Well, I made it to my one game of the season on Sunday afternoon/night at Lambeau Field, and let me tell you - it was one for the books (and one for the blog!). I tried to get playoff tickets, but they were going to be nothing but busy signals all night long, and Amanda reminded me that 200 dollars is a lot of dollars to go to a football game.
I still maintain that it would have been worth every single penny to be there to watch the Pack demolish the Blue Men Group, but I suppose I’ll have to setlle for watching it in the comfort of my own home, with the TV cranked and plenty of munchies spread around the living room - though they must be out of Joshua range to qualify.
(Postseason side note: I can’t believe Mike Tice didn’t get fired, and I can’t believe that Spurrier QUIT.)
So we’re sitting there before the game, and some guy behind me has a portable television, and he’s watching the Saints/Boys game - you know, the one where, because the Niners were NO HELP AT ALL on Saturday, we needed the Boys to beat the Saints to ensure that the Packers had more of a chance of making the playoffs. And the Boys drive the ball down and are in striking position of making the game a much closer affair - Dallas is on the NO 27, and they’re in a clutch situation - they have to score here to tie the game with a touchdown. And so I turn around to the guy behind me, and I says (I’m not joking here),
“Looks like it’s about time for Quincy Carter to throw another clutch interception.”
Guess what happened. I thought the dude was going to kill me - but he was the friendly sort, especially when the Pack began winning like crazy.
So anyway, the game starts, and it got a little hairy there when Favre barely missed that interception and instead ended up with a Bubba Franks touchdown snag in the back of the endzone - but the game was electric, especially on Ahman Green’s 98-yard haul for the score that *really* put the game out of reach for the barely-there Broncos.
And with about 9 minutes left, it was 31-3, and a lot of people were leaving. I feel sorry for them. There was a chick in my section who was yelling at everyone and calling them losers for leaving before the game was over.
Boy, was she right.
When there were 9 minutes left, the Vikes were up on the Cards 17-6, and it looked like the Pack was done for the year. But when 5 minutes left rolled around, it was slowly becoming a very different story. At about that time, everyone basically ignored the game itself (which was in the opposite endzone at that point from our seats anyway), and (I think they showed this on TV) everyone was looking back at the SKYBOXES. You see, Sherman wasn’t letting them announce or show the score of the Vikes game on the TundraVision, but they had it on in some of the skyboxes, so people were looking up there for reactions - some people were even pointing their field glasses at the TVs up there.
At the 2 minute warning, everyone found out.
The place went nuts. And as soon as word spread around the stadium - from people looking into the skyboxes and from people listening on their radios - and you could see it move like a wave through the stadium - the players downstairs figured out why we were cheering - Green Bay fans are like that - and their players are like that with the fans. And the bench startted going nuts. And Mike Sherman got a Gatorade bath.
And then the clock hit 00:00, and they put up GREEN BAY PACKERS - 2003 NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS on the scoreboard, and the place erupted, and stayed loud even on the way out the concourse towards the cars. It was insane, and I yelled a whole lot, and the enthusiasm was just electric and contagious. I will never forget it.
It was a good day to be at Lambeau, a good day to live in Green Bay, and a good day to be a fan of the Pack.
So let me just say once more to the Vikes and their fans:
Booyah.