For the third consecutive year, I have been the lucky recipient of tickets to a Green Bay Packers game. My benefactors are the aunt and uncle of John Dopp, who is married to our niece, Anna.
Jim and Suzie Efferland are long-time Green Bay area residents. Early in his legal career, Jim did some work for the Packers management and was rewarded with season tickets. Suzie told us she knew a lady who got her son on the waiting list for season tickets when she was pregnant with him. The son is in his late 30s now and is still waiting for those tickets. Unlike many folks who make the claim, both Jim and Suzie attended the Ice Bowl where the Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys for the league championship. Jim said, "If everyone in Green Bay who says they were at that game actually attended it, the stadium would have had to be triple its size."
Golfing buddy, Nick Kjos, and I took advantage of Efferland's hospitality by enjoying great "comfort food" [as Jim described it] at their home in Allouez, just across the river from Green Bay. We had a wonderful time chatting and three hours slipped by in a hurry.
In 2006, Pam and I ate at the Union Hotel where I quaffed some of those wonderful Wisconsin suds known as New Glarus beer. Nick poses in front of a '58 Caddy parked outside the hotel. Yes, we did sample a Spotted Cow and Fat Squirrel.
As usual, the rooms in Green Bay were almost entirely gone by the time we made reservations. There was only one bed in the motel room and Nick says he is a thrasher so we bought an air mattress. It is shown here, stowed in the hot tub we never used.
If you've been to a professional football game, you know that part of the fun is seeing the getups some of the fans wear on game day. For October 19, the weather was fairly decent--breezy but not too cold.
Don't know if this guy eventually crapped out.
Posing with two of my buddies
It was a 3:00 game and we drove to the stadium before 11:00 a.m. There were three large tents set up in the parking lot on the east side of the stadium. For $5.00 you could get out of the wind, buy food and drink, and watch one of several NFL games on the many flat screens inside. There were even a few Indianapolis Colt fans in attendance. Note how they ripped off the cheesehead idea. We had a beer with this couple and, all things considered, they were pretty decent folk. We watched the Vikings lose to the Bears, 48-41. Yes!!
This lady must have been a mere child when she attended her first game.