Since local residents, many of them retirees, have come to Vero from different parts of the country, just about all National Football League teams have fans here.
At most local sports bars, transplanted fans are generally able to convince the manager to tune at least one of the giant TV sets to their team’s game most every week of the season.
But of late, the fans of two specific teams have been the most numerous, the loudest and the most boisterous – to the point that they’ve taken over entire bars or part of bars for their watch parties.
As a new NFL season is ramping up, the Bills Backers – avid blue-clad Buffalo Bills fans with some ties to Western New York state – are planning to gather again on the outdoor patio at the Twisted Lime Restaurant and Bar on U.S. 1 just south of the HCA Florida Vero Beach Emergency standalone facility. They are ready to cheer on their team, hoping this will be the year they’ll finally break through to the Super Bowl.
However, the equally rabid fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, the defending Super Bowl champions who have a good chance at repeating, outgrew the special room reserved for them at the Twisted Lime when about 100 people started showing up for the final run of playoff games last season.
Eagles fans have moved their watch parties about one-half mile north to the Grille on the Green in the clubhouse of the public Mangrove Sands Golf Club, also just off U.S. 1 on the east side. The restaurant/bar is open to the public and can easily accommodate 100 Eagles fans or more for the upcoming regular season NFL games.
Eagles fans will actually start gathering at the Mangrove golf club tonight (Aug. 7) for the first pre-season exhibition game when Philadelphia plays the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Eagles play several late-night nationally televised games on Thursdays, Sundays or Mondays which go past the restaurant’s normal closing time, but the manager promises that the facilities will be kept open for Eagles fans for as long as they want to watch the action, have a bite to eat and a drink.
“We had a lot of fun last year as we saw more and more people join us during the season,” said Margaret Linnehan, an HR consultant and transition coach originally from the Philadelphia suburb of Levittown, Pa., one of the leaders of the Eagles fan group who promoted the gatherings on social media. “We’re hoping this season will be even better – and we do hope that we’ll be able to sing that Eagles fight song a lot after our beloved Birds score their touchdowns.”
