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Angry Eagles fan from Delco was the star of the Birds’ win over the Saints

“My mom’s like, ‘I’m mad at you because you cursed.’ I’m like, ‘Mom, I didn’t know I was on TV.’ ”

Mary Kate Mink takes a selfie with Eagles superfan Jamie Pagliei during the win over the Saints at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
Mary Kate Mink takes a selfie with Eagles superfan Jamie Pagliei during the win over the Saints at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.Read moreCourtsey of Mary Kate

Forget Mare of Easttown. Now we have Mare of Havertown.

On Sunday, during the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 40-29 win over the New Orleans Saints, Fox’s cameras cut to a foulmouthed Birds fan who wasn’t too happy with the referees after they called a penalty.

“I think she disagreed with the call,” Fox announcer Mark Schlereth said dryly during the broadcast.

The moment, which came during the Eagles’ first home win of the season, immediately went viral, drawing comparisons to another angry Birds fan, who turned out to be Eric Furda, then-dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mary Kate Mink doesn’t work for Penn, but she is a Delco native and graduate of Archbishop Prendergast High School who bleeds green every Sunday. A season-ticket holder and a breast cancer survivor, Mink told The Inquirer it didn’t take long to find out her obscene outburst had been captured by a TV camera and broadcast on Fox.

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“All of the sudden my phone was vibrating, and my husband goes, ‘I have 85 text messages,’” Mink said. “Everyone was like, ‘MK, you’re trending on Twitter’ and this and that.”

“My mom’s like, ‘I’m mad at you because you cursed.’ I’m like, ‘Mom, I didn’t know I was on TV,’” Mink said.

Mink’s throat was still hoarse Sunday night as she discussed the moment that drew her ire. In the fourth quarter, with a little over 10 minutes to play, Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave was called for roughing the passer for his hit on the Saints’ Trevor Siemian. While Hargrave didn’t lead with his helmet, it slid up during the hit and made contact with Siemian’s facemask, resulting in the penalty.

“I was just saying it was a bad call, and it was a bad call,” Mink said.

“I was just being a Philly fan.”

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WIP host Rob Ellis dubbed Mink “Mare of Havertown” after she called into the station’s Eagles postgame show Sunday afternoon. It turns out Kate and Ellis went to high school together — the sports talker is a graduate of Monsignor Bonner High School, and the two Upper Darby schools have since merged.

“I went to high school with Mary Kate. I know Mary Kate. She’s a Havertown girl,” Ellis said.

Mink, who works during the summer as a spin instructor at Avalon Fitness at the Jersey Shore, said she’s been an Eagles fan her entire life, and has whiplash from this season’s ups and downs. She traveled to Atlanta for the Birds’ season-opening win against the Falcons, and was in Dallas a couple of weeks later when the Eagles were blown out by the Cowboys.

There were some angry moments for her during those games, too, but none made it on TV. Mink said she’s not sure what to make of her sudden internet celebrity — one of her sons said Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy was trying to reach her. For now, she’s still savoring the Eagles’ win, couldn’t be happier about the development of young quarterback Jalen Hurts (”I’m Hurts. I’m Hurts all the way,” she said), and hopes the team’s newfound momentum leads to victory next week against the Giants.

“It was just a good day, being at the game with my boys and my husband,” Mink said. “You don’t get many good days. You hear a lot of bad news lately, and this was a good day.”

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