Chowderheads, cheese steakers savor buildup for Super Bowl

Bobby Arzio lived in Philadelphia for 40 years before moving to South Lake Tahoe.

With homemade soft pretzels and cheese steaks, the lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan plans to watch his team take on the New England Patriots in Sunday's Super Bowl.

"If you grew up in Philadelphia and you were a blue-collar worker, football was in your blood," said the 52-year-old Arzio, a South Lake Tahoe resident for 12 years.

As America's biggest non-holiday inches closer, two of the most rabid football clans in the nation will prepare to watch every play of the team they either grew up with, played for or fell in love with.

Eagles fans haven't seen their team reach the Super Bowl since a 1981 loss to the Oakland Raiders - the team's only appearance - and endured three consecutive losses in the NFC Championship game since 2002.

For Patriots fans, Sunday's game will mark the fourth trip to the big game after a 46-10 drubbing by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. A win would catapult them into dynasty status.

Arzio's father was an Eagles fan, and a football player with a team in Philadelphia "back in the days of leather helmets," he said.

"My dad was a tough immigrant from Italy and he used to like to rough it up," Arzio, master technician at Steve's Transmission Service, said.

He remembered watching live games while freezing in the Eagles stadium. He recalled his mother leaving the house to pick his father up at the hospital after one of his games. Sometimes his father, a contractor, would come home with stories of work done on players' residences, such as painting the house of Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.

Growing up 40 minutes from Philadelphia in Buck County, Eileen Plummer was raised an Eagles fan.

Plummer was overjoyed when the Eagles finally got over the hump and reached the Super Bowl this year.

"Can I put it in words? It was just awesome," she said.

After taking a moment to let her excitement settle, Plummer said the win over Atlanta to get the team into the Super Bowl breathed faith into the city.

Bill Tinlin has youthful memories that molded him into a Patriots fan. A running back at Central Connecticut State University, Tinlin was invited to play for the Patriots before the 1972 season. He was cut before the opening game, or, as he jokingly puts it, played as long as "drinking a cup of coffee."

He went on to play for the semi-professional New England Colonials but never returned to the Patriots.

"As far as I was concerned I was better than these players, but you had to have political pull and luck and it's probably the same today," Tinlin said about players from bigger colleges picked over him.

One day during the Patriots training camp Tinlin flicked water on a few defensive lineman after pretending he just blew his nose.

"That was not a cool thing for a rookie to do," he said.

As revenge the lineman hung the rookie on a coat rack.

On fall and winter Sundays, Tinlin has to sometimes contend with his family wanting to watch the San Diego Chargers. Karen Tinlin, Bill's wife and principal at Bijou Community School, said the clan will root for the Patriots to "keep harmony in the family."

All the televisions at Bub's Sports Bar at Kirkwood will likely be on the Super Bowl. Native chowderhead Mark "Sully" Sullivan, bar manager at Bub's, grew up 20 miles south of Boston. Through a friend who worked with the Patriots, Sullivan hung out with former quarterback Tony Eason.

Although Patriots memorabilia rests at the bar, Sully also displays Boston Red Sox gear as a reminder of the World Series win.

Arzio is sending his 12-year-old son, Noah, to New Jersey to watch the game on the big-screen television of his older son, Mark. It will be Noah's first plane ride by himself.

Both men think their team will win. Arzio called the Patriots a finesse team which will be worn down by Philly's defense. Tinlin think the Patriots are too good with coach Bill Belichick making a game plan and the play of the team's defense and line.

- E-mail William Ferchland at wferchland@tahoedailytribune.com