old guy who still listens to the radio. Everyone’s on their phone. I feel like there’s a bigger disconnect between the actual game and the crowd than there used to be. And I always thought that the radio was one of the things that kept me focused on the field, focused on what's happening in the game.”
Some events make it easy to listen to a broadcast. For the past 24 years, the U.S. Open has offered obnoxious-looking radios—available only to American Express cardholders now, hilariously—so fans can listen to announcers call matches.
Nikon Aculon T02
From his seats in the upper level, Selman pretty much has an all-22 view of the game. He sometimes starts a play looking through the binoculars at a player he thinks will be crucial that down, then simply pulls them away at some point during action.
“You can actually watch the run plays just through these binoculars,” Selman said. “If you know it’s going to be a quarterback sneak, there’s no reason not to just watch with the binoculars. Even on other plays, I now watch with binoculars, and as soon as it’s a drop-back, I’ll pull away. The binoculars are also great for the gossipy-type things like: Who’s on the sidelines?”
The Big Question: But Why?
“All of this is just a way for me to feel like I know what's going on,” Selman said. “I don’t need to trust anyone else’s opinion about what happened or why something went well, or didn’t go well, during a play. I’m just kind of all over it myself. Unless you’re asking more globally: Why do you care this much about the Eagles instead of things that matter more in the world?”
As I told Selman, I understood that part perfectly well.
Are you a superfan who brings a troubling amount of gear to live sporting events? Email Dan at dhm@defector.com.
