Vince Papale: "Give them credit. . ."

Minutes before the NFC championship game began, Vince Papale was just as nervous as though he were suiting up himself.

Never mind that he was sitting in a Cherry Hill family room, eating sausage and peppers.

"I'm not usually like this," said Papale, the once-upon-a-time unlikely Eagle whose life was the subject of the 2006 film Invincible. "But, boy, am I keyed up."

Papale and 20 friends - "Papale's Paisanos" - gathered yesterday to watch a 32-25 heartbreaker on television at the Cherry Hill home of Scott and Ramonita Farnesi.

When the Birds trounced the Giants last week to advance to the NFC title game, the group watched at Scott and Ramonita's, and the die was cast.

"If we watch at my house, we lose," said Papale, who sat in a folding chair with a clipboard in front of him and the best view of the big-screen TV. "And we have to wear the same thing."

Gary Farnesi, Scott's brother, offered a quick amendment.

"We wear the same stuff, but everything is washed," said Gary Farnesi, who also lives in Cherry Hill.

And, yes, the superstition extends to home decor. The Eagles blanket draping the big couch had to be hung backward and upside down, and although it was nearly a month after Christmas, the dining room still glowed with decorations.

"I wanted to take down the Christmas tree, but they said no," Ramonita Farnesi said. "They said, 'You can't change anything.' "

It was an intense crowd - cheering, screaming, whooping, singing, clutching one another when plays were close.

"We get into it," said Ray Farnesi Sr., Scott and Gary's father. "We curse at the TV."

Janet Papale, Vince's wife, nodded knowingly.

"Some of the boys cry," she said. "And Vince? He still bleeds green. Even though he's almost 63, he still thinks he's got a few hits in him."

During the lackluster first half, the mood was tense, and Vince Papale's jaw was set in a straight line.

"We know which team showed up today, and it wasn't the Eagles," Ray Farnesi said.

"Vince wasn't too warm and fuzzy about this game," Janet Papale said.

At halftime, people gathered around the buffet, trying to figure out how to change the team's luck. They would switch seats, they agreed. They would rearrange the Eagles blanket. They would toss a football outside to work off nervous energy. They would not lose hope.

Dee Farnesi, Ray's wife, picked at a roast beef sandwich and rice.

"They're making me lose my appetite," said Dee Farnesi, who lives in South Philadelphia. "I'm a nervous wreck."

When the Eagles began to surge in the second half, Vince Papale led the cheers. He alternated between two positions - his folding chair (defense) and standing behind his friends (offense).

The second that DeSean Jackson made it across the goal line to give the Eagles their first - and only - lead of the game, Papale was perhaps the most jubilant fan in the region.

"Yeah!" he shouted, hugging son Vinny, 12. "Believe it!"

Just then, Papale's phone buzzed: a text message from Mark Wahlberg, the actor who portrayed him in Invincible.

"Go baby!" the text read.

But in the game's final minutes, as things went south, the room grew quiet again.

With less than a minute left, Gabriella Papale, 15, Vince and Janet's daughter, tried to rouse the group.

"Guys? What if we blitz?" she said.

No one answered her. It was too late, and when red and white confetti began falling at the end of the game, everyone turned away from the television.

Papale exhaled, walked into the kitchen, poured himself a beer. The first half sank the Eagles, he said. The officials didn't help.

"You've got to give them credit, they never gave up," Papale said of his former team. "But they didn't make the big plays when it counted. I'm not a sore loser, but you hate to see it turn out this way."

Ray Farnesi shrugged.

"I'm 73 years old. You get disappointed," he said.

But he'll be right back in the same spot on the couch next season, he said.

"We complain like hell," he said, "but we're there, win or lose."