(classless, perhaps. Animalistic, mos def.  But at least they aren’t paying Shockey’s salary)

The New York Times’ Vincent Mallozzi, usually content to fill his “Cheering Section” with tales of slack-jawed uberfans who’d skip their own funerals to attend the University Of Sniff & Scratch’s preseason scrimmage, finally tackles some real news.

Lou Scalise Jr., wearing a Jeremy Shockey jersey, and his father, in a Tiki Barber jersey, were among the Giant faithful at Lincoln Financial Field on Sept. 17. Lou Jr. said they were œtaunted, cursed and even spit at during the game by Eagles fans.

Michael Martocci, the vice president of Big Blue Travel in Manhattan, which arranged a bus trip for 72 Giants fans, including the Scalises, said: œEvery year, the abuse we take from those animals in Philadelphia gets worse and worse. I™m seriously considering having two armed guards sit with us next year.

The abuse only escalated as the group filed out after the Giants rallied for an overtime victory against the Eagles, the Giants fans said. Scalise, 21, of Copiague, N.Y., said he was pushed from behind several times on a stadium ramp. When Scalise turned around, he said, a man about 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, wearing an Eagles T-shirt and cap, punched him in the nose.

œWe were holding the guy and calling for security, said Robert Anderson, a retired New York City police detective who was part of the group. œBut other Eagles fan came down the ramp and started swinging at us. When we went to protect ourselves, the guy who threw the first punch got away.

Although he did not see the first punch, Lou Scalise Sr. said he turned œto see my son™s face filled with blood.

The younger Scalise, who is 5-9 and 175 pounds, said: œThose people in Philadelphia are the most classless fans in the world. They™re just a bunch of drunks looking for trouble. I™ll never go back there again.

Though I abhor physical violence, no sensible court in the world is going to convict anyone of bloodying a man in a Jeremy Shockey jersey.