A Dry Spell - then Victory!

While the Packers play tonight under the Teflon roof of the Metrodome for the last time (it will be torn down at the end of the season so a new Viking stadium can be built), fans count victories while shareholders and management count the cash.

The smallest time in the NFL has the third largest stadium in terms of seating capacity... ahead of Dallas (FedEx Field and MetLife Stadium are 1 and 2)!  By the way isn't it nice that while Lambeau has sponsored gates - the stadium holds the name of the first coach who lead the team starting before their was a league, way back in 1919.

The community "owns" the team because the team bailed them out multiple times when money troubles demanded a rescue.  No tax dollars then, more of a pass the hat and purchase stock kind of thing.

 Times have changed.

Lambeau has all the amenities to be a tourist destination and a Pro Shop that practically prints its own money.

Put a 'G' on it and you can sell it.  A number of years ago the field needed to be pulled out and replaced.  Small chunks of the "Frozen Tundra" sold in boxes for $10 each.  You can purchase Packer socks, ties, t-shirts, caps, dress shirts, golf bags, coats, plates, shower curtains, and underwear.  Yes, I have some... because it has a 'G,' of course!

It is good to be a Packer fan.

It's been this way since Reggie White and Brett Favre arrived thanks to Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren - and the excellence has been sustained for 20 years now.  There are kids - mine included - who can't imagine that 29 year era between Super Bowl titles when anything approaching a .500 record was cause for rejoicing.

Those teams of my youth didn't win all that much - but I loved the teams and the guys who wore the green and gold.

Marcol, Brockington, Staggers, Lofton, Carter, Dickey, Gray... those guys didn't win much.  But they tried - they wanted to win.  It didn't happen for them and when they lost on Sundays I had a pit in my stomach and a bad feeling until at least Wednesday after games.  Then for the next game I was back in front of the TV or glued to the radio pulling, hoping, and pleading for a win.

Those years of the 1970s and 80s made the break-through in 1996 an amazing experience.  Super Bowl XXXI was a mountaintop moment, but it was the NFC title game at Lambeau (on the new field that replaced the one chopped into little boxes of black and green blobs of cash) when they beat Carolina that brought tears to my eyes.

Victories are wonderful things - made sweeter by the journey taken to get there.

Here's to your long journey to victory, and LET'S GO, PACK!