I really enjoyed reading about your respective Super Bowl plans. We’re collectively hilarious in that it seems most of us try to balance having a good time with good people while also making sure we’re in a situation that allows for intense game-watching. I think it’s pretty neat to read about how many of you have a family association with the Packers – and watching the big game. Especially with our kids. Part of what I tried to bring across a few weeks ago in an interview with the Washington Post was the fact that being a Packer fan is something folks essentially inherit – many absorbed PackerFanNess from family members of previous generations. This is part of what makes us unique as fans. (At the same time though, I like to think Packer fans are good at welcoming new fans into the fold.)
Speaking of family, my son loves following these big games…for about 2 minutes (he’s 3.5 years old and has the attention span of a bird). He likes the Packers, wearing Packers’ gear and yelling the names of the players after big plays. He also thinks he’s hilarious when he tells dad that he’s a Bears fan, not a Packer fan. I tell him that’s nothing to joke about. On the other hand, he has learned to hate the Vikings already – taunting me after he wins yet another close football game against dad with “you’re the Vikings because you lost”. Meanwhile, my wife is a converted Vikings fan (from Minnesota) – she had to convert in order to marry me. She often has to leave the room when the game gets too close due to getting so worked up. It’s great. And, she also ends up doing a fair amount of cooking during (or before) games – something she is seriously good at. Last week she made a white chicken chili – something I’d never had before that just blew me away…fantastic.
But my PackerFanNess started from age zero with my grandfather, who was at the Ice Bowl and was a season ticket holder forever. I used to go to games with him occasionally at County Stadium. My Brother Steve, my younger brother Dan and my sister Julianna have all been fans since age zero. My dad, originally from Michigan, had no trouble converting from being a Lions’ fan after meeting my mom (and my grandpa), and has been an out of control Packer fan ever since. And my mom has been a fan herself, and tolerant of our crazy collective fan-ness, for a long time.
For many years, we watched Packer games at my grandparents’ house – eating grandma’s hamburgers while drinking root beer floats. The last Packers game we watched with my grandpa before he died in 1997? The Packers’ Super Bowl win. That was a great day – he was so proud.
packergeeks 
February 2, 2011 at 12:58 pm |
This is a great post! Sundays meant 3 things in my house growing up: Church, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, and Packers football. People often ask how I became such a huge fan since I am not from WI, and I always say “It’s because my mother raised me right.” I used to pout when she made me go to bed before MNF was over – I usually just went to my room and found the game on the radio. Since we lived in Viking territory (North Dakota), I also took my role of defending the Packers honor on the playground pretty seriously.
I converted my husband into a fan, and the day Favre signed with the Vikes, we bought tickets to the Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau. It was how we celebrated our first anniversary. I like to remind him all the time how lucky he is that his wife wanted to go to a football game on our anniversary!
February 2, 2011 at 1:01 pm |
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6081007
Not sure how y’all feel about Murphy’s stance on this, but I think the Green Bay Packers are a great organization…I love hearing this, cause even though Favre’s a diva (putting it kindly) the organization is better than him and recognizes it.
GO PACK!
February 2, 2011 at 1:16 pm |
I don;t remember if it was on this blog or PFT but someone mentioned that SB 50 (sorry don;t know my ROman Numerals) might be a good time to put Favre in the ring of honor. Probably the same year he goes in the HOF.
If Aaron keeps doing what he’s doing I think he’ll end up with more rings. As much as I was calling for TT & MM’s head last year I now see the reason why they are HC & GM & I am not. Crow never tasted so good.
February 2, 2011 at 1:08 pm |
Great post. My wife is a big fan now. She grew up in Iowa and never really cared about the NFL until we started dating. She screams louder then I do now. My 7 year son watches now and I try to patient with all his queries. He has had his Superbowl “costume” picked out for three days now. I also have a 3.5 year old. She could care less and it is hard to placate her for 3+ hours during the games. Thank god for the DVR and my latest appeasement tactic is to build her a large fort out of couch cushions and blankets right before the game starts.
February 2, 2011 at 1:21 pm |
Funny you mentioned your wife & Chili. I’m from NC & my wife is fromm Santa Barbara. When she first moved out here she made a white chili for me that was absolutely out of this world but I literally could not speak above a whisper for 2 days. It was serioulsy hot ( as is she).
Our best two Thanksgivings ever were in 96 & 97 when we were sitting in the Holiday Inn in Green Bay eating Pizza and then on SUnday got to see the Pack beat the Vikes one year and the Bears the other. By pure dumb luck those were also GB’s last 2 SB years. GB is a great, great city. Never met so many friendly people. Felt welcome everywhere I went.
February 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm |
Some of my fondest (and earliest) memories are going to games with my family. I was lucky enough to grow up in GB, so I had a wonderful chance to see a lot of games, but never once have I taken it for granted. It still takes my breath away to walk from the concourse to the stands and see the screaming masses fill up Lambeau. A great place, a great city!
And someone mentioned it earlier….but I have not, in all my games there, seen any Packer fans with harsh words for fans of an opposing team. Its always “good luck, but I hope you lose!” with lots of “welcome to GB/Lambeau – its great to have you here, please come back.” That’s how we were brought up and that spirit will always be pervasive there!
February 2, 2011 at 2:00 pm |
Both my parents were Packer fans. My mom probably more so than my dad. When I was a kid, my room was painted green and yellow. I had posters of the Packers on my closet door. Footballs were on the bed instead of stuffed animals. I have a decent Packer Shrine and I’ll be going to Dallas for the game on Sunday. I have tickets to the $200 standing room only section. I hope to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy a Packer victory. Go Pack Go!
February 2, 2011 at 2:22 pm |
My wife and I grew up in Wisconsin. She was a bigger fan than I was. In those days, all home games were blacked out in the local market (they later modified the rule to show sell-outs). Because I grew up in the Green Bay broadcast area, I automatically missed half the games. My wife had tickets in her family, so even though she didn’t get to go to many games herself, the whole Sunday Packer thing was an integral part of her youth. Her parents turned the tickets over to us when they moved to California. When we moved to California 3 years later, we were smart enough to keep them.
I am proud of the fact that even though my kids (23 and 20) grew up entirely in California, they have always been Packer fans. Our daughter moved to Chicago last year, and she was able to go to three games at Lambeau Field this year, two with one or both parents, and the last game of the year with her brother who came to visit her during Christmas break so they could go to the game. It was a generational changing of the guard – our kids went to the game without us!
February 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm |
Great article on the TT/Favre thing looking back. Man, did he have some balls…..
and look at how that draft turned out!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/02/02/thompson/index.html?eref=sihp
February 3, 2011 at 5:33 pm |
I had made excellent plans to watch with my family and a bunch of friends of mine but then the unthinkable happened. I snagged 2 tickets to the big game. After some frantic work involving frequent flier mileage, my boy and are are going.
Thank God that plans can change. See you all in Dallas…
GO PACK!!!!!!!!!
February 4, 2011 at 10:58 am |
Wow Doug – that sounds awesome. Have fun with the boys!
February 3, 2011 at 9:38 pm |
I completely agree with the “want to enjoy the game with friends yet want to enjoy the game myself” notion…ie. yell, scream, cheer, jump, et al uncharacteristic forms of frenzy that would scare my friends and certainly frighten their children.
We had people over for the NFC championship game and I just couldn’t get “into it.” Too busy muting my excitement and toning down the crazy (didn’t help some of them were Bears fans). My wife & I are going to watch the Big Game solo so we can kick back and cut loose and let our green & gold flow.
Not having lived in WI for a number of years, I find my love for the Packers waxing yearly, perhaps in association with my increasing appreciation for Wisconsin compared to all the other places I’ve lived…
February 4, 2011 at 10:58 am |
nothing worse than having to mute your excitement Joe. sounds smart to go solo with you wife for the big game.