My Gameday

We parked in a church parking lot a mile south of Lambeau Field on Oneida Street.

Making our way through the neighborhood south of the stadium, I could see the giant G beckoning us to keep walking up the street into its welcome embrace.

Just 90 minutes before kick-off, cars were parking tightly into available space on front lawns at $10 and $15 per car.  Some places offered tailgate space, or better yet, tailgate participation for those parking in their yard.

It was fun to already feel the festive attitude and the anticipation for the reason so many people flocked into a city not much larger than that.  The smiles on the faces.  The meat on the grill.  It's nearly game time, "Let's Go Pack!"

Lingering around Lambeau Field's parking lot to catch more of the flavor of tailgating; we made our way past grills and buffet tables to the front entrance of the Atrium and the Frozen Tundra waiting just inside.  (It's not actually frozen, an underground heating system keeps the gridiron in good condition under all but the most frigid conditions.)

You walk the concourse toward your section, and as you do there are glimpses of green and gold.  The green is the meticulously kept football lawn.  Striped and ready to play.

Less than 20 minutes to game-time, the venerable bowl keeps filling.  The seating bowl is the original, dating back to it's opening day in 1957.

Since then, skyboxes and second and third decks were added and there is now room for 80,735 faithful to take part in the fall ritual of football fandom.

My seat was on the 40 yard line, 27 rows from the field.  Perfect, as far as I was concerned.

Just gazing across the field from the north goal line to the south end zone stands on my right; I was hoping to see plenty of Lambeau Leaps for the men in Green and Gold (Davante Adams leaps, right).

It was a game for the third or alternate jersey, so the Packers wore the Navy Blue and Gold of the 1929 Champion Acme Packers.  Acme was the sponsor of the team, a meatpacking firm that employed many members of the original teams in the early 1920s.

Looking straight ahead and down from my seat; there was Clay Matthews, the Packers star linebacker, resting on the heated bench with the officially licensed stocking cap (available in the Pro Shop!) while Aaron and the offense moved up and down the field.

Yellow gold and green shook and reverberated across the stadium.  It was electric.  I don't recall the kind of enthusiasm in the arena at the last regular season game I attended here in December, 2001.

The offense continued its run of domination, and the defense contributed two touchdowns of its own via an interception and fumble recovery.  With my seat behind the bench, I saw Aaron Rodgers congratulate new Packer (and former Bear- lower left) Julius Peppers after his "pick six."

I was on my feet cheering, yelling while the Packer defense was on the field, and jumping around during the playing of the song in the fourth quarter.  It was part of the passion of the day, and a good way to warm up a little.

It was cold, around 26 degrees at the start of the game, but my layered approach to game day attire kept me pretty comfortable into the early evening.

It was exciting.  It was awesome.  There seemed to be a great feeling in the air.

A feeling of potential, promise, and possibilities.  There's a sense (maybe misguided, we won't know that either way for a while yet) of this team having all the pieces in place for a good season that can be capped with the addition of another title to the 13 NFL crowns that make the smallest National Football League city "Titletown."

A dominating victory in the win column (53 - 20 over the Philadelphia Eagles) sent this proud Packer fan warmed with the triumph and the dream of more to come.

The offense has been great most of the year since coming alive after a loss to the Lions.  Now for the second game in a row, the defense looks healthy and ready to play hard-nosed tackle football the rest of the way.

Sure, it was cold outside... but with each step back to the car for the 2+ hour drive home the only temperature I was thinking about was that of the team, my team, the Green Bay Packers.

It is red-HOT.  Go Pack, Go!