Behind the mask: Sitting down with ‘The Philly Sports Guy’

The Philadelphia sports fanbase often gets a bad rap.

Just minutes into any nationally-broadcast sporting event, there’s a decent chance that someone in the broadcast booth will spit out the tired “Philly fans threw snowballs at Santa” trope and use the opportunity to badmouth fans.

In fact, just recently, a New York radio host went even further, calling Phillies fans at this past Sunday’s Game 2 NLDS win over the New York Mets, “disgusting, and such awful human beings.”

It’s all nonsense.

Phillies fans helped turn things around for a slumping Trea Turner.

As a group, they help donate to a wide variety of causes by supporting Phillies Charites annually.

Last year, when tickets were still available to games in Arizona for the National League Championship Series — a series that ended the Phillies’ season with a loss — Phillies fans bought up cheap seats to games and donated them to charity groups.

Then, you have fans like “The Philly Sports Guy” — or as his friends call him — Jamie Pagliei.

“I’m a sports fan just like everybody else is. I just wear better makeup,” he recently told NBC10’s Siobhan McGirl.

A lifelong fan, Pagliei said he’s turned his passion for sports into a full-time gig and, along the way, he’s been working to support charity — like Mascots for a Cure — too.

“It’s a part of me,” he said.

He said that, for the past six years, he’s been a full-time, face-painting phenomenon, attending as many games as he can, for as many Philadelphia teams as he can, as a way to spread positivity and support the city’s sports teams.

“Everybody really gets behind it. I love hearing that they saw me on television and they felt a certain way about it,” he said. “And, to keep doing you and that ‘this is amazing that you’re doing this for Philadelphia’.”

Other than attending games, Paglieli says he does public appearances and talks to schools about being a positive role-model and preventing violence and bullying.

And, when the face paint comes off, Paglieli said, he’s just a devoted family man who loves his kids and is lucky he gets to turn his passion into his career.