Just like the host city for a college football bowl might be very happy when the local game lands a school that traditionally brings lots of fans and their spending money to town, any NFL team needing to sell a few tickets is pleased to see the Eagles on the home schedule. At least theoretically.

People at the local hotels, restaurants and bars are happy, too, because they know their businesses will be packed that weekend by roving hordes of chanting, green-clad visitors.

This season's schedule is a good one for Eagles fans who like to pick out a road game or two in attractive cities and turn the chance to see their team into a mini-vacation. The first four away games on the schedule - Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle - will be travel-fests for these football road trips. The weather will still be nice, the cities are fun and interesting, and the excitement of the new season will still be fresh.

At the back end of the schedule, the Eagles travel to Cincinnati (ugh), Baltimore (been there, done that), and the nowhere destinations of the Meadowlands and Landover, Md.

So those road weekends against the Cowboys, Bears, 49ers and Seahawks will be accompanied by a predictable soundtrack of spelling bees (E-A-G-L-E-S), howyuhdoin's on the street and, upon returning, the echoing boasts throughout the airport concourse of: "We took over that place. It was aww-sum, man."

It would be nice to report that the Eagles legions who pack the airplanes, haunt the hotel bars, and roam the streets are goodwill ambassadors from our fair city, the kind of representatives who leave behind a warm regard for Philadelphia once they have departed. Unfortunately, that would not be entirely accurate.

The great majority of traveling fans are grown men. If one were to generalize about them, it would seem they like to wear uniform jerseys that celebrate other men - not that there's anything wrong with that - like to consume alcohol to excess, and are not slaves to their fitness regimens. The contingent often travels like a portable frat party from something less than the brightest house on campus.

It would also seem that Eagles fans revel in their reputations. As followers of a franchise that has not had a championship since Eisenhower's final month in office, that's understandable. What else might separate them from the devotees of any other NFL team? It certainly isn't the trophies lined up in Jeff Lurie's office, where there is plenty of shelf space.

What Eagles fans have, and what they protect and nurture jealously, is their reputation as fans that are tough, uncompromising, loyal and combative. Better to be known for something than not known at all. The collective personality is a mixture that took final shape at Veterans Stadium and has been carried across the street, more or less, to Lincoln Financial Field. Woe to the out-of-towner who shows up in Philadelphia wearing the colors of his or her team.

At the Vet, where just getting to the bathroom was a chore, and where the dingy atmosphere was conducive to antisocial behavior, it was somewhat understandable. The day that guy from Washington arrived in full American Indian regalia - assuming there was ever a tribe that favored a burgundy-and-gold color scheme - including a feathered headdress, was one for the books. Longtime fans still remember watching him flee along the concourse with soft pretzels braided among his feathers and gallons of beer cascading from his fringed buckskin. Ah, those were the days.

At the Linc, things are a bit more cordial (and better monitored), but visitors are still greeted with chants of "Body part! Body part!" - and scuffles are not uncommon. It figures that Eagles fans who travel to other stadiums would expect that same kind of atmosphere, even though that is generally not the case.

New York Jets fans are awful in their environment, as are Oakland Raiders fans, but in most NFL stadiums, visitors aren't hassled very much. In recent years, there have been problems between Philadelphia fans and Washington fans in the annual meeting at FedEx Field. But, truth to tell, some of that just might have been caused by the visitors.

The real question is whether the behavior of Eagles fans would change over time if the fortunes of the team changed as well. If the Eagles went through a stretch in which they piled up championships as the Patriots have done recently, for instance, would the edge be dulled? Would local fans let those championships serve as their reputation, and would this become known as a city of gracious winners and welcoming hosts?

Well, that might take a few championships. And maybe more than just a few.

But it would be worth finding out.

at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/bobford.