The one event in my life I will always remember is seeing my favorite football team play. My dream of seeing the Greenbay Packers play at Lambau Field is now going to be a reality. One day after a long day at work, I stopped into my hometown sports bar to watch Monday night football. The guys and I always razz each other about our favorite teams, as all guys do. A longtime friend of mine, Tim, came in to the bar a short time after. I haven’t seen Tim in quite some time so, of course I was excited to see him. Tim said he came there looking for me because he had a surprise for me.
I could not even imagine what it might be. Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be some sort of tickets. Somehow, Tim landed two tickets to go see the Greenbay Packer vs. the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field in October. Tim, knowing what a huge Greenbay fanlam, said, “I don’t know anyone who I would rather enjoy going on a road trip to Greenbay with than you. ” “Want to go? ” I could not say “yes” fast enough. The game was two months away, so I had plenty of time to make arrangements. I put in for the time off work and, of course, I had to get permission from my wife.
I got the green light. My dream trip is now going to be a reality. The Greenbay Packers and the Chicago Bears have been longtime rivals since 1921. The teams have played each other 192 times in 95 years. The big day finally arrived. We loaded up the car and started our 885 mile trip to Greenbay. We figured the trip should take us approximately fourteen hours. After several hours of driving we arrived in Pittsburg. We decided to stop and take a quick break for gas and a drink. Two to three hours later we arrived in Cleveland, where we decided to stop and get a bite to eat.
We stopped at a local favorite “The Winking Lizard Lounge. ” The food and atmosphere was awesome. After this much needed break, we got back on the road to pursue our final destination, Greenbay. Several hours later we passed through Chicago. The home of our rivals. It was a neat city. Next we passed through Milwaukee, Wisconsin and finally 2 hours later, with my eyes wide open, we entered Greenbay. A small little city surrounded by lots of lakes and bodies of water. The population is only about 105 thousand people. The tallest building only reaches about 98 feet. My heart started racing.
I was so excited. Home of the Greenbay Packers, Lambeau Field opened in 1957. It’s nickname is “The Frozen Tundra” because of the frigid conditions and often frozen playing field. The stadiums nickname was a result of a game played between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. In 1967, the teams met and played in temperatures of -150 degrees F (-26 degrees). The game became known as the “Ice Bowl” and Lambeau was forever known as “The Frozen Tundra”. A popular occurance at a Packer game is “The Lambeau Leap”. This is a popular occurrence, when a player will jump in to the stands after scoring a touchdown.
Another amazing fact about the Greenbay Packers is that it is the only NFL team to be owned by the community. We checked into our hotel late Friday evening and decided to just chill and get a good night rest so we could enjoy the Saturday afternoon game. The next morning we parked our coolers and headed to the stadium. It was time to do some serious tailgating! This was an amazing experience the fans were awesome and so much fun. The time has come. Time to enter the stadium to watch the Greenbay Packers play the Chicago Bears. Now, at this point, I haven’t been in the stadium.
The sound of 78,000 fans cheering on their teams was totally awesome. We found our seats and settled in to watch the big game, with a beer and a couple of hot dogs of course. When Greenbay came onto the field the crowd went nuts. The experience of watching a game in real life as opposed to television was an experience I can’t explain. It gave me chills. Brett Farve, my favorite player and the quarterback, had an amazing day. He had four touchdown passes and threw for 358 yards. I saw the “Lambeau Leap” five times. Hearing the crowd and being around 78,000 cheering fans is something I will never forget.
We ended up winning the game 35-14, the fans were cheering and ready to celebrate the win. Aftter the game we tailgated with the fans again in the parking lot. We toasted with a couple of beers for the victory. Some of the fans invited us to join them at The Big D’s Bar for more after party celebration. It was a total blast! About midnight it was time to head back to the hotel and get some rest for the journey home. In the morning we got some breakfast and headed for home with some wonderful memories of this amazing trip. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends and family about this trip of a life time.
