PackersRS
Cheesehead
Congrats, GreenandGoldAngel, this thread is awesome!
Congrats, GreenandGoldAngel, this thread is awesome!
A bit of NFL started being shown here in the UK somewhere around '81 or '82. A strange game that took a bit of getting used to.
My recollection is that the Packers were shown a couple of times early on and a few names started to become familiar : James Lofton and John Jefferson being particular stand-outs for me.
So I found myself checking the scores each week to see how the team I was becoming interested in was doing.
Then a friend lent me the Jerry Kramer book Instant Replay, and I was well and truly hooked. Add to that the amazing Monday Night Football game in 1983 when we beat the then Super Bowl champion Redskins by 48-47. That game was shown live and I was riveted to my seat!!
All the facts about the Packers that all of yo can quote so much better than me: number of NFL championships, owned by the fans, Lombardi, Curly Lambeau, the history. it all cemented the Packers deep deep within me.
Then a few years ago I achieved a long held ambition - a friend and I flew to Chicago, spent a few days driving round Wisconsin, and saw the Packers play the Vikings on a Monday night in Lambeau..... We lost, but I will never forget it. A truly treasured memory.
One day I will return....
A wonderful story. You did everything correctly, And your recollections of things from 30 years ago are spot on. Lofton and Jefferson, the Monday night game against Washington (holy cow, did the game end at 5:00 am for you), I'm glad you had a friend give you "Instant Replay", if you have a chance to find a used copy at amazon books of Kramer's book "Distant Replay" (if only to find out how Brett Favre's mom had sex on the beach). Those two books tie the Bart Starr era and The Brett Farve era together perfectly. Thanks mate!
Americans like to brag we invented basketball and baseball, but the roots of American football lie in Rugby, we just tweaked
it a bit.
My parents got me the book Instant Replay in paperback when I was young! I think I had read it something like 13 to 14 times by the time I was in 9th grade. I think I still have that old ragged copy in a box here somewhere.
I suppose my story started back in the mid/late nineties, when my parents got me a Sega GameGear for my birthday (one of the greatest birthday gifts a kid could ask for!). I'm guessing it was my Dad who picked out NFL '95 as one of the game to include with it, but I doubt I will ever know how I got that game.
Needless to say, as a young Canadian kid who had never played or watched football or the NFL in his life (beyond schoolyard games of course), I figured I should pick 'my team'. I happened to decide to go with the "Green Bay Packers" because I liked their logo and their star player, Brett Favre, was one of the best in the game.
Before too long, me and the Packers were kicking *** and taking names, but I still was far from being a true Packer fan. It wouldn't be until I met one of my longtime best friends, Dan, in grade 6 that I would truly consider myself a Packer fan.
Dan was a huge Packer fan. He bought NFL Quarterback Club '98 for N64 and we would hang out at his house after school and play it. He would talk about how great Brett Favre and the Packers were, and perhaps as a means of strengthening our friendship, I got a lot more interested in the NFL and specifically the packers.
As I began to declare my love for Green Bay, Packer-related gifts became the standard gift for me every christmas and birthday, and I loved it. I can vividly recall when my Dad, who works as a dispatcher for a trucking company, talked a big rig driver driving through Wisconsin to pick me up a genuine Cheesehead from the Cheesehead Homeland. That was the year of Matt Hasselback's infamous "We Want The Ball and We're Gonna Score" comment, and Al Harris' INT TD had me running all around the house, with one hand holding my Cheesehead firmly on my head, just going bat-**** crazy.
That moment most definitely was THE moment where it was confirmed that I was going to be a Packer fan for the rest of my life. In the years since, I've greatly expanded my Packer collection, and I'm known for my intense passion for my teams: Green Bay Packers, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Philadelphia Flyers. I have slowly started converting the love of my life into a Cheesehead. Somehow, she was able to guess that I got her an Aaron Rodgers jersey for christmas and she just can't wait to get it! She also agreed that a trip to Lambeau Field for a game could be apart of our honeymoon trip! :happy0005: :giverose:
I've also managed to ALMOST become recognizable local celebrities at Winnipeg Blue Bomber games (CFL), as my girlfriend, her brother and I, all have Blue Cheeseheads, and are affectionately referred to as the Blue Cheese Crew. We really get a kick out of all the reactions we get at every game; from the cheers and thumbs up from Packer fans and folks who just think that the Cheeseheads are neat, to the Vikings and Bears fans who boo us and try to intimidate us.
All in all, my story isn't that incredible, but there's still more chapters to come!