PHILADELPHIA — Barrett Scheffler hopped in his Mazda CX-5 on Friday morning in Columbus, Ohio, halfway through a road trip to Philadelphia to see a football game. It was, at the time, two days away.
In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Stacey Koneski readied her midnight-green paraphernalia. In Arizona, Jamie Barmach and his teenage children boarded a flight. In Newark, New Jersey, fresh off a red-eye from Los Angeles via Vegas, Reza Perl picked up a rental car. In Houston, on the verge of his first trip to Philly after decades of Eagles fandom, Esteban Pizzolo buzzed with excitement.
They and hundreds like them had planned this weekend months ago, around an NFL game that, in some cases, would be their first.