No matter that their beloved Eagles had just lost a frustrating game to the lowly New Orleans Saints, "Pops," "The Donald," and their small group of die-hard fans were already thinking about next year's road trip as they shuffled out of the Superdome.
After 12 years of following the team around the country, their annual road trips have become "less about the game itself and more about the guys," says Jeff "Pops" Green, founder of the Bucks County-based group.
"All we do is laugh, and cry from laughing so hard," adds Howard "Concierge" Brooks, another organizer of the group of 16 middle-aged men.
For four days and nights, they explore the host city, sampling its restaurants, bars, golf courses, and other attractions.
But what sets them apart from the thousands of Eagles fans who flock to opponents' stadiums are the hours of community service they perform to give something back to their hosts.
In New Orleans this month, the men taught basketball and life skills to about 40 children at a community center in a public housing project.
Such volunteer work has prompted Eagles officials to reach out to the group, providing pregame sideline passes, T-shirts, and hats, and hosting them at summer training camp.
"They've informally adopted us," Brooks said.
Eagles president Don Smolenski calls them "a special group of people.
"We can't always touch 68,000 people in the stadium, or our six million fans, but we've connected with Howard and his group," Smolenski said.
The team official hooks up with the group on each trip, for dinner, a drink, or to tailgate. In New Orleans, he brought along team co-owner Christina Lurie.
"They spent an hour talking about the team and our community service, which tied in with Christina Lurie's role as head of the Eagles Youth Partnership," Brooks said.
Besides New Orleans, the group has ventured to San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, Tampa, Denver, San Diego, and Jacksonville.
To make each trip unique, they visit local attractions, such as Napa Valley vineyards, South Beach, and an Indian reservation, complete with a casino.
They have ridden a riverboat on the Mississippi and an airboat on the bayou, and split a $7,000 slots jackpot in Las Vegas on their way to a Denver Broncos game.
They usually choose late-season games, with the playoffs on the line.
"We've been good mojo for the team," Green said before the loss to the Saints, which dropped the group's record to 8-4. "And we've picked good [opposing] teams."
One highlight was Donovan McNabb scrambling for 14 seconds before hitting Freddie Mitchell with a 60-yard bomb against the Cowboys in 2004.
The men, decked out in Eagles garb, root hard, but they also get to know the hometown fans.
"We're passionate, but not obnoxious," Brooks said.
"We don't just blend in. We represent," Green added. In Tampa against the Buccaneers, "we wore Eagles eye patches."
In Miami in 2003, Monday Night Football announcer Al Michaels stopped at the group's table at Joe's Stone Crab, and they chanted the Eagles' fight song. The next night, Michaels mentioned the group on national TV.
"It's just a nice mix of guys who work hard and play hard," Green said. "Wives and kids are not allowed."
The group includes a psychiatrist, a pharmacist, an anesthesiologist, and a chiropractor, as well as lawyers, accountants, and businessmen. Most live in the Yardley-Newtown-Holland area.
The original traveling party of four has been capped at 16.
"We have a waiting list, like the Eagles," said Don "The Donald" Millstein.
They added volunteer work to their itinerary three seasons ago, responding to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Brooks said. On their way to Dallas for a Sunday night game, they stopped at the Big Easy and helped clean up the Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
This year's volunteer project with disadvantaged boys and girls ages 6 to 14 was the most interesting and challenging work they've tackled, Brooks said.
"We led them in exercises and basketball drills, but it was more about collaboration, teamwork, and life skills," he said.
"The first reaction when a child got hit with the ball was to beat someone up," Brooks said. "We told them: 'He or she didn't mean to throw the ball at you. You weren't looking.' "
It was the first Saturday morning session staffed by out-of-town volunteers, said Jonnie Honse, membership coordinator of the city's Youth Leadership Council.
"It was a nice treat for our kids to talk to the group and have them explain their trip and what they do," she said.
Brooks called the experience "incredibly rewarding."
The men and the children "built pretty deep relationships in a relatively short period of time," he said. "We really felt like we cracked the code.
"Hopefully, we left them with something they can use down the road."