Week 17 vs Lions
Alot had been spoken about in the lead up to this week’s game. The big loss to the Bears last week, the weather, the playoffs and whether Coach McCarthy should or shouldn’t play his starters. As far as I was concerned none of it mattered. I was just looking forward to another Sunday at Lambeau Field in the cold that is December.
Having Marco here was great. Sharing the game day experience of the surrounding areas and the craziness of the Packer parking lot was something I will forever savour. I say it my video this week but I’ll say it again here, the aura of Lambeau Field and the community surrounding it on game day makes this place one of the most fantastic sporting venues in the world.
We set off at about 930 this morning to walk to Lambeau from our apartment so that Marc could get a taste of Packer Nation right from the start. When we arrived we meet up with Sue, a friend I’ve made throughout the season for some of the most delicious Brats I’ve ever tasted. She also forced a Bloody Mary down my throat. I said no (once) but she insisted so Sue, I blame you.
After that we met up with Ben and his friends who take tailgating just as seriously. Arriving at 630 this morning they set up their grill, their tent and produced some of the most delicious Booya (?) I have ever tasted. What a breakfast. By 1030am we’d managed to down Brats, Booya and Bloody Mary’s in a breakfast that was only rivalled by the one I had in Kansas City.
Now I don’t know if it was because today was the last game of the season, it being against Detroit or the fact that SpongeBob CheesePants himself was there but there seemed to be a ton of people around come kick off time. As we made our approach to the Oneida gate the throng became too much and we headed to the Verizon entry. A little tip for those that haven’t been yet, the Verizon gate is by far the quickest one to enter through.
We went to the game today with Tom and Tyler, friends that Kelly and had I made alot earlier in the season. Tyler is the 10 year old that makes snowmen better than this 30 year old could ever imagine. Going with these guys was great. Tom should leave his day job to work the comedy circuit and seeing anything through a 10 year old’s eyes is always fun.
As the first quarter started I was excited to know that I had another game in 2 weeks time to attend that wasn’t on the calendar. From as early as May, when I first had the idea to come here, I didn’t expect to have a home playoff game. Our plans, as they were, were to see the regular season games, enjoy the ride of our lives, see the Superbowl in LA and fly home 2 days after that. As it stands, who knows what the heck is going to happen now.
By the time the second quarter was set to start we were 14 – 3 up with a 2nd and 9 on the Detroit 10. On the next play (pictured) we were in courtesy of Brett’s pass to Bubba and the score was 21 – 3. Not bad for 15 and a half minutes.
Thanks to the excitement of what was transpiring I was looking forward to a big score by games end. On the contrary I was concerned that Brett may be replaced earlier than expected as a result. Turns out my fears were met with Brett being replaced by Craig Nall.
I didn’t want to think of it as a nothing game but at this point it was hard not to. Brett had been replaced and Ryan Grant had left with a knock to his arm (shoulder?). Brett I understood but Ryan I was devastated for. He’s played his heart out for us over the last 10 weeks. If anybody deserved a 1,000 yard Rookie season it’d be him. In fact, did you know that had he have played every game this season, at his average yards per game, he would have taken the rushing title from LaDanian Tomlinson? (Photo courtesy of Corey Wilson, http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com)
On top of Brett and Ryan being out, the likes of Driver, Jennings, Lee, Kampman and Woodson didn’t play at all. Plus Detroit had already used all of their magic beans in the first 7 weeks of the season so it wasn’t like they were set to make a contest out of what was left of the game. At least the halftime entertainment was good. A painting by an 8 brush wielding athletic artist who made what he was doing look like a cross between a gymnastic fit and a painting accident. The end result was awesome though.
We cracked the hand warmers (which doubled as ear warmers at one point), toastie toes and hot chocolates by Q3 and tried to get a Fosters for the road but the stand was closed. Blast that “last drinks at ¾ time” rule. Either way, starters or not, we had a great time and Marc, despite his affection for the West Coast Eagles and Subiaco Oval (Aussie Rules) is definitely the most recent fan to join the Packers ranks.
After the game we made it over to Dr Funs, a place I’m sure many people here in Green Bay have heard of (pictured here with 2 of the 11 original Dr’s). We stayed there a little while before we picked Kelly up and went to Brett’s Steakhouse again. We hung out with my mate Pete, met his friend Wink, owner of the “Packer Limo” and spoke about our plans for Arizona just in case.
The day in history:
- With this win the Packers finished the season 13 – 3, tying an all time franchise record for the most wins in a single season. We have finished with 13 wins 3 times before, 1962*, 1996 and 1997, going to the Superbowl on each occasion. (* in 1962 it was still called the NFL Championship)
- This season was the teams 18th Divisional Championship in history
- Next weekend will mark the 23rd season in history that the Packers have made the post season
- Brett had the 3rd best yardage total per season of his career with 4155, the 4th best completions total of his career with 356 and the best completion percentage of 66.5 of his career.
I can’t beleive i’m writing this but BRING ON THE POST SEASON BABY.....WOOHOO!
