Div. Playoff 2/3 - Game
After a 20 minute or so wait Nancy and I headed past the pat down area and through the turnstile with our tickets in hand. I was at an NFC Divisional Playoff game at Lambeau Field. The thought of ever being here for a playoff game was one I had had forever. Standing there, inside the stadium, 10 minutes from kickoff though, I just couldn’t believe it.
I hate to say that “dreams” come true because the thought of such usually relates to some fairy godmother type figure coming to you in your sleep and waving her magic wand. In my case, there at the stadium, standing still as I looked around me, I came to realise more than ever, that you can do anything you want in life, so long as you are prepared to go out and do it.
I had literally stopped living the life I had fallen into. For the entire season, especially today, I was living the life I wanted. Once that moment had passed (there were plenty more like that by the way) we began to make our way to Nancy’s seats.
We separated when I decided, for the first time this season, to fill out a sponsors application form to get free Packers stuff. As I was applying for my new MasterCard (read free Packers blanket and towel) the fellow next to me produced his Social Security Card and Driver’s Licence on request. Not being from around here I took my quarter filled application, scrunched it up and put it in my pocket remembering the good old saying “you get nothing for nothing”. Plus kick off was getting close so this really was an unrequired diversion.
I began my approach up the tunnel, from the concourse, to the stadium and started to get a little emotional. I truly couldn’t believe this was happening. As I wrote that last line, the butterflies just came back. I was at Lambeau Field for a playoff game in January. I saw the word “playoffs” painted on the grass, I heard the fans screaming with their yellow pompoms in hand and I watched as the snowfall lightly blanketed us all. I had to shut my eyes to stop myself from crying them out.
It was a magical moment. More so than first walking through the gates in Week 1 versus Philadelphia. More so than any other time in the entire season. Seeing Brett break every record that he did this year was great. Being here tonight though, when nobody thought we would be, was better than all of those put together (how clichéd). If you doubt whether players put their team before their career stats, a night like tonight would knock that out of you quick smart I reckon.
My seat was found, the players introduced, the anthem sung and the kickoff kicked. It was football time. We fumbled the first play from scrimmage and Seattle scored on the second. We were down 7 – 0 after 20 seconds. We got the ball back and fumbled on our second play of the drive. 6 plays later Seattle scored again and we were down 14 – 0 after less than 4 minutes. It was the exact start we were hoping for only it was the wrong way around.
Whilst some around us were starting to get upset I was still optimistic. I’d much rather be down 14 – 0 after 4 minutes than 14 – 0 with 4 minutes to go. There was still 56 minutes left after all and the positive to come out of it was that Seattle had major assistance in scoring the points they did. On our next drive we took the ball some 70 yards and scored all on our lonesome. (The oic is Mason Crosby’s PAT)
At this point I was in absolute raptures. The touchdown came with no thanks to a Seattle turnover and no thanks to anyone but our entire offence and a solid execution of plays. Plays that were not tested thanks to the first couple of mishaps that was. All of a sudden it was 14 – 7 and the party had started. On top of that the green of the grass was starting to disappear under the thinnest blanket of white snow and it looked as though the heavens were going to stay open for alot longer yet.
Our next possession resulted in a touchdown, the formation pictured here and so did the one after that. With 4 minutes gone in the game we were down 14 – 0. After 16 and a half minutes we were leading 21 – 14. My heart was beating like a jockeys whip and a smile it seemed had been tattooed to my chin. (Apologies to Greg Jennings on that last score by the way. I credited Donald Driver for the touchdown on my video. After further inspection they ran a crossing route and in the excitement I missed it completely.)
By this time in the game shovelers had started clearing the snow off the field so that you could see the yardage lines underneath. I loved watching this, it was like nothing I had never seen before in my life. As I looked up at the sky to close my eyes and let the snow fall down on my face I knew right there we were in for something special.
On the next possession, after forcing Seattle to 3 and out, Brandon Jackson hit their kicker on 4th and 1, after a terrible kick mind you, and gave the visitors an automatic first down. I was beside myself on this penalty. For some reason the two fumbles by Ryan Grant I could live with, I mean let’s face it, the yards he had accumulated in the last 10 weeks went a long way to getting us here in the first place. This penalty though? Man was I steaming. Everybody knows kickers are off limits and after the 3 plays our defence had given us, we deserved the ball back. Instead we gifted them 3 points and the 17 they had accumulated had all come courtesy of us and our silver platter.
That 3 points lived with me for some time as I hoped against hope that the game wouldn’t go down to the wire thanks to this crazy penalty.
For the fourth consecutive drive we managed to score a touchdown but this time we burned nearly all of the time left on the clock so that Seattle had no chance to make a comeback. With that it was halftime and we were up 28 – 17. (I know, I made another mistake on the video quoting the halftime score as 34 -17. Come to think of it, I made quite a few mistakes tonight. You can blame it on the 101 emotions that were racing through me for the 4 hours we were there.)
At the half, conscious of not wanting to miss a single second of the game, Nancy and I did a runner to the bathrooms and the food stands. I was hoping to insert my foot warmers whilst up there too but the queue inside the men’s was longer than a wet week. Nancy grabbed the dinner, 2 brats for me, one for her plus another beer from our good friend Richard and we were set to see the rest of the game.
It’s here that I’ll take a rest talking football and get to explaining the experience of what being there on Saturday night was actually like. It was the greatest game of football I have ever seen in my life, on television or in the flesh. The sort of experience that you hope at some point in your life you get to enjoy. The atmosphere was absolutely insane. The shouting, the emotions and the sheer joy in the faces of those around me will forever frame the mental pictures I took whilst I was there.
We lived the lows of the first few minutes and rode high on the adrenalin of the remaining 56. We high fived and shook hands with complete strangers as the night was starting to turn our way. By the time the game was over we were hugging them in the aisles and swapping phone numbers to catch up during the week.
I was freezing cold with a wet bum whilst we were losing. I was pumped full of the warmth that only adrenalin can provide from the moment we equalled the score. As the snow started to limit our visibility we stood for the rest of the game. I don’t know if I can truly put into words what being in that storm was actually like. Some have called it the snow bowl. Some have the best game of their lives.
To me, it was like being in a mantelpiece globe. It didn’t matter where you looked or for how long you tried to avoid it. You couldn’t escape it. There was snow falling to the left and right of you, in front and behind you. If you didn’t close your eyes when you looked up you’d have had flakes in them almost immediately. If you did, all you could feel was the soft tickle of each flake as it melted slowly into your warm skin. Shaken or not there was some serious snow and from what I could gather, everybody loved it.
That’s Wisconsin for you. More pertinent though would be to say that that’s Green Bay Packers football for you.
As I tried to see what I could see by the end of the third quarter I took notice of the crowd as a whole. 73,000 people with snow on their hats, snow on their shoulders and smiles on their faces as above. It was so wonderful. Sure, it made watching the game difficult, if in fact you could see any of it at all but it made the experience even more exciting than it already was.
Watching the tractor come through the centre of the field during the 4th quarter as above was absolutely priceless.
By the end of the game the score was - Green Bay Packers 42, Seattle Seahawks 20. Or, if we look at the game after the worst 4 minute start in history, it was 42 – 6. The whole experience was truly amazing.
On top of all that happened tonight, Brett joined Joe Montana as the only two quarterbacks in the history of the game to pass for 5,000 yards in the post season and Ryan Grant, in rushing for 201 yards broke the all time Packers post season record previously recorded by Ahman Green in 2004.
