Bonifacino was just one of hundreds of people packed nearly to the walls last night in the Fox & Hound pub in Center City, a rowdy crowd rising and falling with the Eagles' fortunes in the contest.
Early in the game, as DeSean Jackson tore off a long punt return for the Eagles, Seox appeared to be doing its job.
"So far, so great," Bonifacino said. "All my friends swear by it."
His friend Katie Huffnagle, who lives in Fairmount, said she had made him bring along the good luck charm.
"It kind of looks like him," she teased. "They have the same hair."
Across the room, by far the rowdiest table belonged to Luke Wloczynski and nearly a dozen of his friends. Many of them had grown up with Wloczynski in Port Richmond, where his family settled after emigrating from Poland when he was 8. Several were his classmates at North Catholic High School.
"Good sports, good friends, good food - what else is there?" Wloczynski wondered. "We celebrate like it's the last game. . . . The good and the bad, we ride the wave."
He was interrupted by a wild celebration, sparked by Asante Samuel's first-half interception return for an Eagles touchdown. Wloczynski's friends jumped up and down wildly, shaking their table, spilling beer everywhere.
That was followed shortly by a deafening, barwide Eagles chant.
As the first half neared its end, Wloczynski and his friends expressed confidence that the Eagles would climb back into the Super Bowl, an enthusiasm not tempered when the Vikings' Adrian Peterson ran for his second touchdown before halftime.
Wloczynski's former classmate Craig Lecki said the camaraderie was the most important element of the evening.
"I've known these guys for a long, long time," he said, "so no matter what happens, it's the atmosphere."
