I don’t know the gentleman who frequently sits in the front row of section 117 at Lambeau, but I’ve seen more of his tattoos than I care to admit. He almost never wears a shirt.
So, I took it as a good omen when he made his way to his seat yesterday, high-fiving strangers like an extra friendly celebrity and wearing little more than his green and gold overalls.
Let’s go!
The game time temperature may have been in the teens, but we weren’t cold. Sure, I had six more layers on than my bare-chested buddy, but I also had an exciting football game to distract me.
Go Pack Go!
I didn’t know the Bear fan sitting directly to my right either, but by the end of the game we were practically family.
I took a couple of pictures for him and his friend and he gifted me with a great line.
“I figured out why they’re called the Packers,” he said. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with the meat packing industry. They call them the Packers because they really pack people into this stadium.”
He’s right. As I mentioned before, we’re squished into that section like a bunch of goose feathers in a brand new pillow. It takes some shifting to find a comfortable position and then we all have to turn in unison to follow the action.
You get to know each other pretty well that way.
Fortunately, the Bear fans in our section were an amiable group.
When Packer CB/WR Bo Melton scored a touchdown, I could not contain my excitement. I told my new friend the whole story of how Bo started the season as a converted cornerback and then switched back to wide receiver when the injury bug hit.
“And now he scored a touchdown!” I said. “Can you believe it?”
He could not.
The wild momentum swings in that game kept us all on the edge of our bench seats, though we stood the whole game anyway.
“Does everyone normally stand for the whole game here?” my Bear fan buddy asked.
“In this section they mostly do,” I said.
I felt bad for the Bear fans when Keisean Nixon nabbed that game-winning interception to seal a 28-21 Packer victory.
I thought the Bears played an inspired second half. (I also think our Packers need to cut way back on the penalties.)
It’s a great rivalry and we get to watch round two in two weeks.
Go Pack Go!
