Maybe "Larry the Cable Guy' was the Eagles good luck charm

FROM KEITH GROLLER

If you were there early in the Wells Fargo Center parking three hours before kickoff on Sunday at the Eagles/Jets game you might have heard a ruckus -- at least one a little louder than usual.

That's where comedian Larry the Cable was on hand to liven up the tailgating scene with an appearance sponsored by Prilosec OTC.

Larry, whose real name is Daniel Whitney, genuinely enjoyed meeting the Eagles fans (even though he kept it quiet that his real favorite team is the Packers because of his friendship with Brett Favre).

'I'm sucking up to these people," he confided. "I'm no dummy. I don't want to get my butt kicked."

He gave some of his tailgating tips, talked about his favorite tailgate dish "The Beanie Weenie Casserole" and encouraged fans to register for a chance to win Super Bowl in the "Better Way to Tailgate" Challenge.

He said he had done a few other stops around the NFL -- Oakland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore among them --- and wherever he had been the hometown team won the game that day.

"I say the Eagles easy today," Larry said. "I got some of that 'Git 'Er Done' karma going. I guarantee a win. I'm very confident the Eagles will win."

Well, he turned out to be 100 percent correct. The Eagles won 45-19.


In a quick five-minute interview, I found him to be an enjoyable guy with an amazing sense of humor and wit.

"I am a Packers fan and I am also an Atlanta Braves fan, but one of my all-time favorite teams was the 1993 Phillies," he said. "They were scrappers, man, and I love John Kruk

"I'm just having a great time here. Any time I can get near my fans, I have a good time. I've always been pretty accessible to them. Everybody questioned why I would be coming to Philadelphia. 'Oh, they're mean fans there.' Hey, no they're not. That's a lot of hype. It's a great place to come out and watch a football game. There are a lot of kids out here. Football is an All-American sport. You can't get any better than that."

I asked Larry why football had become such a religion in this country, easily surpassing baseball as our No. 1 sport.

"It's hard to explain," he said. "I am a Nebraska Cornhusker. I grew up in Nebraska. There's just something about football you love. It's the greatest sport there ever has been. Just to come to the tailgates is fun. If
you've never been to a NFL tailgate, you're missing out.

"The ultimate tailgate is the one where you miss the game. I've been at a few where we're having such a good time that somebody says 'Hey, we're missing the game.' And then we walk in and there's only four minutes left."

I asked Larry for his favorite tailgating food and he talked about barbeque and shish-ka-bob.

"My favorite, though, is the Beanie Weanie Casserole which my wife makes," he said. "And it's a great tailgating food because it's just beanie weanies and you can eat a lot of it. It's awesome. Last time I had it, my Glade plug-in started a carpet fire. It's definitely powerful. That's why it comes with a side of Prilosec OTC.

"When I do a tailgate, I like to wear sweat pants. When you're wearing regular pants, you can feel it when you've had enough to eat. With sweat pants, you can go, and go and go."

Larry said he's touring the country with his comedy act and his second season of "Only in America" comes out on Jan. 11 on The History Channel. He's also got a sequel of "Tooth Fairy, II" which comes out on DVD in March.

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