One super feeling

One super feeling While all Eagles fans are celebrating the team’s upcoming trip to Jacksonville, South Philly goes a little further in displaying its enthusiasm. By Lorraine Gennaro If the Eagles don’t win the Super Bowl, they won’t be able to blame South Philly.

The neighborhood that is home to Lincoln Financial Field also houses the loudest, most loyal and passionate Birds fans in the universe.

After the team won the NFC championship game on Sunday, much of South Philly spilled onto frigid, snow-covered South Broad Street to celebrate. (It’s a tradition after every championship win, but since those don’t come around too often, you might have forgotten.)

Long after every other bar and house gathering emptied out, this area of the city was still partying (in fact, if you are still missing a loved one, you might want to check your local tavern).

Now, in the days leading up to the Eagles’ date with the New England Patriots in Jacksonville, you would have to go to Ireland to find any more green in a geographical area.

Some fans took a break from their Eagles worship — and their Super Bowl prayers — to share their enthusiasm.

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Driving on the 3200 block of South 20th Street, you can’t miss the house with the giant Eagles banner pinned proudly above the garage door.

Marie and Mike DiStefano, along with their daughters Lisa, 19, a La Salle University nursing major, and Kristina, 16, a Neumann-Goretti sophomore, have been Birds fans for years.

The family purchased the outdoor banner after last year’s playoff games — and then took it down after that third straight NFC championship loss, Marie said.

Now that the Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl, the banner is back.

"I think all the fans made the players feel more confident," Lisa said of Sunday’s win against the Atlanta Falcons.

Every Monday night, Marie and her girls are regulars at Chickie’s & Pete’s for WIP’s Angelo Cataldi Show at which Eagles players make appearances during the live broadcast.

"For a girl, I’m pretty into it," Lisa said with a shy smile.

Marie showed off one of her most cherished Eagles keepsakes — an autographed football she keeps in a glass case. So far she’s snagged the John Hancock of Eagles players Lito Shepherd, L.J. Smith, Michael Lewis and Sheldon Brown.

The family’s Eagles spirit even has spread to Lisa’s boyfriend Anthony Vetri, 18, from Southwest Philly.

The teen doesn’t consider himself a "huge" Eagles fan, but now that the team is in the Super Bowl, he’s more pumped, he said.

So pumped that he and his brother Mike are planning to tailgate in Jacksonville for Super Bowl weekend. The siblings don’t have tickets, but can’t resist the urge to head south anyway.

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Born and raised in South Philly on the 2600 block of South Bouvier Street, Matt Velykis is naturally an Eagles fan. And so is his wife, Silvia Puglia-Velykis, also a native South Philadelphian.

The window of their home on the 1700 block of West Moyamensing Avenue is a shrine to the team. Eagles bobbleheads and a green-helmeted teddy bear jazz up a traditional display of posters and banners.

"I’m glad they finally won," Matt said of the Eagles’ victory in Sunday’s NFC contest. "I was apprehensive until the end of the fourth quarter."

His cautious optimism is carrying him over to the Super Bowl.

"I’m excited but apprehensive," he said.

His wife, on the other hand, is a lot more confident in her team.

"I say we have as much chance as anyone else to win this game!" Silvia enthused. "Philadelphia deserves a win!"

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As a member of Mummers comic club Froggy Carr, Charles Callan is used to revelry.

And reveling he is, now that the Eagles are the NFC champions.

A 28-year resident of the 1300 block of South Second Street — better known in Mummers-speak as Two Street — Callan plans to watch the Super Bowl at the Froggy Carr Club headquarters down the block.

"I hope they go all the way. I think we have a good shot," he said.

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Robert Banning and fellow teamster Chris Horn settle into a booth at Penrose Diner, 20th Street and Penrose Avenue, and eye the menu.

Both men are hungry after a hard day’s work.

Banning thinks the Eagles are hungry — and that their appetite will make them Super Bowl champions come Feb. 6.

"I think we’re going to win," said Banning, from the 1800 block of West Moyamensing Avenue. "We’re hungry enough for it. We’re due."

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Kurt Kelly and friend Joe Hurchick drove down from Bucks County on Monday to make a pilgrimage to Lincoln Financial Field — an expression of their faith in their finally victorious team.

But first, they stopped for nourishment at the Oregon Diner, 302 Oregon Ave.

Originally from Philadelphia, Hurchick now lives and works in Manhattan. Born in Upper Darby and now living in Yardley, Kelly works as a part-time filmmaker and bartender in the Big Apple.

The men and about 20 of their friends — also Philadelphians-turned-New Yorkers — gathered at Dive Bar in New York City to watch Sunday’s game.

Dive Bar is one of several Manhattan watering holes where fans of the green and white gather on Sundays to cheer for their team, Kelly said.

Though he was nervous while watching Sunday’s game, something told Kelly his Birds would down the Falcons.

"When we scored that last touchdown, we all started jumping up and down and screaming, ‘We’re going to Jacksonville!’"

The New York friends are coming to Philly for Super Bowl weekend so they can watch the Eagles in their hometown at a Center City hotel.

"I feel we have a really good chance," Kelly said. "But it’s going to be the toughest game we’ve played all year. Go Eagles!"

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When some in this town turned their backs on the Eagles, Keith McCall never lost faith.

The North Philly native has been a fan since the Ron Jaworski days back in the 1980s.

"I’ve been on the bandwagon the whole time," he said.

In his opinion, everything just "flowed" for the Eagles on Sunday. Sure, we missed T.O., but the Birds’ offensive and defensive lines were in sync the whole game and Donovan McNabb was right on the money.

"With the team we have and the way we’ve been playing all year, they had the chemistry going," McCall said.

He attributes the Eagles’ winning rhythms this year to three key factors: health, good coaching and new players.

"With a healthy Eagles team and the way they’ve been coached, we have a really good shot at the Super Bowl," McCall said.

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Still flying high over the home team’s victory the day before, Southwest resident Eric Mason spreads his arms and makes like an eagle outside the Oregon Diner on Monday.

Mason, who works at a concession stand at the Linc, has been an Eagles fan since he was a kid. But he called out sick Sunday because he wanted to see the game, not work it, he said.

Like most Eagles fans who watched their team get to the playoffs three years running, Mason was anxious going into yet another NFC championship game.

"I was still nervous until the last touchdown with Chad Lewis. Then I started crying. I cried like a baby," he said.

Mason watched the game at Gorman’s Tavern in Southwest Philly along with about 30 other regulars.

He predicts the Birds will go on to win the Super Bowl, but it’s going to be a close one — "24-20," he said.

And if — er, make that when — his Eagles win, Mason will be "going nuts."

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Managing editor Sheri Brenner contributed to this report.