Go Pack Go!

Warning: This is very long, if you just want to read about Lambeau scroll down to "Lambeau". I felt like the total experience started the minute we landed so I really didn't spare any details.

Lambeau Field. What a place. I don't even know where to begin. First the stats:

4 planes, 4 airports, over 2000 miles logged, one gray Impala, 42 beers, one resident Green Bay crack whore, 58 cows, 73,000 Packer fans, one old perverted host at Titletown Brewery, one sprinting waitress (at the same establishment), one gay Chinese gas attendant, two black people in the entire stadium, one three fingered brat server, and one really fucked up room that the cleaning lady may still be cleaning now.

Saturday

We left early Saturday from Newark, NJ airport. With a stopover in Chicago we were a little sleepy so as we settled in for the 2hr flight we all agreed that a morning cocktail was in order. You know, just to perk up a bit. Nothing like a good screwdriver on a early morning flight.
After landing in Chicago (tremendous airport) it was on to Wausau, Wisconsin. 30 minutes later we were in Wausau. Time to get the rental car and drive the 90 miles to Green Bay.

Now as you may imagine there isn't much going on in Wausau. In fact when the guy in front of me asked the rental car clerk where the nearest drug store was she laughed. Of course I chimed in with a "well, if you travel 50 miles south there is a general store on the right" joke. She seemed semi-amused. This may be a good time to mention that she didn't wash her face with soap in about 2 months. The drive there was fun, we stumbled out of the gate by making one bad right turn but thank god for Chinese people. What the fuck are they everywhere or what? Coming to an intersection straight out of Cast Away (right, left, straight, go back) we asked where we can find the route we needed and sure enough my man Don Ho knew the way to go!

We got to Green Bay in under two hours. The drive was cool. Bunch of farms, tiny restaurants, lots of cows and horses. Pulling into Green Bay and immediately you see the impact the Packers have on this town of 102,000 people. Packers signs, flags and apparel covered most of the town. As we get to the "downtown" area there were some shops and restaurants. After checking into our hotel we headed to TitleTown Brewery . The food was pretty good and the beer was fresh homemade shit. Pretty good. Plus alot of Packer Memorabilia and shit. After that we wanted to find a liquor store to load our room with beer. The plan was to watch the OSU-MICH game and other games while getting loaded. We found the only liquor store there and I decided that we were only to drink shit made in Wisconsin. So this meant, Miller brands, Old Style, Pabst, Milwaukee's Best and a few other one's that started with an L and ended with an U. But first we had to ask the resident Green Bay crack whore which was better. Olde Style or Pabst. Bitch smiled with some fucked up tufts and was in the most country ass accent you know said "member when I used to drank Olde Style? (country laugh). Um, I don't know which is better. I LIKE BUUUDWEEISER!" Ok then, settled. Ring up the Pabst and let's get the f out of here (we had a running joke all weekend about that country skank, one of them was me saying that she ate Dick and Balls for breakfast every morning).

So we had 42 beers to plow through. One of my boys really wasn't feeling the beer so it was more like 3 of us on that 42. Long story short there were only 5 left when we checked out. Basically we drank them all and had the balls to head down to the hotel Pub and shoot some darts and play some video blackjack. The hotel housed mostly people in town for the Packer game. So the atmosphere was real cool. There were even some Pat fans roaming around to make fun of. We ended up drinking a few more beers down at the Pub which wasn't a good idea considering we already went through about 30 cans of Miller High Life and Pabst. After the Pub my cousin was hungry so we headed over to a sports bar that was serving food til 2am. I had on a yellow Farve jersey with nothing under that and no sneakers on. Just socks. P.S it was 30 degrees that night. Basically I was walking around downtown Green Bay with no sneakers on at 1:30am. After shoving a few pies of pizza down our throats we all crashed.

Lambeau

Waking up the next morning never felt so bad. After my boy Drock started the heave-ho conga line we laid down, cleaned up and headed to Lambeau with the rest of what seemed like the whole town. It was great. Driving in towards the stadium all you saw was Packer fans. Along the tree-laden blocks were signs saying "No Parking on Day of Packer Games". Starting 10 blocks from the Stadium were signs for parking. But not like municipal parking. People would charge to park on their lawns, driveways or on their front curbs. It was crazy. I chose a nice little modest house to donate my $15 for parking. But when I pulled in, the whole backyard is open and packed with cars. They must make $10,000 a year during the Packer season. And from the guy's backyard you saw the top two points of Lambeau....an oasis of history in the middle of one of the smallest cities in America.

The walk from the car to Lambeau.......
The closer we got the better it looked. Big and green. Sounds simple right? The Lambeau Atrium was sort of centered in the middle of the stadium. Throngs of people draped in green and yellow. I felt the mystique. It was imposing....almost like a big bully. I could see why teams (mostly in the past) were intimidated by Lambeau.

Inside Lambeau.......
It was like a mini glasshouse with the Packers Pro Shop, Curly's Pub, Hall of Fame Grill and Frozen In Time Ice Cream Shop. The entrances to the actual Stadium part were to the right and left. Once you went in the cold slapped you in the face. Every 12 feet was a food stand or a beer stop. Brat's, pizza, hot dogs, burgers, chili's, etc. My first order was a bowl of Chili and a Miller Lite in a souvenir cup. Later we had some brat's of course, delicious stuff.

Sitting down.........
Once we found our seats I realized that there wasn't a bad seat in the house. It's a stadium that holds 70,000+ and there were no real seats. The stadium was filled with bleachers. Metal bleachers each marked with a number. The crowd was close to the action too, like on top of the Pats bench and the Pack's bench. It was old school at it's finest. We settled in right when the Packers were being introduced. I looked around, took a deep breath and took in the atmosphere. It was clean, crisp air, sun was shining brightly, fans were cheering the intro's and I was in Lambeau. I looked at the crew, told em to suck it all in. I was sitting next to an old couple that had been season ticket holder for 31 years. Packer country indeed.

The game........the crowd......more Lambeau
Everyone knows they didn't win. But that doesn't mean the game wasn't exciting. The fans are great. No matter what the situation they cheered and tried to will their team to do well. Every 10 minutes or so the chant "Go Pack Go"! would ring throughout the stadium. Even on bad plays the groaning was to a minimum. Farve looked putrid but was never booed. At one point a man to my left was clamoring for Aaron Rodgers and just about everyone in my section who heard him, scolded him like a dog who just shit on the rug. Never talk bad about Farve. You want to talk about legend. Shit. The minute this man retires a statue is going right outside next to Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi statues. When he got taken off the field holding his arm I thought the lady in front of me was going to cry. They were devastated, you must of heard the OHHHH! all the way to Cali. But as Aaron came onto the field everyone applauded and rooted for the young man. It didn't matter if Satan was QB'ing....as long as he had a Packer jersey on they were rooting for him. Best hometown crowd/team I've been around. After the game we went down to the endzone where players would have leaped into the crowd had the Packers score. Took some pics and took it all in once again before leaving.

For the good times the crowd was more than electric. Loud and armed with white towels they made sure they were heard all the way in Dorchester, MA. Unbelievable experience. Every man that loves football or sports in general should make the pilgrimage to Lambeau Field. And to sum up the crowd, it's the 4th quarter, about 3 minutes left andit's 35-0 New England. Most of the crowd was still in attendance. Most of the crowd was CHEERING the Packers on. CHEERING Aaron Rodgers to make a play, CHEERING the defense to force a turnover. After the game we went down to the endzone where players would have leaped into the crowd had the Packers score. Took some pics and took it all in once again before leaving. What a place. Make the pilgramage. Go to Lambeau.