Sports bars play home game

As Eagles fans across the Delaware Valley sink into their easy chairs for today's 1 o'clock kickoff against the Carolina Panthers - remotes in one hand, salsa-dipped chips in the other - they may be comforted to know they are not alone in their passion for their beloved Birds.

Turn down the volume on those big screen TVs today and you're liable to hear thousands of Eagles fans in Florida singing "Fly Eagles Fly!"

Step outside the house, cup your ear and you might hear a few hundred chest-beating fans in San Diego giving a throaty "E-A-G-L-E-S" chant.

Eagles games have not just become an out-of-body experience for fans from South Philadelphia to South Jersey. They also have become Sunday rituals for fans in Panama City Beach, Fla., Lewisville, Texas, Freeman, S.D., Tigard, Ore., and San Diego, Calif. Even in London, England.

We know, because we found them. From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for fans of Donovan and Terrell. Or at least it seems that way. On a mission

Kim Guodace is on a mission. An electrical engineer at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, she wants the world to know where her allegiance lies.

"Ever since I was 8 years old I've wanted to be an astronaut," said Guodace, a 31-year-old native of Levittown, Pa., now working on her doctorate in space science at the Florida Institute of Technology. "My application (to man the space shuttle) is in, and I'm hoping that someday I do get picked. If I do, damn straight I'm wearing an Eagles jersey in space."

Guodace grew up an Eagles fan, watching games with her mother, Edith, a native Philadelphian, every Sunday afternoon. She moved to Florida at the age of 17 to attend FIT, where she earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and master's degrees in space management and space systems.

Guodace was never enamored with the idea of watching Eagles games at sports bars, but she found a place near Melbourne called The Purple Porpoise, where Eagles games are shown on two big-screen TVs.

"There are tons of Eagles fans," she said. "I just wanted to be around people who love the Eagles." Lone Star fan

Imagine being the lone sheep in a den of wolves. As an avid Eagles fan deep in the heart of Texas, Mimi Spreen knows the feeling.

A 42-year-old native of Cherry Hill now living in Lewisville, Texas, Spreen resides 20 miles northwest of Dallas, where anyone who is not a Cowboys fan is considered an enemy.

"Cowboys fans absolutely hate me," said Spreen, a 1980 graduate of Cherry Hill High School West who moved to Texas in 1986.

The hard feelings run even deeper when Spreen watches games with her family. She remembers watching the 2000 season opener in Dallas, when the Eagles whipped the Cowboys 41-14, in the home of her husband's uncle.

"They are all die-hard Cowboys fans," she said. "When we killed the Cowboys in that game - it was the pickle juice game - my uncle couldn't even look at me."

Spreen, who works as a pastry chef at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, said it's difficult to find anyone to join her for an Eagles-Cowboys game at Texas Stadium. She says the atmosphere is far different than what she experienced at Veterans Stadium, where she attended about 25 games with her father, Don, who is 83.

"I'll wear all of my Eagles clothes to the games here," she said. "My jersey, my cap, my earrings, even my panties. Everyone's afraid to go with me. They're afraid they'll get beat up or end up in jail." Philly South

When Mike Kline, 45, and Chris Kaelin, 36, left the Philadelphia region for the warmer climate of Florida - Kline in 1980 and Kaelin in 1999 - they couldn't bear the thought of detaching themselves from the team they love.

So they created the next best thing to a South Philly tailgate party. They formed Philly fan clubs.

"It started getting lonely down here," said Kaelin, a native of Bristol, Pa., who moved to Panama City Beach when his wife's parents retired in northern Florida.

Kaelin's Web site, floridadelphian.com, encourages Floridians to watch games at the Calypso Beach Cafe in Panama City Beach, about 90 miles south of Alabama, where they fry up Philly cheesesteaks and serve Yuengling on tap.

Kline has put together a similar contingent of Bird watchers in North Tampa, where 275 fans gathered at Bilmar Station for the Eagles' Oct. 3 win over Chicago.

"Sundays are an absolute blast," Kline said. "It's like walking into the 700 level."

There are pockets of Eagles fans throughout the state of Florida, including one that gathers at Gator Lanes in North Fort Myers every Sunday.

Kline is trying to gather members of six or seven Eagles' fans clubs in Florida for the inaugural "Wingapalooza" on Nov. 20-21 in Panama City Beach.

Kline is advertising his weekend as "Wings Gone Wild" and has set aside discounted rooms at the Edgewater Beach Resort, where shuttles will take fans to Florida's own version of the Wing Bowl. London calling

Bob Ramsey lives in London, but has been following the Eagles since attending his first NFL game on Thanksgiving Day 1968, at Franklin Field.

Ramsey joined the Air Force at the age of 17 and listened for Eagles game updates on Armed Forces radio as he moved from one state to another.

Since 1994, Ramsey has lived in London with his family. To quench his thirst for the Eagles, he recently purchased the NFL's Field Pass, "so I can listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick."

Ramsey, who decorated his downstairs bathroom in midnight green, has high hopes for this year's team.

"My wife has promised me that if the Eagles win that trophy, I'll be able to fly to Philly and watch the parade," Ramsey said. Unlikely outpost

Jason Gross was not born near Philadelphia. He hasn't even visited the place.

A 35-year-old native of Freeman, S.D., he fell in love with the Birds back in 1978 when placekicker Mike Michel missed what would have been a game-winning field goal in the NFC wild-card game.

"I remember the TV replays and he was on the field very dejected," Gross said. "After that, I just had the mentality, `Let's see how they do next year.' "

Living in the heart of Minnesota Vikings country, he said his emotional ties to the Eagles have remained strong.

"Around here, all anybody hears is Viking this, Vikings that," said Gross, who is the only Eagles fan he knows. "Do you have any idea how irritating that is?"

Gross said he took great pleasure in watching the Eagles beat Minnesota this season.

"I never followed the masses and I've never jumped on bandwagons," he said. "The Eagles can finally say they are built to win it all." Philly West

Continue west and you'll find yet another pocket of Eagles supporters at J.B. O'Brien's Irish Pub in Tigard, Ore.

Steve Watkins, 59, moved from North Philadelphia, where he graduated from Olney High School in 1963, to Beaverton, Ore., in 1980. As a lonely Eagles fan he decided to start his own fan club and Web site, eaglesnestpdx.com.

At around noon today - which is 9 a.m. in Oregon - Watkins and 40 of his closest friends will flood J.B. O'Brien's to root for their team.

"The place is full by 10 a.m.," said Watkins, who works as a corporate credit manager. "We're not 700 level fans, but we scream and holler and boo at the TV."

The atmosphere is much the same in Southern California. Doug Burke, the 29-year-old manager of Plum Crazy in San Diego, said his bar gets so many Eagles fans on Sunday mornings, the locals aren't sure what to make of the place.

"Once in a while you'll catch a stray person pop his head in, see 300 Eagles fans, and keep walking," Burke said of the bar that sits four blocks from the Pacific Ocean.

Dale Sharman, 32, is one of those Eagles crazies. A native of Bethlehem, Pa., he moved to San Diego in 1996 and now finds himself in a key role.

"Some guy used to jump up on the bar and do the `E-A-G-L-E-S' chant after every touchdown, but he moved," Sharman said. "So, I took over."

Sharman said people now stop him on the street and say they recognize him as the guy who contorts his body into letters of the alphabet.

"You have to admit we are unique fans," Sharman said. "We might not see things as clearly as most people. But no one can question our passion for our sports teams, especially the Eagles."