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Kickoff is 7:00 PM at Lambeau Field, but I'm leaving Milwaukee with my parents at 8:00 AM. They have to meet with a contractor to discuss terms in getting the interior of their retirement home painted and wallpapered. Mom and Dad plan on retiring next year and are building a lake home near BRILLION, WI., about 30 miles south of Green Bay.

You couldn't ask for a better day; cool, sunshine, and dry. A beautiful day, but at the same time, if you looked close you could see the first twinges of the leaves turning. Fall comes early here in the north.

Well, so much for lake homes and the construction of said topic; we leave Dad behind and Mom and me head for Green Bay at about 2:00 PM. WE... HAVE... TICKETS! Oh, those precious little pieces of cardboard that grant admission to Holy Football Ground, and we have two of them...

The game is a "Gold Package" game, a carryover from the time when games were played in Milwaukee. That is, of course, recent history, but it does make for an interesting situation where Season Ticket Holders do not have tickets to all games at Lambeau Field.

We hit town and it's early, so we cruise north of Lambeau Field where there's a shopping center and the OLD COUNTRY BUFFET, a typical buffet restaurant. It's filled with a late lunch crowd and many others who are obviously among the Chosen Few and have tickets for the game.

We eat, we shop, we head for Lambeau Field.

We're not going to tailgate so we get to the north side of the stadium and find a free space to park on the street. People are charging any where from $5 to $10 to park on their lawn, but you don't have to go far to find a free spot. In fact, we're so close to the stadium that we're probably closer than some of those in the far corners of Lambeau where they had to pay $15 to get in. The only catch for us is there is no way through the houses and yards so we have to walk up the block in the wrong direction in order to swing around to Lombardi Avenue.

As we're walking in there's a little kid, maybe 6 years old, selling peanuts and he's yelling PEANUTS! SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS! Mom is a sucker for the little guy so she had to buy a bag.

It's 4:00 and the parking area around Lambeau is virtually full, with smoke rising everywhere from the ritual of applying heat to the flesh of critters that are ranked lower on the food chain.

It's one big party.

We've got time, so we make our way to the south side of the stadium and go into the neighborhood. My COUSIN and his wife bought a house in there a year ago and they make a few bucks having people park on their front lawn. When we arrive business is not bad.

We visit a while, Mom being glad to see her nephew, it probably being a good year since she last saw him.

It's time. It's been so long. Sure, it's just a meaningless pre-season game, but it's... LAMBEAU FIELD!

Our seats are in the end zone, but they're down in row 2. Being right down on the field is a wonderful place to be. The Jets are out warming up and there's a crowd of people standing in our seats and watching. Lots of excitement going on already and the game hasn't even started.

It's the annual Shriner's game, and there's Shriners all over the field too.

Periodically, small groups of Packers come out to practice and warm up and each time they do the crowd cheers. Eventually most of the team is out and preparing for the game.

People may scoff at the end zone seats, but we're right down there and we can watch many of the players up close and personal.

There's a promotion where you can win a snowmobile or an ATV (or was it a personal watercraft?) but anyway one of the contestants was on the field with the promoters while some of the Packers practiced lining up in formation. This female contestant is all excited about being right there with the players and then she sees one of her friends in the stands, so she's waving, and then a Packer squats right in front of her with his butt towards her. She makes a little gesture as if she wants that butt. ;-) Talk about hilarious!

We're talking up close and personal, remember? :-)

GOOD DEAL: I learned a new trick today! Some people I work with were going to the game and were nearby, so I looked for them periodically with our binoculars. When I spotted them I went over to say hello, and as I walked through the concourse I saw one of the Designated Driver tables, so I signed up. HOLY COW! They gave me FOUR coupons for drinks, and we're not talking little tiny cups. You got the biggest drinks available that don't come with a plastic mug. The coupons were also valid for SHARPS Beer (a non-alcoholic beer if you didn't know that). Cool!

If you're not going to drink, sign up for this deal!

It's just exciting to be there! The PA system is cranking out tunes, Jets and Packers are all over the field warming up, the press and media are scurrying for pictures, Shriners are Shrining, everything! On TV all you got is has-beens and wannabes droning away to fill the time between commercials.

FINALLY! The game starts!

The crowd is ecstatic and the place is a-hoppin'! Wild to start with. But as the game unfolded and the Packers fell behind, you could feel the crowd becoming restless. The starters from both teams were benched late in the first quarter, as is the norm with an early pre-season game. But the second-stringers rallied and gave us a victory, and in the end, you would have thought we just won the Superbowl. The crowd really came back to life when the play sharpened up, even if it was just pre-season.

I have got to tell you what it's like to be at the field level in the end zone. When the action is in front of you there is no better place to be. Television generally focuses on the area around the ball, but we can see beyond the "frame" TV creates. You can see the whole play develop, and it's UP CLOSE and PERSONAL! Both the Packers and the Jets scored touchdowns right in front of us and both plays were exciting to watch. The Jets' touchdown was an unbelievable catch and while we weren't too excited about their score, there was no better way to have seen it the way we did right there.

Even when the action is away from us you can see all 22 players and the whole play. There is no limited field of vision. I think what really makes Lambeau Field work is how close the seating is to the field, even the far up seats. You just don't miss a thing in Lambeau.

Well, let's see... other things you don't see on TV... at half-time the Shriners did their thing and they kind of ran a bit. Sure, they do wonderful charity work, but the speeches never stopped. There was a marching band that was supposed to perform (looked like a high school band). They were lined up, ready to go, but the Shriners kept giving speech after speech and then it was too late. I'm sure those kids practiced for their big night at Lambeau and they never got the chance.

Willie Wood was there! A former Packer Great and Packer Hall of Fame icon was busy (I believe he works in the Packer front office) and he walked by us a few times.

During the two-minute warning at the end of the second half (while you were in commercial) they played the song "YMCA." This song is played every game, but it's something to see when a whole stadium dances to it.

Y.... M.... C.... A....!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! :-)

It was obvious as to what's good and bad about the Packers this early in the season, and the Sports Geeks will talk it all to death. Regardless, just being at Lambeau Field, a *TRUE* football stadium, and with such wonderful fans and atmosphere, there's just no way you can accept sitting at home watching a game on the tube. There's no comparison.