PANAMA CITY BEACH — Football fever is nothing new in SEC-steeped Bay County, but futbol fever is here now.
Panama City has a new chapter of the American Outlaws, an affiliation of U.S. soccer supporters, who turned out at Fishale Taphouse and Grill on Sunday to cheer at every near-miss during the U.S. game against Portugal and groan at each Portuguese goal.
They groaned less than five minutes into the contest, when Portugal took an early 1-nil lead that sucked the air right out of the conference room packed with hundreds of fans wearing red, white and blue. The announcer on TV used the word “catastrophe.” For a few minutes anyway, the applause came in smatterings instead of roars.
Enter the Capo. The Capo is a sort of cheerleader, leading fans in chants and fight songs.
Michael Wynn of Panama City knew the score and he still seemed on the very cusp of losing his mind. He was standing on a chair in the center of the room. He was jumping up and down shouting and swinging his arms like one of those fighting robots.
It turns out that’s his job. Not his day job. He just got a law degree, and he’s going to be — are you ready for this? — a lawyer when he passes the bar exam. This guy might be the guy hammering out your divorce, settling your lawsuit or negotiating your plea agreement.
“Passion is passion,” he said, “whether it’s passion in the courtroom or passion for a soccer game.”
When Wynn found Panama City had an American Outlaws chapter, he sought out this job. Just because he wears a suit and tie all week doesn’t mean he can’t wrap an American flag bandana around his head on a Sunday afternoon and implore of you, demand even, at the top of his lungs to believe the Americans will pull out a victory.
“Nothing matches the spirit of a U.S. soccer match, because the fans truly care, and they feel like — and they do — contribute to the U.S.’s victory or play and performance,” Wynn said.
With Wynn and the bartenders keeping the crowd in good spirits, the crowd could forget the scoreboard for the moment and resume groaning at the shots that didn’t find the net and groan again at the replay and then groan one more time at second replay.
Stephens Croom, vice president of the local Outlaws chapter, said he was “very surprised at the amount of U.S. soccer supporters.” When the “Star Spangled Banner” played just before tip-off or kick-off or however soccer games begin, it was Croom who urged everyone to their feet for the national anthem. “Everybody up! Hands on hearts!”
“It’s great,” Croom said. “Look at how many people we’ve got here.”
This didn’t just happen. It took 10 months of planning to form an official chapter of the Outlaws. To be official, you have to have at least 25 members and a sponsor. Fishale stepped up, Croom said.
“They said, ‘Hey, no matter what time the game is on, we’ll open up,” Croom said. So Thursday, the bar will open at 10 a.m. for the next U.S. match.
About 170 people turned up at Fishale last Monday, when the U.S. beat Ghana in its first match of the World Cup Tournament in Brazil. The crowd had swelled to more than 200 Sunday, said Chris Pfahl, marketing and events manager for Fishale.
“We just want to hang out with people that love soccer like we do,” Pfahl said.
Many were young men with tattoos and beards who looked like the guys on the pitch; others were mothers, children, or retirement-age women. There was a judge and candidate for the state House of Representatives. To describe them as unstable people who could become completely unhinged at a moment’s notice would not be accurate.
Unless you saw them about 63 minutes into the game. The U.S. team evened the score. If the announcer on TV prolonged the word GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! in traditional World Cup fashion, nobody in the room would have known. They were cheering too loud to hear the TV.