Game Trip Report Home Page

Home

I have joined the club.


I now have Green Bay Packer Season Tickets, my first year for having them, and this is my first game sitting in MY seats.

Packer tickets are divided into two packages; the GREEN package has 6 regular season games and one pre-season game and the GOLD package has two regular and one pre-season. This is a legacy left over from when the Packers split their games between Green Bay and Milwaukee. I've had a pair of Gold tickets for a few years now but I now also have the Green package.

(As an aside, if you noticed, this is well into October; I had an injury at the start of the season which prevented me from coming to earlier games with the Green package. I'm going to be OK, just had to take some time out and deal with Real Life).

I drive up Saturday evening and spend the night at my parent's house. They live outside of Brillion, WI, only 35 miles from Lambeau Field. It was a relaxing drive, moving along the highway, in the dark, with the radio on, just enjoying the time to myself.

SUNDAY morning brings a red, glowing sunrise, a crisp, cold wind, and a blue sky. A bit nippy but good football weather!

I'm taking Mom to this game and she's looking forward to the outing. Yeah, she's a Packer fan all right. :-)

We take the back roads into southern Green Bay, run a few errands for Mom, and we starting heading for the stadium. First stop is at PARTY PERFECT, the ultimate tailgate outfitter which is on Oneida Avenue. If you need Packer stuff this is the place to get it. However, the store is packed so we decide not to stand in line and decide to forgo making a purchase.

We park on a side street for free and we're only two blocks from the corner of Lombardi and Oneida. Avoiding game day traffic is easy if you know your way around.

My cousin lives next to Lambeau Field, close enough to where people are willing to pay $10 to park their car on his lawn so Mom and I hike it on over to his place. We could park there for free but it's a bad location for traffic after the game and besides, it frees up a spot for a paying customer.

Cousin is doing well, we're early but about a third of his lawn is already full and there's a group out tailgating by his front door. It's good to see him again, as always, and we hang out for a while. Cousin hangs out with the partiers a bit and I park a couple cars for him. I get a kick out of doing that!

After a while Mom and I take off because we want to meet some folks who are tailgating in one of the parking lots. I frequent one of the internet forums where Packer fans hang out and you end up making a few friends online so I wanted to go meet them. Doesn't take long to find them and we talk for a while with them. Always good to meet friends.

We visit for a while and then it's time to move on, more things to do! We're going to meet some more friends by one of the stadium gates. This takes us through the main parking lot and it's tailgating heaven. People partying, having a good time, and the spreads are unbelievable! Everyone is having a great time.

We find our friends and we go inside Lambeau! The renovation is coming along well, and that's why we met up with these two guys here that I know. They have CLUB SEATS and they let us swap tickets with them for a little while. Mom and I run through the Club level checking things out and taking pictures. It's looking REALLY good!

Finally! It's time!

We swap our tickets back and head for our new seats. We got around the Waiting List by accepting SINGLE seat tickets so we're not sitting next to each other. However, they're in the same section. One seat is in row 52 seat 3 and the other is row 53 seat 3. They're back-to-back! Can't get any closer than that! Hey, considering where we're at on the Waiting List we'll take 'em!

We also get to meet the new neighbors! One guy has had Season Tickets since 1960-something and drives from Minnesota for games. He's a die-hard Packer fan. There's a couple next to us and the girl usually stays home with their 4 kids so the guy usually comes to the games. There's two girls next to us, their family has Season Tickets and takes turns on who gets to go to the games. Another couple is also next to us but they're pretty quiet. That's OK, we'll get to know them.

The game itself was great. The crowd, the noise, everyone's into the whole game. The refs were pretty bad and everyone was on their feet booing and staying on their feet and kept booing. You just had to be there!

Brett Favre goes down and everyone is quiet. This is not good. Not good at all. The Packers eventually win the game but the injury to Brett and several other players hang heavy on the crowd as they file out. A few days later we learn Favre is going to be OK but you never want to see that happen to anyone on any team.

There's one big difference I noticed between the "Green Bay" crowd over the "Milwaukee" crowd. The Green package people, they all know each other. They've been going to more games for more years together and everyone is friends with those around them. It's a bit more formal with the Milwaukee crowd, they've only had their seats at Lambeau Field since 1995 and they don't get too many games and chances to know the people around them so it's more formal. There's no difference between the two groups in how they cheer for the team, but it's more loose with the Green Bay folks.

The stadium is coming along well but there's still a lot of construction going on. The end zones have no concessions and bathrooms so it's pretty crowded still as everyone has to go where available facilities are. In that respect it doesn't seem better, so hopefully the lines and crowds won't be so bad next year when everything is up and running.

 Mom and I make our way home after the game, listening to the post-game radio show, just drifting along the highway in the dark. Football is not just pushing a ball around a field, it's family, it's friends, it's getting out and having fun and meeting people.

Yeah, life is good. :-)