I am a fan of the Green Bay Packers. So was my father, grandfather, in laws, aunts and uncles, mom, wife and kids. We are all in around here. One of my earliest memories is of the '65 championship game. Packers beat the Browns. I was five. I remember the mud, thinking that the Pack could outsmart the Browns because the 15 on Starr could be confused with the 5 on Horning, and cutting out all the pictures from the papers in the following days.
I watched a lot of Packer games with my Dad when I was a kid. Hot ham sandwiches and chips were usually the meal of the day. We would pick the winners of all the games and then see how good of predictors we were. We had a good run with the teams of the 60's with the Super Bowls and all, and then of course everything went down hill. Oh well.
I remember the first Packer game I went to. It was in November of 1969. Dad and I went to Milwaukee County Stadium and watched the Pack lose to the New York football Giants. I sat in the top row of the right field bleachers, right on the end of the row closest to the grandstand. Froze half to death. It was fun. Went to number of games over the years in Milwaukee. Finally got to Lambeau when I got to college. Don't recall much of that.
It was hard being a Packer fan for a long time. Boy there were some cruddy teams from the late 60's to the early 90's. No players wanted to be there, coaching was bad, people were happy when the Pack got to .500---or near it. The fans kept going to the games though. Finally we got Wolf and Holmgren and Favre. Success finally returned. Happy days. We had a big Super Bowl party and the kids were running all over the place and it sure was fun. Thought it would last a long time, alas it was not to be. But one Super Bowl win was better than none. One of my favorite memories of Stew (the boy) was after the Packers lost the Super Bowl in 1997. I was (understandably) in a sour mood, but he told me "At least the Packers usually win." Boy if he had lived through the Bengston, Starr, Gregg coaching eras.....
I have many memories of the Pack, both good and bad. I hate the Bears and Cowboys. I don't like the Lions or Vikings, don't have many strong feelings about any other teams. I can still name most of the players (and their numbers!) from the great 60's teams ( that's how I learned my times tables). Heck I even know obscure guys from the rotten 70's teams. I remember the first time I took Stew to Lambeau (beat Phiily 6-3) and the last (lost to the Texans--the Texans??). We've been to the Hall of Fame, and tail gated in the stadium lot in the middle of summer. I remember games with the neighbors in the street, in bars, and alone in front of the set. Spent a lot of time and money on the Pack. That's how it is when you're part owner ya' know.
So the Packers are pretty good again, have been for a number of years. Plenty of good players, considered one of the better teams in the league. Won another Super Bowl a couple of years ago. Haven't had very many "bad" seasons for 20 some odd years now. As I have aged I try not to let the results get to me as much as they once did, but tonight will find me in front of the TV rooting them on, hopefully to victory. I'll be happy if they win, angry if they lose (especially to the damn Bears!), but either way I'll still be a fan of the Gren Bay Packers!!!
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