TO QUOTE Terrell Owens, I wasn’t the one who got tired during the Super Bowl last season.

Some beer-drinking Eagles fans – you know who you are – just didn’t have the stamina to make it through the big game. Sure, you worked hard all season, pounding beers and racking up the keggage. Talent alone got you into the playoffs.

But then came the final moments of the big game, and you had your hands on your knees, gagging in front of the TV.

Sad.

This year it’s gonna be different. This year, you’re going to report to training camp and get your beer gut into shape.

Work on those tapping skills. Improve your hand-mouth coordination. Run wind sprints to the bathroom.

Where to get started?

Climb into your car, bring along a designated driver and head up the Northeast Extension to Bethlehem, Pa., home of the Philadelphia Eagles training camp.

It’s an early opportunity to get up to speed with your favorite team . . . and get in shape for the demanding NFL beer-drinking schedule.

Heads up, though: Lehigh University bans alcohol on campus. (I might note, though, with questionable success: The school is the alleged birthplace of Beer Pong, the drinking game. ) In any case, forget about heavy-duty tailgating and head off campus for your favorite adult beverage. Here’s a clip-and-save guide to the local beer scene:

Bethlehem Brew Works (569 Main St., Bethlehem) is the area’s only brewpub. Its standby Fegley’s ESB is a decent thirst-quencher. Its Blastberry Wheat is a hefeweizen made with blueberries, cherries and raspberries. Downstairs, the Steelgaarden offers more than 100 Belgians after 4 p.m. Info: 610-882-1300.

The Tally Ho (205 W. 4th St., Bethlehem) is the classic campus haunt. Info: 610-865-2591. The Beef Baron (2366 Catasauqua Road, Bethlehem) serves great bar food with a decent beer selection. Info: 610-868- 8995. Our Beer Bellys (21 E. Elizabeth Ave.) is a sports bar with a zillion taps serving the usual industrial dreck. Info: 610-861-8120.

Weyerbacher (905-G Line St., Easton) is the next town over. Unfortunately, the brewery doesn’t have a bar. But you sneak over between the Eagles’ morning and afternoon training sessions for tours, between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Even if you can’t make it to the brewery, look for its bottles and drafts throughout the region.

And don’t forget to return home with souvenirs.

Shangy’s: The Beer Authority (601 E. State Ave., Emmaus) is arguably America’s biggest beer distributor, with more than 2,000 different labels. Info: 610-967-1701.

Tanczo’s Beverages (2330-40 Jacksonville Road, Bethlehem) is closer to the camp and carries a nice selection, too. Info: 610-866-8039.

Don’t want a whole case? Stop by the Sixpack Shop (1635 Broadway, Bethlehem). Info: 610-865-0500.

Dud suds

Of course, much of this pre-season beer-drinking will be for naught if the Eagles don’t get their beer concession act together at the Linc.

For all the talk of providing a local taste (cheesesteaks, etc.), the stadium doesn’t carry a single Philadelphia beer in its vast public concession area. You have to sneak into the exclusive club boxes to grab even a bottle of Pottsville’s Yuengling.

Sure, there’s plenty of other beer – tasteless BudCoorsMiller, plus a few lame imports.

But is that the best the Eagles can do? Owner Jeffrey Lurie likes to say he’s putting the best product on the field; so how come he doesn’t do the same for the thousands of thirsty fans in the stands?

The lack of locally made brew isn’t just a matter of taste, though.

Need I remind the Eagles that local taxpayers helped pay for their little palace? Part of the deal was the stadium would somehow benefit the region’s economy. Well, what better way to support local businesses than by selling their products in your stadium?

This should be a no-brainer. Even a dunce could figure out how to sell beers named Victory and Yards at a football game.

The good news is that Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. just landed a five-year contract to handle concessions at the Linc. That’s the same concession service that is responsible for the outstanding craft beer selection across the street at the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park.

A company spokesman said it’s still finalizing the food and beverage selection at the stadium.

C’mon Jeffrey, you’ve built a winner on the field. Now give us something decent to toast the team with.

Beer radar

Flanigan’s Boathouse in Conshohocken (113 Fayette St.) is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a Bavarian-style hefeweizen made specially for it by Phoenixville’s Sly Fox Brewery. It’s available also at the Boathouse’s Malvern location (16 Great Valley Parkway), which is marking its 10th.

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant broke ground last week for its sixth location, in Phoenixville. Look for it to open on Bridge Street early next year.

General Lafayette Inn & Brewery (6461 Germantown Pike, Lafayette Hill) isn’t waiting for cold weather to begin pouring its so-called mega-porter. Double Thunder, shaking the rafters at 9 percent alcohol, should be on tap by the time you read this.

Other new stuff on area shelves: Three Floyds Dreadnaught imperial IPA, Lost Coast 8-Ball Stout, Clipper City Peg Leg Imperial Stout and 25-ounce bottles of Victory Saison.

Calendar

Tomorrow: Tasting and tour at Heavyweight Brewing (1701 Valley Road, Ocean Township, N.J.). Grab a glass of this cutting-edge brewery’s spicy saison. Beer pours: 1-4 p.m. Info: 732-493-5009.

Aug. 12: Ice, Ice, Bocky Night at Grey Lodge Pub (6235 Frankford Ave., Mayfair). If you missed Sly Fox Brewery’s bock fest this spring, here’s a chance to sample six of its hefty lagers, including a pair of powerful ice bocks. Taps open: 6-10 p.m. Info: 215-624-2969.

Joe Sixpack, by Staff Writer Don Russell, was written this week with a glass of Troegs Dreamweaver Wheat. 

-30-

IF YOU’RE the kind of football fan who doesn’t care what kind of fizzy yellow beer is in your cup as long as there’s lots of it, you’re gonna love drinkin’ at the Lincoln.

Bud, Miller, Coors – the big three are everywhere, and they’re served in BIG cups. No more of the Vet’s questionably sized 18-ouncers; the standard Linc lager is a bladder-testing 24 ounces.

And it’s served in a sturdy plastic cup – no threat of soggy paper messes.

At $6 a draft, it’s also – believe it or not – one of the cheaper brews in the NFL.

With dozens more beer kiosks and concession stands than at the Vet, it’s hard to imagine anyone will have to wait in line for the stuff.

That’s the good news.

The bad: Continuing a trend in which the team has seemingly favored concession deals with out-of-towners, the Birds have all but turned their back on Philadelphia-area beer.

You can forget about finding locally made gems like Flying Fish or Manayunk. Even if the Eagles’ front office doesn’t know an ale from a water bucket, you’d think it would’ve occurred to one of those bozos that two of the area’s best beers – Yards and Victory – have names that were made for football.

Instead, the Linc’s idea of variety is sadly manifested by the fraudulently named Beers of the World kiosk. The lonely stand at the northeast corner of the stadium features such worldly classics as Coors Light and Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Seven-fifty will get you a 24-ounce can of Heineken or Amstel Light, which, considering the lack of water fountains, is a last-gasp thirst alternative. A frothy cup of Boddingtons Pub Ale at the same price is probably your better bet.

Meanwhile, the single biggest surprise at the stadium: no Yuengling.

Unless you’re lucky enough to put your fanny into one of those megabuck club seats, you can’t buy a cup of Pottsville’s finest at the Linc. Twelve-ounce bottles of Lager, at 6 bucks a pop, are available only in the members-only club concourse.

For me, the egregious absence of the city’s No. 1 draft is only worsened by the presence of Rolling Rock, made in (gasp!) Steelers country.

Look, it would be easy enough to say that the dearth of Philly beer is a sign that the Eagles are out of touch with their fans. But – given the litany of fan-unfriendly problems at the Linc (hoagies, water, handicap parking, seat selection, etc.) – that’s whipping a dead horse.

Instead, the beer selection is almost undoubtedly a function of million-dollar licensing deals.

Miller Brewing and Anheuser-Busch are both so-called founding partners at the stadium. Though the deals don’t give the two exclusive vending rights, they do give them the majority of the tap handles. Miller also got dibs on a party tent at the stadium entrance on Headhouse Plaza, and A-B got the mammoth bar at the northwest corner of the 100 Level.

Meanwhile, Coors is the new official beer sponsor of the NFL, so it’s getting a chunk of business, too.

Against that competition, the little guys can’t make the stadium draft.

Which is just plain wrong.

The Eagles soaked taxpayers for millions with promises that the Linc’s construction would benefit the region’s economy. And in the food concessions, the stadium actually does share the wealth with a few local vendors, like Termini Bros. and the Sang Kee restaurant. But with all due respect to the hundreds of local warehouse workers and truck drivers who deliver beer from St. Louis, I can’t think of a better way to help area business than by featuring the beer that is brewed right here in the Delaware Valley. Indeed, like the Eagles, many of these small local brewers have been the recipients of government loans and grants. Wouldn’t it be in the best interests of everyone if one huge, taxpayer-

financed entity (the stadium) helped out the others?

With scores of concession stands and big, heavy plastic cups, the Linc does a few things right. Given the improvement over the Vet, I doubt many fans will gripe.

Bottom line: More beer, less taste. And a waste of an opportunity.

 Extra pints

Anheuser-Busch is running one of its Freshness Days at the Linc on opening day.

All 24-ounce cans of Budweiser and Bud Light will be packaged on Monday morning with a Born-On Date of Sept. 8, 2003. A-B’s Williamsburg, Va., plant will send us a trailerful of 24 pallets in time for the Eagles’ 9 p.m. kickoff against Tampa Bay.

* A bartender in the club concourse told me there’s a chance micros will be available in the high-priced seating area later this season, “but don’t hold your breath.” If you don’t have club tix, you’ll have to find a way to sneak in. (Hint: Look for unlocked doors off the staircase in the southwest corner.)

If they catch you, here’s what you’re missing: Foster’s Lager on tap, Guinness Stout in cans and Stella Artois, Sam Adams, Dos Equis, Harp, Corona, MGD and Labatt in bottles. There’s also whiskey and cannolis, but that’s another column.

* Looking for an out-of-the-way place at the Linc for some quiet contemplation? Head for the stadium’s MADD booth on the east side of the 100 Level concourse – it has to be the loneliest place in South Philadelphia. On my visit, it was manned by two volunteers who seemed to be wondering what they’d done wrong to be sentenced to stadium duty.

When I asked why MADD has a booth at a stadium full of beer-drinkers, they shrugged and handed me a bumper sticker:

“Impairment begins with the first drink.”

In my case, the advice was about three beers too late.

* The Eagles boast that the Linc has more bathrooms than the Vet, but my inspection shows they aren’t very beer-friendly.

The tops of the urinals are pitched, making it impossible to rest your beer while unzipping. You can balance your brew on the plumbing, but – lack of balance being an inherent adjunct to inebriation – that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Let’s hear it for cup holders in the men’s rooms!

* I noted that Linc beer, at $6 for 24-ounce drafts, is one of the cheaper NFL beers. That works out to 25 cents an ounce.

Last year, according to Team Marketing Report, the average NFL beer was 28 cents an ounce.

The cheapest beer in the league: the Carolina Panthers, at $4.50 for a 24-ounce cup (19 cents an ounce). The steepest: the Meadowlands, at $6.25 for 16 ounces (39 cents an ounce). At that price, you could buy a bottle of Trappist-made Chimay Blue at the Six-Pack Store (7015 Roosevelt Blvd., Northeast).

 Joe Sixpack, by Staff Writer Don Russell, was written this week with a bottle of Lancaster Milk Stout.

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THE EAGLES, having thoroughly infuriated blue-collar fans with their ill-fated hoagie ban, are now taking on the bluebloods.
This time, the battlefield is VIP parking spaces, a commodity that in elite circles is every bit as valued as imported capicola.

Scores of fans who held treasured spots within a few steps of the Vet’s front gate have been told they’re on their own at the new Lincoln Financial Field.

The Eagles say they don’t have enough room for the old-timers. Only those who shelled out up to $300,000 for private suites are sure to get VIP parking spots, the Eagles said.

The result: ruffled feathers and a repeat of an increasingly common refrain that the Eagles don’t care about their oldest, most loyal fans.

Fans like Bobby Rydell, the pop singing legend and a Philadelphia icon.

Rydell said he’s held 14 seats for 35 years, since the the old Franklin Field days. He’s been with the Birds through thick and thin. He’s even sung the National Anthem before a game – “and never charged them a dime. ”

He coughed up the dough for seat licenses at the Linc, paid the full ticket price.

“All I want is one parking space, one stupid parking space,” Rydell said. “Nothing. ”

Councilman Frank Rizzo said he’s heard from plenty of other fans who have been told the same thing.

“I can’t do anything about it because it’s not a city-owned facility,” Rizzo said.

Louis Perry, a South Jersey mortgage broker, was one of those who contacted Rizzo for help. Perry’s late father, a former mayor of Somerdale, Camden County, got his VIP space from Rizzo’s dad, the ex-Philadelphia mayor.

“We’ve been parking there for 20 years,” Perry said, adding he paid about $150 for a spot just outside the stadium.

Now, he said, “I don’t even known if I’ll go this year, I’m so angry. ”

When he ordered his seats at the Linc, Perry said he was assured he’d get his spot at the new stadium. But when the tickets arrived in the mail, there was no parking pass.

It’s not just the VIPs who are miffed. Scores of fans who had previously purchased reserved parking at the Vet have been shut out. (The Eagles couldn’t provide exact numbers. )

Bob Andreacchio, of Medford, Burlington County, complained that he had paid the Eagles $18,000 for six seat licenses, but was denied reserved parking because he did not purchase more expensive club seats.

“To only allow reserved parking for club box owners is unfair,” said Andreacchio, who has held season tickets for seven years. “They built the stadium partially with my funds. The least they could say is I’m entitled to buy one parking spot. ”

Eagles spokesman Ron Howard said the problem is a lack of space.

The team, said Howard, controls only two parking lots, and those have fewer than 1,000 spots. Most of them will go to the suiteholders; a few of the more than 10,000 club seatholders also got VIP parking spots.

He said the team also leased spots west of 11th Street from the Wachovia Center. Those spots are reserved for club seatholders who purchased at least two tickets, and the news media.

“There are some fans who in the past, John Q. Season Ticketholder, who could buy VIP parking,” Howard said. “Well, we don’t have them available now, because they have been purchased by club seat holders. ”

As in Hoagiegate, the team expressed little sympathy for those who complain.

“I really don’t have an answer for you,” Howard said when asked what the team can offer longtime fans who are losing their spots. “We have new types of ticket packages that we didn’t have before, and with those ticket packages comes parking. ”

Rydell said, “I just don’t understand. It’s like the hoagie situation, it’s just kind of stupid . . .

“I can understand a certain amount [of spaces] for the people who bought the luxury boxes. I’m not looking for anything free – I’d pay.

“I’m just looking for one stupid parking space after being loyal for so many years. I’ve been all over the world. I talk to people about the Eagles wherever I go, being a faithful fan.

“I don’t understand it. ”

Said Perry: “It’s their attitude I don’t like.

“I doubt they’re making friends. They’ll make the money, but they’re making enemies, too.”

-30-

BRINGING A hoagie to an Eagles game should be every fan’s right, according to a Northeast Philadelphia legislator.

State Rep. Michael P. McGeehan, a Democrat from Holmesburg, is gathering co-sponsors for a state law to block the Birds’ BYO food ban at the new Lincoln Financial Field.

Dubbed “Joe Sixpack’s Own Food Rights Act,” it already has more than 30 co-sponsors in the Legislature, McGeehan said yesterday.

“It just got under my skin,” he said of the team’s well-publicized hoagie ban. “The arrogance of team owners . . . They’re up here rattling their tin cup, looking for public funding for the darn [stadium], and part of their presentation was they wanted to provide family-oriented entertainment.

“Then, at the first opportunity, they want to gouge the very people they said they were representing.”

The hoagie ban has prompted a widespread outcry from fans across the region. Already, more than 1,500 people have signed a Daily News petition asking the Eagles to rescind the ban.

The team, though, has held fast, saying its BYO food prohibition is a necessary post-9/11 security measure.

McGeehan isn’t buying that.

“I’m mindful of security,” he said. “We’re going to be inconvenienced in our daily lives now when we enter public buildings. That’s unfortunately modern life after 9/11.

“But I can walk onto an airplane with a hoagie, I can walk into the state Capitol with a hoagie.”

The team’s security concerns, he said, are “a red herring for them to shut down one more avenue for people to save money.”

An Eagles spokesman had no comment on the measure.

McGeehan’s bill would prevent taxpayer-financed stadiums and sports arenas from banning outside food.

The Eagles received $150 million from the state to build the new stadium in South Philadelphia.

“They’re using Joe Sixpack’s tax dollars to fund that stadium, and then they ‘re sticking their finger right in his eye,” McGeehan said.

“This is an assault on the tradition of football. This isn’t the opera, this is a professional sport. It’s part of the game.”

Though Gov. Rendell has said he agrees with the ban, McGeehan said: “I know he’s a die-hard Philadelphia sports fan. When push comes to shove, he’s siding with the fans . . .

“There’s not a representative in Harrisburg who will side with the owners over the fans,” he continued. “This is all about making rich guys richer at the expense of the public and their tax dollars.

“All they want is pat in the skyboxes. They want the diamond crowd. They don ‘t want people from Tacony and Wissinoming and Mayfair, painting their faces.

“All they want is a polite golf clap and a $6 beer.

“I think this is all about gouging the public and getting every last dime from them. Unless we do something, they’ll get away with it.”

-30-

Are the Eagles backing down from their infamous hoagie ban?
Don’t get your hopes up, but there’s been a subtle softening in the team’s hardline position.

The Eagles last week revealed they would prohibit fans from bringing their own food into the new Lincoln Financial Field, which opens next month.

The team, citing the 9/11 terror attack, says the ban is for security reasons. Critics, however, believe it’s intended to force fans to buy the stadium’s pricey concessions.

President Joe Banner defiantly said the team would “never” reverse the hoagie ban, and suggested fans who question the team’s motives are being unpatriotic.

But during a press tour of the facility yesterday, both Banner and owner Jeffrey Lurie hinted that the BYO ban is not written in granite.

Asked about restrictive policies that many fans believe will take the fun out of attending Eagles games (no signs, for example), Banner said, “All of these things are evolving. ”

Does that mean a compromise?

Lurie said: “If there are some solutions that make more sense, we’re all for them. ”

Here’s one idea the team may be chewing on: BYO food must be wrapped in clear plastic.

Other NFL stadiums have a similar requirement to allow security guards to quickly check if there’s a weapon stuffed inside that sandwich roll.

Stay tuned.

-30-

ONE THING about Philadelphia, we can spot B.S. a mile away.

When the Parking Authority calls itself “kinder and gentler,” we know . . . When the mayor says every street was plowed, we know . . . When developers say the Penn’s Landing project is on schedule, we know . . .

And when Eagles president Joe Banner stands in front of the cameras and proclaims that the team’s hoagie ban is not about money, we definitely know.

I imagine Banner figured the fans would roll over on the team’s infamous BYO food prohibition, this being post-9/11 and all. Sacrifice a sandwich in the name of security – the front office types thought we’d swallow that.

But it took about two seconds for the city to see through the baloney.

Terrorism? Nah, the only thing the ban will protect is the ability of the team to gouge a captive audience with overpriced concession food.

In the week since word of the ban was revealed, online fan sites, radio talk shows and the Daily News e-mail system has been buzzing with outrage. My desk is starting to look like one of the Stinkmeister’s back-alley dumps, thanks to the arrival of more than a thousand petitions calling for the Eagles to drop the ban.

(We’re still collecting signatures. Fill out the coupon in today’s paper, or send us one online, at www.philly.com. )

These aren’t just idle complaints from bored Philadelphians who didn’t make it down to the shore last week.

No, the furor stems more directly from the notion that fans flat out don’t believe the Eagles. They’re picking apart Banner’s alibi like they’re Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinny. ”

If the Eagles are so worried about terrorists smuggling weapons inside a hoagie wrapper, howcum they don’t ban other carry-in possessions, like binoculars?

They didn’t ban food at the Vet immediately after 9/11, why now?

And exactly how extensive are these security arrangements? Will the Birds run background checks on vendors? Will fans have to walk through metal detectors? Will delivery trucks be inspected for bombs?

The questions are endless, but the bottom line is fans aren’t buying it.

Which, at first glance, is surprising.

After all, Banner has built a pretty decent football team (by Philadelphia standards, at least). They’re moving into a beautiful, brand-new stadium.

We should be happy, right?

Mabye the Eagles assumed they’d earned their share of goodwill.

Instead, they’re getting trashed on the way into the Linc.

Civic do-gooders would say this is a another example of Philadelphia’s famous inferiority complex. Living in the shadow of New York, we’re constantly beating our selves; nothing is ever good enough.

Maybe. Personally, I’d be satisfied with a Super Bowl.

In the meantime, I’m wondering how the Eagles thought they’d get this one past us. When Banner said only a “minuscule” number of fans bring their own food to ballgames, was he simply out of touch with his own patrons, or arrogant enough to think it doesn’t matter?

Whatever, chalk this up as another one of those famous fibs:

The check’s in the mail . . . the dog ate my homework . . . the Eagles hoagie ban is for our own good.

-30-

Is the Eagles hoagie ban all about the lettuce? Or does the team have a legitimate concern about fan safety?

Noted junk-food gourmand and governor of the commonwealth, Ed Rendell, has come down on the side of the Eagles.

“The governor supports the ban,” said Kate Philips, Rendell’s press secretary. “He believes there is a real risk when people bring packages into a stadium . . .

“We’re moving into a new societal norm, where we have to deal with risks like someone potentially bringing in dangerous material into the stadium.

“This is good public policy, to protect the fans. There’s a legitimate security concern. This is not about price-gouging.

Maybe, but many fans aren’t buying it.

Here’s a sampling of opinion from the hundreds of letters, faxes and e-mails we’ve received, and other news sources:

“As a former state senator

who helped provide taxpayers dollars for both stadiums, I just couldn’t believe they would have the gall to not allow food. The fact is that $185 million was allocated for both stadiums. This was tax monies. When they sold the right to name the stadium, I did not see any of that money come back to the state.

I can understand security concerns, but surely the requirement of a clear plastic bag that can easily be viewed would alleviate this alleged problem. This just seems to be another instance of greed taking over just as it did when they raised the price of the tickets and refreshments. They have done virtually everything to be obstructionist to the people. If I were still a ticket holder I would be looking into a class action suit; certainly, I would not continue patronizing the games. ”

Frank “Hank” Salvatore former state senator

“If the tickets weren’t so expensive, maybe the people wouldn’t have to pack a lunch. I can’t imagine why they have to be that harsh, other than they want to sell their own hot dogs.”

– Councilman Frank Rizzo

“I think they should be more worried about someone pulling up on I-95 with a rocket-propelled grenade and launching it into the crowd . . . The proximity to I-95 is a real concern, not hoagies.”

– Eagles fan Bill Farnan, Marmora, N.J.

“I have never written my thoughts on Philly-related subjects before; I’m often tempted because although my family and I live in Florida, my wife and I and two sons were born and raised in Northeast Philly and were Eagles season ticket holders for years.

We read your paper online down here and yesterday’s announcement by the Eagles has a special impact on us. Every year between the Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays we come to Philly to visit family and friends and we’ve made it a habit to adjust our schedule to make sure we go to an Eagles home game. The gameday ritual has been to get up early, drive around the old neighborhood and, before meeting our friends to go to the game, we’d stop at our favorite Lee’s and pick up hoagies and cheesesteaks for 6 to 8 of us and some soft pretzels and head to the Vet. (I’m sure you know this but you just can’t find a “real” cheesesteak, hoagie or soft pretzel in South Florida)

We would wait till gameday to get our first Philly steak/hoagie fix. My kids and friends looked forward to the whole program.

Yesterday’s announcement did us in. We’ll still be coming north around the holidays, but the Eagles home game is off the schedule. It’s not necessarily that we can’t afford the higher food prices at the stadium, it’s more the distinct feeling that our lifetime home team has kicked us in the teeth and said ‘Screw you, your family and friends and your little ritual – we’re gonna gouge you anyway, and if you don’t like it, stay in Florida. ‘

That’s pretty much how our entire group feels. So a few hundred bucks or so that has gone to our Eagles each of the past roughly ten years will translate into at least one more Dolphins home game each year. Maybe if Lurie and company read more letters like this they’d have a change of heart – but knowing them, not likely.

Adios Birds!”

– Dick Haller, Palm Beach, Fla.

LEAVE OUR prov-alone!

Street-wise Birds fans, seething over the team’s hoagie ban, aren’t buying the security-risk excuse. For one thing, they wonder, if food is such a threat in the wake of 9/11, howcum it wasn’t banned at Veterans Stadium?

Good question.

Others, like reader Mark Wilgus, speculate that the Eagles are simply confused. “What they meant to ban,” he commented, “was torpedoes and subs – you know, real weapons of war. ”

Whether it’s confusion or greedy arrogance, the Eagles need to hear your opinion. So we’re urging you to sign a petition to Save Our Hoagies!

Hundreds of readers have already joined the fight; we’ll forward the petition to the front office of the Eagles.

Fill out the printed form and send it to us.

Or, click on our story on www.philly.com, and sign our online petition.

In the meantime, here are other fan ideas of how to Save Our Hoagies!

1. CONCESSIONS BOYCOTT. At the first Eagles home game against Tampa Bay on Sept. 8, don’t buy any food from the Linc’s concession stands.

2. HOAGIE DUMP. Everybody brings hoagies to the first game. After they’re confiscated at the gate, what will the team do with 70,000 pounds of rancid deli meat?

3. CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT. The Eagles collected money from seat license and ticket sales, now they’ve changed the rules. Is that a broken contract? Let a Philadelphia jury decide.

4. JUST WONDERING. If food is banned as a security risk, why not binoculars? Or shoes, for that matter?

5. IS THE LINC REALLY A TARGET? Hundreds of other public venues, from the Mann Music Center to NASCAR races, encourage patrons to bring along food. Are these other facilities ignorant about the potential threat of lunch-meat detonation?

6. BOYCOTT THE LINC. Is it too late to keep the Vet?

7. SPECIAL ENTRANCE. If long lines due to security checks are a problem, establish a separate gate just for those bringing in their own food.

8. REAL HOAGIES. Invite authentic Philadelphia hoagie-makers to set up shop at the Linc. Treat fans to something better than bland, overpriced, mass-produced “grinders” made by a Massachusetts catering company.

9. WHERE ARE OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS? They’re the ones who cut the deal to finance the stadium with $200 million in public funds. They should be standing up for the fans.

10. TAKE THE SUBWAY. Since the Eagles stand to pocket $100,000 a game in parking revenues, boycott the parking lots.

-30-

ON DAY TWO of Hoagiegate, the prosciutto hit the fan.

The Philadelphia Eagles angrily dug in their heels, saying they would “never” lift their ban on BYO food at the new Lincoln Financial Field.

Citywide, hoagie-makers, worried about lost sales, turned red as a cherry pepper.

And fans, accusing owner Jeffrey Lurie of price-gouging at the taxpayer-funded stadium, started talking about a boycott.

Meanwhile, the Daily News is starting a petition drive, formally asking the Eagles to drop the ban.

The furor centers on a team decision to prohibit fans from bringing outside food into the stadium, which opens next month. Team President Joe Banner contended the ban was a necessity brought about by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Yesterday, Banner said the team instituted the ban following recommendations from numerous security consultants, including the state Office of Homeland Security.

In a testy press conference at the Eagles’ South Philadelphia training facility, he accused critics of putting snack food ahead of fan safety.

“You’re putting the fans’ lives at danger,” Banner said.

Asked whether other sports facilities, including Veterans Stadium, are jeopardizing fan safety by permitting BYO food, he said, “That’s their decision . . . It would be foolish and irresponsible of us to ignore the experts.”

Was he worried about terrorists smuggling a bomb inside an Italian hoagie?

Banner wouldn’t say. Visibly annoyed, he stormed out of the briefing.

The team continued to insist the ban was not designed to increase sales at its concession stands. Indeed, before he stalked off, Banner repeated his contention that the number of fans who brought food to the Vet was “minuscule.”

Ten blocks away, at South Philly’s famous Primo Hoagies, the owner laughed at that remark.

“It’s absolutely going to affect me,” said Rich “Primo” Neigre. “Minuscule? In the Eagles’ playoff game against Atlanta last year, we made over 1,000 hoagies just for that game. At any home game, our business is quadrupled.”

The shop wraps its stadium-bound hoagies in clear plastic wrap, so security guards can make sure there’s no plastic explosive in the olive oil.

Other sliced-ham-and-provolone-crafters said they’ll take a hit if the ban is upheld.

At Slack’s Hoagie Shack in Port Richmond, game-day business spikes by 50 percent, the owner said, thanks to stadium-bound fans.

At Lee’s Hoagie House at 10th and Oregon, business triples.

“There’s a whole ritual that’s involved, coming to the store and picking up hoagies for an Eagles game,” said John Connell, who runs Lee’s outlet at 10th and Oregon. “There’s no question it’ll impact us.

“I have a hard time knocking the Eagles because they do so much for our chain,” he said.

“However, when I see the amount of public money that was spent on the stadiums, and considering their argument that the new stadiums would be good for the local economy, it’s a little disappointing more than anything.”

That dissent was reflected in scores of e-mails to the Daily News yesterday (see adjoining story).

And, though he didn’t stand up for hoagie-bearing fans, Mayor Street chimed in, saying: “I think that the responsibility is on the team to make sure that there is a variety of food that is properly priced, so that regular everyday people can afford to bring their family to the stadium and have some food. It does raise the question as to how much of a Joe-Sixpack activity professional football in the stadium continues to be.”

That’s the sentiment behind a Daily News petition to the Eagles:

Fill out a People Paper petition in today’s edition, and join the fight.

Save Our Hoagies!

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