Packers Stock Sale Next Week!

Just in time for Christmas and Hanukah, the Packers are offering another stock sale, starting next Tuesday.  When the Packers last did this (in 1997), my wife, my kids and I all bought stock, and have never regretted showing our support for the Packers this way.  It is not, in any normal sense, an investment.  Proceeds will be used to fund additional Lambeau Field expansion, including the new end zone seats which will be built.  A summary of some of the information available about the stock sale is available here.  Full disclosure information will be available later.

Anyway, thanks to Packer blogger Jersey Al and to my friend Peter Chen for reminding me of the stock sale. Go out and become an NFL owner!

Happy New Year!

SAN FRANCISCO — You probably thought you would get to survive an entire Packer season without hearing from me, didn’t you? Well, it almost happened, but here I am, with two days left in the regular season. What would possess me to crawl out from under my rock at this time? A combination of three things. First, the desire to make one more attempt at letting remote Packer fans know that the game has been bumped to Sunday night on NBC, at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time, 7:15 p.m. Lambeau Field time, and 5:15 p.m. Pacific time. What with the Packers (incredibly) possibly still in the playoff hunt by that time, Packer fans should cancel their New Year’s Eve plans, and concentrate their mental energy on willing the Packers to victory over the Bears.

Second, believe it or not, a few readers have actually written to me wondering why I have not been writing, and urging me to do so. And no, they were not family members. Finally, I do feel a little guilty about not having had anything to say until now about the Packers’ trip to San Francisco 3 weeks ago. If the “West Coast Offensive” correspondent can’t report on that, then what can he report on?

So let’s talk about the game. The Freemans went with Peter and Andrew Chen. Long-time readers may recall that Andrew is a Bay Area high school Packer fan, and his dad Peter worked with me years ago. Peter sort of ghost-wrote a column for me last year after their pilgrimage to Lambeau field for the Browns game that year. Anyway, Peter had the foresight to call the 49ers ticket office looking for tickets for all of us, and found that they indeed had some, at face value, with the game day still months away at that time. It never would have occurred to me to assume that tickets would be available this way.

The Freemans and Chens sat in the very top row of the stadium – you might call the seats “Bob Uecker” seats, but we had a great perspective on the field and the game. Anyone who watched the game probably recalls the high percentage of Packer fans in the stands, complete with chants of “Go Pack, Go!” at points during the game, to the eternal consternation of the 49er fans in the stands. We have gone to every Packer game in San Francisco or Oakland since 1980, and in that time we have seen the attitudes of the 49er fans come full circle. During the 49er “glory days” in the 1980’s, the Packers and their fans were treated as harmless curiosities, even if the Packers won the game. During the flowering of the Favre/Holmgren Packers in and after the 1995 through 1997 seasons, it seemed as if many of the 49er fans were good-natured about the drubbings they received at the hands of the Packers. Yes, it was shocking to them (especially that first game in January 1996), but the 49ers had had plenty of good years, and maybe it was time for somebody else to get a chance at some glory.

Then, in the disastrous playoff game after the 1998 season (a/k/a the Terrell Owens game or Holmgren’s last game), the viciousness of the 49er fans seemed to come back. They were sick and tired of losing to the Packers, and were very happy to let the Packer fans in the crowd that day know how they felt. But in 2006, now that both teams are so far past their prime that they are in rebuilding mode, it seems as if the 49er fans don’t care that much if the Packers win yet again. After all, I imagine they told themselves three weeks ago, neither one of these teams is likely to go to the playoffs, and if by chance they do, they will not go far. In other words, the fact that the Packers are 10-1 against the 49ers during the Brett Favre era seems to give a lot more joy to me than it brings anguish to the 49er fans.

But just to make sure you know that the 49er fans were not ALL in a good mood on December 10, here are 3 quick vignettes. In the 4th quarter, in our section not far from our seats, a 49er fan was standing up, facing the top of the stadium, and yelling at some other fans, presumably Packer fans. Someone notified stadium security, and a couple of police officers were heading up the aisle to talk to him, probably just to tell him to knock it off. But just as they reached his row, the guy decided to throw his plastic cup at the other fans, resulting in his ejection. The second vignette happened after the game, on our way out of the stadium. There are long concrete barriers running through parts of the parking lot, so you have to find one of the gaps in the barriers to get through, or else climb over them. A 49er fan was nice enough to direct us to a gap hidden behind a camper truck. Except there was no gap, so we went out of our way for nothing. Ha, ha. Dumb Packer fans. Then, after reaching our car, we found ourselves waiting forever to get out of the crowded lot, sitting with our windows open next to a car occupied by a 49er fan male driver, and a Packer fan female passenger, also with their windows open. He proceeded to yell and scream at her, for 5 or 10 long, uncomfortable minutes, apparently because she had wanted to stay until the end of the game, while all the smart people had left earlier and were not stuck in traffic. A real classy guy, and a warning to all of us against mixed football marriages.

To get back to the current week, the ironic thing to me is that I think there is an excellent chance that the Packers will be out of playoff contention by the time the game starts. Starting as early as Saturday night, if the Giants don’t lose their game to Washington, the Packers’ chances will become very slim indeed. For more about the Packers’ chances, take a look at this article:

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/12/27/2/

If the Packers are eliminated by the time the game starts, NBC won’t have the possible playoffs to hype during the game, so they will have no story to go with except for the possibility that it is Favre’s last game. Which, I am sure, they will hype non-stop.

My predictions: the Packers will lose to the Bears, and of course miss the playoffs. It is obviously possible that the Bears either will sit so many of their starters that the Packers will pull out the upset, or that the Bears’ emotional level will be so low-key that the Packers overcome the Bears’ [choke] superior talent. But given the rivalry behind this game, I just don’t think that will happen. The Bears would love nothing more than to have a four-game winning streak against the Packers. I also predict that Favre will come back in 2007. The Packers’ improvement in the second half of the season ought to have the same impact on Favre as on the fans – to create greater optimism for next year. When the Packers were 4-8 and coming to town to play the 49ers, I did not honestly think it was reasonable to argue that the Packers would end up at 7-9 or 8-8, or that they would have a shot at the playoffs in their final game.

Champs for a Day

Don't you wish that we could take a few of the extra points from today's game and get to decide where to allocate them in other games? It wouldn't take many. If we could move just 9 of those points to other games, the Packers would be 4-1 right now, and they still would have won today's game by the score of 43-3. Yes, I know, and if pigs could fly, etc. . . . .

Anyway, if you are going to act like world champs for a day, it is nice to do it right before a bye week, to let some of the bad feelings and bitterness blow away for a couple of weeks. It honestly has occurred to me over the past few weeks that the Packers are not as bad as their record. When the Packers start losing games by a point, with the difference being the first Ryan Longwell missed extra point in over 150 games, you can be sure that the Packers are not that far away from being a competitive team. But, on the other hand, it is precisely those little things that mark the dividing line between a poor team trying to learn how to win all over again (like the Packers in the Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Carolina games) and a better team that manages to hang on and "win ugly" (like the Browns, Buccaneers and Panthers in those same games).

It is even more clear that, if the Packers were not as bad as their 0-4 record, they are not even close to being as good as they looked today. This was one of those games where just about everything went right (other than Najeh Davenport's season-ending injury, that is), and once it started going that way, things just snowballed on the poor Saints. They have got a few other things on their minds these days, and as Chris Berman said after the game, they are unfortunately going to have some games like that this year. So let's wait for the Packers to put together a few more good games before we start to think they have turned the season around.

For now, it will be enough if they can get a few of their injured players ready to go to Minnesota in a couple of weeks, and then try to string a few wins together. If they can do that, given how bad this division looks this year, they might actually have something going.

Andrew Chen update. The young man from northern California, who attended his first Packer game a few weeks ago, has put his name on the Packer season ticket waiting list. I forget his exact number on the list, but it is something over 69,000. It looks like a long wait.

Lambeau Travelogue

It looks suspiciously as if it is going to be a long year. If the Packers can't beat the Browns at home, on a day they retire Reggie White's jersey, and when Favre throws three touchdown passes and sets two records, then you can't count on much in Titletown.

Since I am in no mood to rehash Sunday's game, I was searching around for an idea of something else to write about for my long-overdue column. VOILA! My friend Peter Chen, a Northern California attorney with whom I worked years ago, and who is in my fantasy football league to this day, took his son Andrew (a huge Brett Favre fan) to Green Bay for the game as a 15th birthday present. Peter then sent me an account of the weekend's festivities. It serves as a reminder of how fortunate we have been to have Brett Favre with us these many years. If you have a son or daughter who would appreciate going to see Brett Favre play at Lambeau Field, you might want to get cracking since, the way things are going, you probably have exactly 7 more chances to do it.

Anyway, here is a slightly edited version of Peter's account. I have agreed to give him half my fee for writing this column (remedial math lesson: 1/2 x $0 = $0).

Saturday

5 pm: arrive Green Bay, after a flight from O'Hare that included a few Browns fans from the famed "Dawg Pound." One funny exchange during the flight:

Dawg Pound guy: Hey lady, are you going to the game too?

Elderly Lady: No, I'm from Eugene, Oregon. I'm going on a scenic bike tour of Wisconsin!

Dawg Pound Guy: a bike tour?! Whoa. I think I've had a few too many!

The flight lands safely, and the Dawg Pound heads for parts unknown.

Our hotel is 2 blocks from Lambeau; both are on Lombardi Avenue.... we wander over to Lambeau. Andrew buys a cheesehead at the Packer Pro Shop, which he proceeds to wear for most of the weekend.

A wedding party emerges from the stadium.... According to the tour guides, Lambeau is booked solid for weddings for the next 18 months! It's a destination wedding site.

The stadium was redone in 2003, and has wide concourses and Camden Yards-like brick everywhere, along with a 5-story enclosed Atrium housing the pro shop, sports bar, ice cream parlor, and the Packers Hall of Fame.

6:30 pm: the wait at Brett Favre's Steakhouse for dinner is long (they don't take reservations on home game weekends), so we opt for a snack of mini-burgers, chicken wings and ale/root beer at Curly's Pub, the sports bar and restaurant inside Lambeau. As the food arrives, the big screen shows Michigan State beating Notre Dame in OT. Curly's erupts into a mixture of cheers and groans.

9:45: dinner at Brett Favre's Steakhouse. There are lots of photos of Brett and other Packers all over the walls. Brett playing youth football in Kiln, MS. Brett winning the Super Bowl.... etc. Brett was there on Friday, says our waitress...the restaurant is at the end of a little alley near Lambeau, called... Brett Favre Pass. Pretty good steaks.

Sunday

By 10 a.m., Holmgren Way is teeming with tailgaters, and a gazillion Packer fans wearing # 4 Favre jerseys and # 92 Reggie White jerseys.

We wade through a sea of tailgaters in the parking lot, and go inside Lambeau to the Hall of Fame. My favorite exhibits are the life size re-enactment of the Bart Starr QB sneak in the 1967 NFL title game, the story of the Lambeau Leap, and the replica lockers of Packers in the NFL Hall of Fame.

1:30: into the stadium, for pregame warmups. This was fun -- Andrew and I, and hundreds of others, watched the entire Packer warmup, leaning on the rail at Row 1, not more than 20 yards from the field!

Favre and ex-Cal QB, Aaron Rodgers, run the offense. Rodgers must be on Cloud Nine. It's his first (regular season) game at Lambeau.

By the time warmups ended, the stadium was packed, and kickoff was only 20 minutes away. Yet not one fan or security guy asked anyone to move. At most pro or college sports events, you get ordered to "find your seat" long before the game starts. Not at Lambeau.

There were many fans holding signs reading, "My 1st Packer Game," as it is hard to get tickets. (The waiting list for season tickets is about 60,000, and very few become available every year.)

3:15: The Packers are retiring # 92 of the late Reggie White. His daughter sings the National Anthem...4 F-16 jets fly over...the place goes nuts.

The stadium is more like a college facility -- a fairly steep bowl with about 70 rows of aluminum bench seats, bleacher style. There are club level enclosed seats and luxury boxes too.

After all that, the Packers then proceed to lose to the lowly Browns, 26-24!? The Lambeau home field advantage seems to be dissolving, as the Packers are 4-6 in their last 10 Lambeau games.

Favre has a record-setting day. He tosses 3 TDs (breaking an NFL record for most TDs in one stadium) and throws for over 300 yards (joining Marino and Elway in the 50,000 yard club). But the Packers D, which surrenders a career day to Trent Dilfer, could've used Reggie White!

I'd recommend a road trip to Lambeau, for all. There aren't any other pro football teams that play in a college atmosphere, in such an historic stadium. And if you go in September, the tundra won't be frozen.

Post game, we had an ice cream at the "Frozen in Time" ice cream parlor inside the Atrium. We then bumped into Reggie White's family as they were heading out! His son looks ready to suit up for the Pack. They could use some help on D.

Next, we went back to the pro shop for one last souvenir hunt, and then upstairs to Curly's for more brats. We watched the Sunday night game and Sunday night baseball on the big screens. A father and son in the booth across from us ask us where we're from.... they were from Los Angeles, and were also on a pilgrimage to Lambeau! After 30 minutes of conversation, it turns out he's swimmer Mike O'Brien, 1984 Olympic gold medalist! Nice guy too. A fun way to finish up the weekend.

My son is 15, a sophomore in high school, and with his school schedule and my work schedule, we can go for days without much meaningful interaction. So it was great just to be with him for a weekend, and super special for that weekend to be at such a sports shrine.