2005 Wild Card Game Vikings 31 – Packers 17 Trip Report.

A good friend joined the Packer Partners club in order to get some tickets for next year. He was able to get 2 single tickets to the wild card game for Jeff and I at face price. We were in the same section. Tickets were shipped via Fed Ex but they wouldn’t deliver without signature. Jeff had to run out to the Fed Ex office near the Rochester airport to receive the tickets. We had seat 23 in row 48 and seat 48 in row 49. Seat 48 had an *, didn’t know what that meant but thought it might be the end of the row.

I picked Jeff up about 8:15 Sunday morning and hit the road for Lambeau. Traffic was fairly light and road conditions where mostly dry. We made excellent time and made it to Green Bay about 12:45. Parked about 5 blocks south of the stadium and a block off Oneida. After changing into our boots we were off to the stadium. We could smell the cooking from a couple blocks away. Everyone along Oneida was shoveling their front yard off to sell for parking. Cars were so close together I don’t know how they were going to get out.

Eventually we reached the corner of the stadium. First order of business was the port-a-potty. Then we just walked among the tail-gaters. Everything smelled wonderful. Since we had quite a bit of time, we walked all the way around Lambeau.

Then we entered via the Oneida Nation entrance. Everyone was getting Spirit Sticks as they entered. The first stop was strolling around the Atrium. Much warmer in there. After warming up we found the ramp and walked up to the upper concourse. We dropped our stuff off at our seats, Jeff in the last seat in row 49 and mine 2 seats from the center aisle in row 48. Not many people around so we went up and walked around the concourse taking in the atmosphere.

Pretty soon the seats started to fill. As part of the Pre game they did a nice tribute to “The Minister of Defense”, #92, Reggie White. It ended with a moment of silence interrupted by some bozo yelling “Vikings Suck”, true, but it was a little inappropriate at that time. It was ended by a chant of “Reggie, Reggie, Reggie …”.

The seats in the south endzone were great. There were a few obnoxious Vikings fans around, a lot of people said anyone that would allow their tickets to be used by anyone in purple should be shot. There were some high spots but mostly the Vikings took the crowd out of the game early.

I intended to take a walk at half time but just as the aisle was clearing, someone tripped or slipped and did a header on the concrete steps. There was blood everywhere. It gave me the chills. Took a while to get him out of there and then a guy came up and soaked up all the blood with saw dust. Even the Viking fans were quiet during this time.

Even with all the turnovers the Packers were still in the game well into the 4^th quarter. That just shows how bad the Vikings actually are. I did miss the Randy Moss incident in the 4^th quarter. I have the game on Tivo but haven’t been able to watch it yet.

After the game Jeff and I met up and walked back to the jeep. We had no problem getting out of town from where we were. We ended up taking a county highway out of Green Bay all the way to Freedom where we stopped for supper. We ended our day at Jeff’s parents in Kimberly. It was nice to not have to drive back to Rochester.

We got up Monday morning and after Jeff’s mom made breakfast we got on the road back to Lambeau. Got back to Lambeau about 8:45. We found the commemorative brick for our friend Joe’s parents. Then it was time to visit the Hall of Fame. It was very interesting . Took a break at 10:00 to take the stadium tour.

The stadium tour started in the Atrium. We learned that the yard lines in the atrium extend to the same yard lines on the field. Then we took the escalator up to the Legends Level. Up there we learned that Johnny “Blood” McNally went one year to Notre Dame and played for Knute Rockne. He actually scored to first TD for a Knute Rockne team. Then we got to sit in one of the luxury boxes. I’ve heard it compared to watching on a big screen TV. I’d agree with that. It would be warm but you’d miss the crowd noise and the atmosphere you get out in the bowl. After that we went down to the lower level. We saw the entrance to the Packer Locker room and then got to go out the Packer tunnel. The tunnel is about 15 feet wide and is covered all the way to the corner of the end zone. After leaving the tunnel we ended up on the field. Couldn’t go out on the grass but we were still there. We found out that our tour guide was a spotter for a photographer during the Ice Bowl. The camera froze so he basically had the run of the field. He was at the back of the end zone for the winning TD. Then we got to see the visitor tunnel. It’s only about 3 feet wide and open to the elements. That was it for the tour and we made it back to the atrium.

We had a little more to see in the HOF and then it was up to the pro shop to spend a little money. After that we went up to Curly’s Pub for lunch. It overlooks the Packer parking lot. We saw a bunch of players come out, but the only ones we could identify were Al Harris and Mark Tauscher.

After lunch we were done. We left the Lambeau lot at 12:38. We made it home with no problem. I dropped Jeff off and made it to the mall by 5:38 to meet my wife. It was nice to be home but definitely a trip I will remember.

Bill Harrison – 1/11/05