Shoveling Lambeau
I was hoping that this morning would prove 3rd time lucky in the case of my trying to help shovel at Lambeau Field. This was always very high on my list of must do things so already missing out a few times made me a little shaky come this time of year.
My first attempt, on the 5th of December was thwarted by being so far behind on the site that I decided to stay home and work a little before I went out. The call was for volunteers to get there at 8am. I arrived after lunch and was laughed at when I asked if they were still working inside.
My second attempt was again set to start at 8am so, having learned my lesson from the first, I got there at about 10 past. The line that greeted me though stretched so far around Lambeau Field that I didn’t even bother getting out of the car. I did two laps to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, contemplated what an 8am start time actually meant and went home hoping that another chance would come.
Thankfully, despite the fact that I couldn’t have been any luckier that we still had a home game this deep in the season, my final opportunity came today. There was another chance before the Pep Rally but with Kelly being in Vegas for the latter part of the week I’m not counting that as a miss.
This morning, having learned from both previous attempts and heeding the advice of all I had spoken to, I arrived at 8am for a 10am start. The line was still long but I joined it anyway. After an hour or so, wondering whether I had just wasted a good part of my morning, an official walked by counting us in line. I was somewhere around 240. Excited, even though my insulated cup of hot chocolate was but a distant memory, I began to smile with the thought that in just 60 minutes I’d be inside, shovelling snow at historic Lambeau Field. Not for a good old regular season game though, it would be for the 2008 NFC Championship Game. How cool is that?
The attitude amongst all once we realised we were in the top 300 changed dramatically. Knowing that we (pictured above) were in line for a reason opened everybody up and before we knew it there were 5 of us deep in conversation, talking Packers, Seahawks, Giants and Patriots. Oh, Tony Romo and Terrell Owens crying after their loss on Sunday received good coverage aswell.
As 10am rolled around the line went from not having moved at all in 2 hours to flowing nicely, around the corner, into the Mills Fleet Farm gate. There we filled out our details card and received our shovel for the day. It felt like the good old days, straight out of school. Back then, I helped a mates Dad who was a builder on some of his sites. I, with the rest of the kids there my age literally turned up to the site, waited for our instructions then got to it.
Proud as punch that I had made it this far I practically skipped to the section that we had been sent, unzipped my jacket a little and got to work. After 5 minutes I was ready to snap a few pics, thank them for their time and make my way back out of the stadium. Funny thing is though, once I was inside working, I didn’t want to stop. I felt like, as a fan, it was my duty to clear as much snow as humanly possible. It was like I owed it to them for all of the good times I had had there over the last 4 months.
The shovelling out of Lambeau Field is such a time honoured tradition. I really did feel like one of the lucky ones this morning. Sure I was cold and sweating at the same time but like I’ve said before, this is what being in Green Bay is all about. If you live here and you haven’t done it you should. If you’ve never been here before but find yourself in town when the call to fans is made then you should do it too.
Seeing the other 300 people or so all working toward a common goal, most with their Packers gear on was something else. There was our group on one side of the field and a second group on the other. Slowly, via a taped together ramp of what looked like aluminium fence palings, the snow would disappear from the stands and onto the field. The tractor there would pick it up and dump it into a waiting truck whilst we the shoveler’s would hoist our ramps above our heads and move it another two blocks over, just to start it all over again.
As the ramps kept moving over I looked back at where we had been. The snow was gone and the stadium clearing. Our Packers, the greatest team in the history of the game had their home field back again. Most importantly though, the fans that keep the spirit of this field alive will have somewhere clean to sit as they cheer them on. It was a very rewarding morning.
The camaraderie, the feeling of belonging, the fact that you know you are clearing the seat of another fan as somebody else clears the seat you’ll sit on is priceless. I can’t put it into words any other way. I was proud to do my bit while I was there and thankful for the opportunity to do so.
As for the rest of the day, I did an interview with WTMJ of Milwaukee at the stadium before I left and then Kelly and I sat down with Meg from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the afternoon.
Having been gone for most of the morning and leaving Kel with the kids, we swapped roles so that she could get out with Tari for a bite to eat and a little quite time herself. As our crazy little kids went off to sleep, I jumped back online knowing full there was still a ton of work to be done.
