Friday nIght lights and the Green Bay Packers

On our way to Green Bay we stayed one Friday night in an RV park in the small Wisconsin town of Peshtigo.  That evening, as I was outside grilling some ribeye steaks, I saw, across the street, overhead lights illuminating a high school football stadium, with two teams warming up.  After dinner we wandered over there, bought tickets, and found seats in the stands.  The game was in its second quarter.

We learned from people in the stands that the hometown Peshtigo Bulldogs were 3-0 on the season, and their opponent on this night was a neighboring small town, the Coleman Cougars,  We saw a long touchdown pass by Peshtigo just before halftime.  The level of play seemed pretty good.

All the players were white, as was everybody we saw in the stands.  In fact, the only evidence of diversity was that there was a girl on the visiting Cougar team (a wide receiver who didn't play while we were watching).  I had wondered whether the warnings of brain damage (CTE) from football collisions had stopped parents across the country from allowing their kids to play the game, but both teams looked chock full, so I don't think colleges and the NFL will run out of players any time soon.

Back in the dark ages when I was in high school, halftime featured the school bands marching in complex formations on the field.  On this night the Peshtigo high school band assembled in front of the stands and played a few numbers, while some cheerleaders sort of danced around on the field.  It was better when I was young.

This was football weather, a welcome change for us from the heat and humidity we'd experienced for the last few months, and late in the third quarter we got chilled and walked home.  The next morning we learned that Peshtigo had pulled out a close one and won 33-30.  Go, Bulldogs!

Our next campground was outside Green Bay and located on the Book Peninsula, which juts out from the mainland and turns north within Lake Michigan.  We drove along pretty waterfront towns as far as the attractive village of Egg Harbor.  There are lots of restaurants and vineyards all along the way, and many of the homes overlooking the water look very impressive.  We could envision living there, except that we'd be bored to death.

Sunday was the first NFL game day, and I watched the 49ers lose on TV to the Minnesota Vikings.  The Sunday evening TV game was between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.  According to the people at our campground, many of whom were sporting Packer jerseys and caps, this was a grudge game and very important to the Packer community.  In the second quarter we watched the Packers' star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, carted off the field with a knee injury.  Was he done for the season?  I'm sure that the fandom felt that the future of their team was in jeopardy, even more so when the Packers' backup quarterback had a meltdown, resulting in a 17-0 halftime deficit.  It appeared hopeless.  Nancy stopped watching and went to bed.  I switched the channel.

Later I checked the internet to see how badly the Packers were being embarrassed.  Amazingly, the score was 20-14.  So I returned to the game and watched as a hobbled Aaron Rodgers, at times hopping on one foot, threw an 81-yard touchdown pass to put the Packers ahead 24-23, which was the final score.

The next day we drove to Green Bay to tour Lambeau Field, where the Packers played in that amazing game the night before.  For some reason everybody there seemed giddy.  Our tour guide took us up to one of the luxury boxes high above the field.  A person could get used to this view!

She reminded us of the history of the Packers.  The team was founded by Curly Lambeau in 1919 and was one of the original teams when the NFL was founded in 1921.  (The Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns are the other two original NFL members who remain in the league.)  The Packers claim twelve NFL championships, four after the Super Bowl was invented.

The Packers are the only NFL franchise without a single billionaire owner.  It is a publicly-owned company, with a board of directors and shares held by fans and individual investors.  When the stadium required expansion, because of economic need, additional shares were sold.  Last season, the Packers were the eighth most profitable NFL team, in spite of the fact that Green Bay is by far the smallest NFL city.  There's something charming about a team essentially owned by its hometown, rather than by some individual whose only virtue is his bank account.

Here we are down on the field, in front of the goal line where Bart Starr scored on a quarterback sneak in the legendary 1967 "Ice Bowl".

The tour of Lambeau Field was exciting and a lot more fun than the tour we took a few years ago of the new 49ers' Levi's Stadium, which in our opinion lacks personality, which Lambeau Field has in spades.

We also toured the Packers Hall of Fame, a museum of the history of the team.  They do have a bunch of great players and coaches to honor - among them Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung, Vince Lombardi, Reggie White, Brett Favre, and at least one current player who will clearly be a hall-of-famer one day.  This is Aaron Rodgers' 2011 NFL MVP trophy.

Although the Packers' home stadium is much superior, I have to give it up to the 49ers Museum at Levi's Stadium, with its full-sized sculptures of the team's great stars (Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh, and many others) as a better exhibit to visit than the Packers' Hall of Fame.