We ran smack into a Chicago Bears fan dressed as Hugh Hefner last night as we made our way into Lambeau Field and we knew the 193rd game of the NFL’s oldest rivalry would be one for the books.
We saw fireworks and lightning, both in the sky and on the field, and sat with our most jovial crowd of the season.
Here are my own top five moments from last night’s 35-14 Packer victory, which broke a 93-93-6 tie and gave Green Bay the rivalry lead for the first time since 1933.
- The national anthem, in which I hooked arms with my sister on one side, and my new friend Cliff on the other, while Cliff and Kathy also held their right hands over their hearts. I thought the anthem ceremony was very dignified and I especially like it when the crowd sings along.
- The Aaron series, in which nimble veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers hurled a 58-yard pass to Jordy Nelson and then handed the ball off to rookie Aaron Jones, who scampered in for his first career touchdown. I loved this series because last year Aaron Jones suited up for Texas El Paso and could not have imagined taking a handoff under the Lambeau lights from Aaron Rodgers. Go Aarons!
- The weather delay. It was actually kind of a pain, and it took forever for us to make our way up from our seats to the concourse, but it gave us a chance to run into Suzanne Jordan, whose dad, Henry Jordan, played football with our dad, Ron Kostelnik, back in the day. Our dads were very good friends and it was cool to connect in the same stadium they played in all those years ago.
- Martellus Bennett’s six catches without a drop. I’m just happy to see the big guy hang onto the ball and I’m hoping we can work him into our game plan more as the season goes on (and I’m not just saying that because he’s on my Fantasy Football team). Seriously. It’s for the good of the team. We need a little more tight end action, am I right?
- The crazy Bear fan in front of us who ripped his Kyle Long jersey off in frustration, turned it inside out, and then put it back on again. That’ll show ’em.
Obviously, my least favorite part of the evening was the brutal hit on poor Davante Adams. We hope and pray that the injury is less serious than it looked and that the young athlete will recover soon.
For those of you how weren’t in that soggy stadium last night, here are a few pics:
Great! Happy to see you enjoying the entertaining evening.
It was neat to see a close-up of Unkus during the pre-game festivities of the Bears game this past week. They were talking about the Ice Bowl, I’m sure you have seen at times your dad’s close-up. They seem to always use his image when talking about the Ice Bowl.
As I read your post about your mom, Dana and John in the glory days/Ice Bowl and the latest Melt Bowl, it made me think that you could call this last one The Lightning Bowl. I’m glad the PACK won but it would have been better for me if the score was 33 – 14 because I have the Pack in my 33 pool. At least you guys beat the Bears, my Steelers choked in overtime.
Oh by the way…did you plant the garlic I sent? Hope you did and kept a few cloves to plant in mid-October.
Tell all of your family that I said hello. Thank your family for their generosity to Central Cambria’s Football team with which they were able to purchase a new tackling sled (my daughter Lisa, a teacher at CC, let me know about this as I am not on Facebook).
GO PACK GO!
Nick, Roseann & Lisa
That lightning was something! I do have some of that precious garlic left to plant in mid October. As soon as you give me the word, I will get it in the ground. I did lots and lots of reading about planting garlic and that’s why I saved some for fall. Thank you again for that cool gift