mission
12-27-2011, 05:22 PM
tl;dr Cliff notes:
- My wife and I went to the game
- We got $76 tickets for $170
- Watched the Packers kick ass
- Drove home
- Some pictures below
Once a year I make it back to Wisconsin for the holidays where most of my family is. We decided to drive for a number of reasons -- most notably I was planning to take my wife to the Christmas Packer game for her first trip to Lambeau. She's a Georgia girl who never really got into the Falcons and over the last four years of being together, has really fallen in love with the Packers and everything they're about.
There were a lot of questions from family about not having tickets and if we thought it was a wise idea to go without them. I thought they just wanted us around for Christmas but they know me; when I get an idea, I just go for it and make it work. So off we went for a surprisingly short 2.5 hour (I was figuring at least another hour) drive to Green Bay. Calling people on Craigslist we found on the ipad, we seemed to be 10 minutes too late for all the ticket sales. Friendly sellers on the phone were warning me I might have a hard time finding these--they're getting swamped by callers and there are more people who want them than are selling them. Could sense my wife was nervous, but I just played it cool and told her our best chance was at the stadium anyway.
We pulled in early enough to get some decent parking on the stadium side by Kmart. First thing's first was to go over to the Hutson Center where the "licensed" scalpers were. I was getting worried when no one during the walk was trying to sell us tickets... every other time I remember plenty of "unlicensed" scalpers throughout the crowd charging an arm and a leg. Anyway, we get to the other side across the street from the Tailgate Tundra zone (or whatever it's called) and I see the same guy I got tickets from for the Cowboys game last year.
I hear him talking to a guy and happened to catch "--$75" so I'm thinking we're looking pretty good. Prospective buyer walked away so I mentioned I need something better than that price range. He starts going on and on about some 50 yard line seats and something just wasn't adding up... he wanted $350 a ticket and the previous ones he was talking about were $275! Ooops. Now I'm wondering if I really have to break the bank for it... end up paying $170 each for $76 tickets. No big deal, we have almost 3 hours before game time and we're set!
Head on over to that little Tundra zone and had an awesome italian beef w/cheese whiz sandwich while my wife loved the pulled pork. Both from Saz's. I had cheese all over my beard... impossible to clean between each bite. Highly recommended. Went back outside to find an old friend of mine... I had some ugly ass jacket that my dad lent me and Gabriela (the wife) was embarrassed by how ugly I looked so I had to squeeze my jersey over it. Obviously we don't really have any real winter clothes like everyone else here.
Inside was great--my wife almost cried walking out with the field in view. It was as amazing as it always has been. Crowd seemed a little younger than I remember with a bit more energy. But to the left of us was an old couple, I imagined the guy being one of the old farts here who posts on the forum. He wouldn't stand up or cheer for anything and was always complaining about the defense. Never had anything positive to say. I asked them if they had season tickets for awhile; of course they have. Kid next to me on my side really knew his stuff... we were talking about Saine's combine numbers, Walden and Hawk being poor in run support, everything.
Was very warm once inside. Took off a couple layers and didn't even need gloves. I tried to see if my wife wanted to take her shirt off with me and paint a '1' and '2' but she wasn't as excited about it as I was. Everyone was high-fiving and the one Bears fan in the area was a pretty good sport. There really wasn't nearly as many Bears fans as I expected being used to seeing so many Packer fans at Atlanta games. I'd say 1 in 40 were Bears fans. Packer nation was extremely friendly.
We had a great time and will never forget the Christmas experience. Came straight back, wasn't really any traffic. Everything about the day was perfect!
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/9d6c2fec.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/f7bae450.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/28351902.jpg
Some more pics and video of Bears getting boo'd:
http://s887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/
- My wife and I went to the game
- We got $76 tickets for $170
- Watched the Packers kick ass
- Drove home
- Some pictures below
Once a year I make it back to Wisconsin for the holidays where most of my family is. We decided to drive for a number of reasons -- most notably I was planning to take my wife to the Christmas Packer game for her first trip to Lambeau. She's a Georgia girl who never really got into the Falcons and over the last four years of being together, has really fallen in love with the Packers and everything they're about.
There were a lot of questions from family about not having tickets and if we thought it was a wise idea to go without them. I thought they just wanted us around for Christmas but they know me; when I get an idea, I just go for it and make it work. So off we went for a surprisingly short 2.5 hour (I was figuring at least another hour) drive to Green Bay. Calling people on Craigslist we found on the ipad, we seemed to be 10 minutes too late for all the ticket sales. Friendly sellers on the phone were warning me I might have a hard time finding these--they're getting swamped by callers and there are more people who want them than are selling them. Could sense my wife was nervous, but I just played it cool and told her our best chance was at the stadium anyway.
We pulled in early enough to get some decent parking on the stadium side by Kmart. First thing's first was to go over to the Hutson Center where the "licensed" scalpers were. I was getting worried when no one during the walk was trying to sell us tickets... every other time I remember plenty of "unlicensed" scalpers throughout the crowd charging an arm and a leg. Anyway, we get to the other side across the street from the Tailgate Tundra zone (or whatever it's called) and I see the same guy I got tickets from for the Cowboys game last year.
I hear him talking to a guy and happened to catch "--$75" so I'm thinking we're looking pretty good. Prospective buyer walked away so I mentioned I need something better than that price range. He starts going on and on about some 50 yard line seats and something just wasn't adding up... he wanted $350 a ticket and the previous ones he was talking about were $275! Ooops. Now I'm wondering if I really have to break the bank for it... end up paying $170 each for $76 tickets. No big deal, we have almost 3 hours before game time and we're set!
Head on over to that little Tundra zone and had an awesome italian beef w/cheese whiz sandwich while my wife loved the pulled pork. Both from Saz's. I had cheese all over my beard... impossible to clean between each bite. Highly recommended. Went back outside to find an old friend of mine... I had some ugly ass jacket that my dad lent me and Gabriela (the wife) was embarrassed by how ugly I looked so I had to squeeze my jersey over it. Obviously we don't really have any real winter clothes like everyone else here.
Inside was great--my wife almost cried walking out with the field in view. It was as amazing as it always has been. Crowd seemed a little younger than I remember with a bit more energy. But to the left of us was an old couple, I imagined the guy being one of the old farts here who posts on the forum. He wouldn't stand up or cheer for anything and was always complaining about the defense. Never had anything positive to say. I asked them if they had season tickets for awhile; of course they have. Kid next to me on my side really knew his stuff... we were talking about Saine's combine numbers, Walden and Hawk being poor in run support, everything.
Was very warm once inside. Took off a couple layers and didn't even need gloves. I tried to see if my wife wanted to take her shirt off with me and paint a '1' and '2' but she wasn't as excited about it as I was. Everyone was high-fiving and the one Bears fan in the area was a pretty good sport. There really wasn't nearly as many Bears fans as I expected being used to seeing so many Packer fans at Atlanta games. I'd say 1 in 40 were Bears fans. Packer nation was extremely friendly.
We had a great time and will never forget the Christmas experience. Came straight back, wasn't really any traffic. Everything about the day was perfect!
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/9d6c2fec.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/f7bae450.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/28351902.jpg
Some more pics and video of Bears getting boo'd:
http://s887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/tonymission/