Live In Lambeau

Sunday November 18th, 2007 - Green Bay, WI

Sometimes a person just has to let it loose once in a while. Today was about as loose as I get which isn’t that bad at all actually. If Britney Spears acted like me for a day she’d get front page news world wide as ‘Boring Britney’. She spends money like water but she has a lot too. I live like a cockroach so when I take a buck out it kicks and screams. It’s rare.

I haven’t been to a Packer game at Lambeau Field since the Packers slaughtered the evil Chicago Bears 40-3 in a snow storm in December. I couldn’t remember the exact year so I looked it up. It was December 11th, 1994. I don’t remember where we got the tickets but I remember saying if I never saw a game again in my life it couldn’t get any better than that.

Beating the Bears by that much in December in Lambeau Field in the show is absolutely heaven for a Packer fan and I think about it often. I was with my cousin Brett and also my best friend from childhood who was also the infamous bank robber. I’m sure he thought of that game when he was doing prison time and he caused us both to miss the Super Bowl in ‘96 because we were going through the trial. I was testifying against him and it wasn’t the thing either one of us wanted to be doing during the magic year we’d waited for forever.

I don’t know why I wanted to go today but I just did. I hadn’t been in all those years but today I felt like seeing a game. Maybe it was because November 18th was my grandfather’s birthday. He used to take me to games when I was a kid and those were probably the very best memories of a not so fun childhood. Sitting in Lambeau Field with Gramps was great. I remember it like it was last week and all the details are still vivid in my mind. I loved it.

Jim McHugh is also a huge Packer fan even though he grew up in Illinois. His father was a fan and I guess it rubbed off on Jim. He also has fond memories of being there so I said I would pop for tickets and we’d go to a game. Jim’s dad died last year as did his brother so he has had to deal with all that plus he’s trying to feed his family and money is tight. I’m in a position to spend a couple of bucks and I don’t do it often so I figured I’d just let it rip.

We got up early and made the 45 mile drive from our flea bag motel to the stadium for a chance to find a parking space and then some tickets. We found a parking spot right away and it was only $10. It was a block away from the stadium and there was plenty of room. I told Jim we were going to find tickets and they were going to be good ones. I just knew it.

I hadn’t been to a game since they redid the place and it was gorgeous. Of course I have seen it on TV but to see it live was very impressive. We took a lap admiring it but we also were trying to find someone selling tickets. We asked a program vendor if he knew where we might score a pair he just laughed and said ‘Good luck boys. There aren’t gong to be a lot of extras today.’ Jim and I agreed that even if we didn’t find tickets it was still worth it.

Being around the vibe of all this was really positive. The team is having a super year and if they should get back to the Super Bowl I doubt if I’d be able to see that live so we had a mission to see this game today. I just knew we would find our pair of tickets eventually.

We walked around the stadium about three times and I must admit I was starting to feel a few doubts. We saw a couple of oily looking characters trying to get outrageous prices for tickets we weren’t even sure were for today’s game. They wanted $250 to $300 for a single ticket and they weren’t even in the same section. I love the Packers but wasn’t up to paying that kind of money especially if Jim and I couldn’t sit together and enjoy the game.

We walked over by the main entrance and found a few more people selling tickets. One guy had a pair of tickets that had a face value of $203 each and was willing to sell both of them for $400. That was a little steep but I offered him $300 and he just gave me a sneer.

The closer it got to game time the more people were pulling out tickets and I saw a guy who looked the least greasiest of the bunch and asked if he had two. He didn’t seem to be a grease ball scumbag like many of those people can be and I trusted my judgment. He had a pair of tickets on the 50 yard line that had a face value of $72 each. He wanted $300 and I said ‘SOLD!’ Whether I could have gotten him down or not I felt it was right so I did it.

I gave Jim his ticket and his eyes lit up like a nine year old. He told me I may have had a chance to get them cheaper and I told him he may have been right but the other guys were pros and this guy wasn’t and they were on the 50 yard line, or so he said. It just felt right. I told Jim that whatever it cost would be forgotten but the memory would last a lifetime.

We strutted toward the stadium and got in line and found our seats just after kickoff. To see the gorgeous green grass and a packed stadium and feel the electricity was worth what I paid and more. Then to see that we really were on the 50 yard line drove it home. I had a smile on my face from then on and we watched the Packers win 31-17. The weather could not have been any more perfect and we had a fantastic time. I am SO glad we could come.

I enjoyed the game and so did Jim. He couldn’t thank me enough and I told him he was very welcome. This is a time when I could do something nice for him so I did. Whatever it cost me was worth every cent and we will be able to look back on this for the rest of both of our lives. We drove home happy and it got happier when we heard the Bears lost too.

We are both addicted to the Packers as were the rest of the 70,000 people who were at the game along with us. $300 would buy a lot of food for hungry people or something that could help someone who really needed it but I spent it on football tickets. I am all for what I can do to help people but for today I felt it was ok to treat myself to a very rare gift. I’m not going to do it every week and I might not get back here for another 14 years. Or ever.

Life is supposed to be fun. Gramps was the only person who gave me hope when I was a confused kid and going to Packer games with him was FUN. Now I got to pass it on and buy a ticket for Jim just like Gramps bought tickets for me over the years. It felt fantastic.

Jim loved it and so did I. Now I can head into the new week and the new year with a big mental boost and keep my already growing positive attitude growing even more. This was a one day adventure that came together even better than I planned it. I hope I keep this up.