The D.C. press corps may commit to being fair and balanced in print or on air. But in the realm of sports, that objectiveness can be difficult to maintain. A list of diehard Eagles fans in D.C. — affectionately known as the “Illuminati of Philly sports” — includes some with Montgomery County connections, as reported in BillyPenn.

The way these Beltway Birds backers was unearthed has a bit of high-tech stealth behind it (this is, after all, a story with a political underpinning).

It started as a story published in a sports culture outlet called The Ringer, which unearthed an email chain connecting Eagles fans in the D.C. area. For the past five years, it’s been a communiqué for out-of-town press members disinterested in the Washington Commanders (spoilers that they are) or the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s Fly Eagles, Fly for this crew. All the way.

Reportedly, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, whose district covers Lower Merion Township, was a founder of the sports email unifier.

Its current population, 50, includes the following Montgomery County–centric members:

• Jake Tapper, Chief Washington Correspondent, CNN
  • Tapper, one of the highest-profile Eagles fans on the list, was raised in Phil but went to school in Bryn Mawr.
• Karen Travers, White House Correspondent, ABC News
  • Travers, whose childhood was spent in Blue Bell, has been an Eagles fan all her life. She inherited a general love of football from her family, helping her dad as a girl when he was a high-school coach.
• Ken Vogel, Investigative Political Reporter, The New York Times
  • Washington bureau reporter Vogel hails from Cheltenham. His fledgling years on the political beat unfolded in Wilkes-Barre.

More on this Illuminati of Philly sports in D.C. is at BillyPenn.