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You have to put this into the proper perspective; first, in the Spring, they announced the schedule. A visit to the Hall of Fame in June. Stockholder meeting in July. And, yes, I was at the Packer Scrimmage and the Jets and Miami pre-season games in August.

Finally.

All the waiting, anticipation, and FINALLY! Here I am at Lambeau Field for a REAL regular season game, and though it's early in the season, the hype and build up has made *THIS* game, the game with the Vikings, the *BIGGEST* game of the year. And I have tickets!

Football Ecstasy!

I drove up from Milwaukee, stopping near BRILLION, WI to see my parents Sunday morning. They're planning to retire here next year, and they come up almost every weekend to keep a tab on the lake home they're building. The house is close to being completed, mostly interior stuff needing to be done, but the well hasn't been put in yet. I would have loved coming up Saturday night, but alas, no water... Mom and Dad are working on getting a pier in, and the beautiful weather we've had lately has aided in getting this project done. The pontoon boat has been in storage and Mom wants it ready to go next year.

I'm looking forward to having a place to stay outside of Green Bay when I can come up for a game. Oh, if only the well was in... :-)

I tell Mom the place looks great and then head on up to Green Bay via the back roads. I love going this way because there's no traffic until you hit town. I hear all kinds of horror stories from the Milwaukee people fighting game day traffic but if you know the alternative routes, it's a breeze.

The weather is beautiful. Sunny, hardly any clouds. A front will be coming through and clouds will gather when the game starts, but the parties and tailgaters couldn't have it any better. The trees are starting to turn, the fields golden. I do my best not to run over the wooly bears. On the way I stop at APPLE VALLEY, an orchard off of Hwy 57 and pick fresh apples off the tree. You've got to love this time of year.

I get into Green Bay and park on the street (for free) a few blocks north of Lambeau Field. The strategy for this is so I have a straight shot up to Mason Street where I can go east, cross the river, and then head south back to Milwaukee. There are basically 3 ways out of town; north and south on 41 and south on 43, and the feeders out of the Lambeau area are always one long traffic jam. I will avoid all of this by taking the Mason Street route, going down 57, cut off on PP to Brillion, and continuing on through Kiel and Plymouth. The speed limit along these roads are only 55 mph, but I'll be on the open road long before anyone else gets onto the expressways, and even then they go maybe 20-40 mph until they're well out of town.

I have two tickets, but GIRLFRIEND works for a hospital and that means working weekends. The NFL did not consult with us before making the schedule. :-( But one person's loss is another's gain, so I'm going to my COUSINs house. COUSIN will be with me at the game today. :-) COUSIN lives two streets south of Lambeau Field and charges people to park on his lawn. He makes *GOOD* money from this.

I make my way through the crowds, stopping at the Scalper Pit. Tickets are starting at $200 each. No negotiating. It's early, prices will come down, but not much. There's a lot of dejected fans huddling around, hoping a reasonably priced ticket will fall into their hands. I move on.

I get to COUSIN's house, but he's not home. He has friends who came up for the game and they're out for a late breakfast, having been out late last night. It's almost noon so I head over to a fast food joint and browse through the crowd.

And what a crowd. The Mighty Vikings are here, the rivalry heating up over the last few years. There are tons of Viking fans partying and tailgating too, and they're doing their best to let everyone know they're in town. There's a strip mall to the west of Lambeau and I go through some of the shops there, one being REGGIE WHITE's store. Lots of Packer gear inside, including leather Packer jackets with sizes ranging from adults down to 4 year olds. The little leather jackets for the kiddies sell for $150. Wow!

Everywhere you go there's people tailgating. If the property owners will let you in, either in their business or on their front lawn, there's cars parked and grills fired up. Even at the K-Mart.

It's a big game and you can feel it. This is one game that both sides are hungry to win, and you can feel the people anxious to get it on. But it's not time, so the bands keep playing, the grills keep smoking, and the people enjoy the sunshine.

COUSIN is home when I get back, so we're all set. I'm anxious for the game too, but just to keep myself busy I stand out in the street helping to wave down cars to come park. It's really a comical sight to drive down the street and watch all these people waving and holding up signs. And here I am, being part of the show. :-)

Finally. The game.

COUSIN and I make our way to our seats, the freebie du jour being yellow Titletown Towels, but we are last-minute arrivals and they're out of towels. Ah, well. Had to get just one more car parked on the lawn and collect another $8. :-)

Look at all these Viking fans! I knew there were going to be a lot of them here, but even in expecting it, just look at 'em! And some of the costumes they were wearing! Body paint, everything. And those horns. Those hats with the horns. Some of them were *REAL* horns. Let me tell you, I would never be caught dead wearing a cheesehead, but these horn get-ups... Put a gun to my head and I would probably wear the cheesehead...

The game. THE GAME. We were seated in the north end zone down on the second row. You are so close to the field that it's just unbelievably awesome. It's better than television, you can really see everything going on so clearly. Just like when the Vikings scored the first touchdown. We were right there, but I'm not talking about the touchdown; I'm talking about the play before it. It was third down and we stopped 'em, stopped 'em cold with a great and gutsy goal line stand. What killed it all was the unsportsmanlike penalty. We were right there and could see the fight and the Packer threw a wicked uppercut but missed, but the referee didn't miss it, and the flag came out. I listened to the post-game show on the radio and I guess it wasn't too clear about what happened on that penalty. It was clear from where we were sitting; Viking player played dirty, Packer loses temper, ref sees Packer.

Touchdown, Vikings. Great seats, but not a great start.

How do I describe the crowd this time? You saw the game on TV, you know what happened. It was a nail-biter the whole way through, but it was different this time. It was a tight game, it was the Vikings. Half the time the crowd was on it's feet and screaming, yelling, screeching. I mean SCREECHING! But at other games they get beach balls going through the crowd, being batted around, or they'll get the wave going and it'll go 'round and 'round. They tried to get the wave going once, but it failed miserably. No beach balls.

It was THE GAME. People were just so INTO the game like it was a fever. There were times that I started to get dizzy because I was hyperventilating. C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Dammit! Damn referees! Damn those yellow flags! Forget the damn wave! Screw the damn beach balls! Just get to the next play! Throw the damn ball!

Yeah, it's a cliche' to say the crowd was on the edge of their seats. But they were on the edge, a razor sharp edge, it was EXCITING. The Packers make a big play, the crowd goes to it's feet, SCREECHING. GO! PACK! GO!. GET 'EM! THROW THE BALL! C'MON D!

It seemed like 3 minutes had gone by and it was the 4th quarter. Game tied. The crowd exhaling in unison, screeching in unison, edge of their seats.

FIELD GOAL! Packers 16-13! The crowd exhales with relief, in unison. All we have to do now is hold them and...

DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!

The Vikings march down the field in about 5 plays. There's 2 minutes left and we're losing 20-16. During the final two minute warning it's a tradition where they play the song "YMCA" over the PA system and while you had nearly 60,000 people either dancing or clapping, it was kind of ringing hollow this time. We had the game won, and now we lost it. It's really great to be here but you'd rather win. The people began to mentally prepare themselves for the loss. Dammit. DAMMIT! Not the Vikings! DAMMIT!

Packers get the ball. First down. Clock is ticking. Edge of their seats. First down. FIRST DOWN! Move the chains...

Well, you know how this ends... But to be there in Lambeau Field for the touchdown with 12 seconds left...

BEDLAM. PANDEMONIUM.

In that instant when the touchdown was scored it started raining, but not rain from the sky, but drinks. It was raining drinks. You know how people pump their arms or put them in the air for something like this. Well, every drink in every hand was thrown up or shaken and the air was filled with beer and drinks and the like. The crowd was an explosion, people hugging each other, high-fiving, and they didn't even know the name of the people they hugged.

It just absolute bedlam, dancing, clapping, laughing, pure joy. Just pure joy. We were going to beat the Vikings! And I mean it too when complete strangers were hugging each other. To come back and win the game like this, and against the Vikings, the emotions were running high everywhere.

Being in the north end zone we could watch the Packers come off the field and the crowd was screeching for them as they went in. Brett Favre held up his arm and waved, the crowd roaring in appreciation. The U-W La Crosse band went into their 5th quarter performance, some of the band members doing the Lambeau Leap.

It was just nuts. NUTS! It was NUTS! The crowd, the people, the Packers, Lambeau Field. To be there is a privilege. There's just no other way to experience a football game. If you're not at Lambeau Field, just turn the TV off and go mow the lawn.

*** ***

My parking strategy worked like a charm. It was 6:30 PM when I looked at my watch while walking through the Lambeau Field parking lot, and it was 7:00 when I was 10 miles south out of town. I listened to the post game show on the radio, savoring and sharing the victory with other Packer fans who called in with comments. I was 30 miles out of town when they did a traffic update, describing how bad it was getting out. I was home in Milwaukee a few minutes after 9:00.

I'm not sure if it was my route or if it was because the wheels of my car never touched the pavement, feeling so good about winning like that. :-)