woodbuck27
08-26-2006, 12:34 AM
An outsider's perspective on Packer Nation
By BETH WILBERDING
Packer Plus writer
Posted: Aug. 24, 2006
Editor's note: Beth Wilberding, a native of Louisville, Ky., is working as the Dow Jones summer intern for the Journal Sentinel sports department and Packer Plus. Wilberding is a senior majoring in journalism at Western Kentucky University where she also serves as the sports editor for the school's student newspaper, the College Heights Herald.
Green Bay - Where I grew up, No. 4 is, well, just a number. Green and Gold clashes too much with our Cardinal red and Wildcat blue personalities. And, unless a local athlete is on either team's roster, February's Super Bowl game in Miami will be just another excuse to party. Unless the Packers achieve the shock of the season and get to head to South Florida, because guard Jason Spitz played for the University of Louisville, after all.
Kentucky is rich in college sports history. While most sports fans probably have a professional team they follow, their college team preference is probably where there strongest sports allegiance lies. I, for one, have always preferred the college football arena to the professional one. So when I got my first visit to the hallowed Lambeau Field for the exhibition game when the Packers trounced Atlanta, I had many preconceived notions - some might say stereotypes - about what my visit would be like and how the Green Bay fans would act.
I assumed that from the time I wandered from the parking lot tailgaters to the stadium itself, it would be an orgy of beer, cheese and rock and roll music. I was expecting Bears bashing and more than a little Falcon roasting. Right now in Louisville and Lexington, there is a lot of trash talking going on as the annual Cards/Cats football rivalry is less than two weeks away.
Game day of the first home exhibition game for the Packers? Just good-natured tailgating featuring people with the ubiquitous cheeseheads and Brett Favre jerseys. But I did feel at home when I walked by some tailgaters blasting Johnny Cash. I didn't expect to hear country music at a tailgate this far north of the Mason-Dixon line.
It just amazes me that Green Bay, a city of about 101,203 according to census.gov is able to support a professional sports team, while Louisville with its 556,429 (closer to a million when some other counties populations are counted in) remains focused solely on college sports.
And at this point, I don't think Kentucky would be able to support a professional sports team. High school and college football are so popular that even if a NFL team came to the state, once the novelty of it all wore off, I think people would want to go back to their smaller arenas.
There isn't even a blanket loyalty to one regional team - the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans - all command small pledges of allegiance. There were a plethora of Cleveland Browns jerseys floating around early in the Tim Couch era. I even see the occasional Favre jersey back home.
But in Louisville, a red and white No. 12 jersey - that of Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm - commands more respect, especially during the annual pre-season Heisman hype.
But we have supplied Green Bay with a plethora of great athletes. Paul Hornung is a Louisville native. Couch is a University of Kentucky boy. And I heard Cletidus Hunt, who played at Kentucky State, made an impression on the program, though I don't think it was a good one.
OK, one of three isn't too bad. I'm sure Spitz, and maybe Louisville native Arliss Beach, will more than make up for those two. After Saturday night's game, coach Mike McCarthy did say Beach was a tough, physical player, adding
"I think he's a young man who has a great future."
Will that future be in Green Bay? If it is, it seems as though he'll be embraced by some of the most positive fans in the world. Beyond having one of the most historic sites in professional sports to showcase their team, Packer fans have such an upbeat, hopeful persona.
Anne Tilley, a Racine native who said she has been a Packers fan since she was "10 seconds old" said there was nothing not to love about the Packers.
"They have got the most devoted fans of any team in football," she said.
I guess when you can draw more than 60,000 fans to an intrasquad scrimmage and 69,000 fans to an exhibition game, the fans are pretty committed to the Packers - or somewhat masochistic coming off that 4-12 season.
But I appreciate that true love of a team. When so many people become Boston Red Sox fans because some "curse" has lifted, it's refreshing to see the kind of turnout a team with a big question mark over its season can draw.
Fourteen-year-old Jacob Mason of Oak Creek said he was raised on the Packers.
Green Bay fans, he said, just want to be there to support the team and show they care.
That doesn't mean the fans are perfect by any means. I appreciate the wave as much as the next person, but isn't once or twice around the stands more than enough? First of all, how is anyone able to watch the game when he or she has to anticipate the next rising of the bodies? And second, how many beers get sacrificed to the wave when a person jumps up too quickly, or some poor stiff who just wants too see Vonta Leach make a reception has his beer knocked over?
Also, I haven't seen that much clothes on cheerleaders, particularly cheerleaders for a NFL team, ever. It was cool to see cheerleaders who appeared to be more than just eye candy.
And this recent trend of showing commercials on the JumboTron which seems to permeate Lambeau Field and other professional and collegiate stadiums just has to end. One of the bonuses of seeing a game in person should be missing out on commercials.
Lambeau Field is a beautiful stadium, and the Packers have to have some of the greatest fans in sports. Anybody who is willing to sit through a game when it is below freezing outside, no matter how good the team is, commands my respect.
But I think I'll have to stick with college football as my first gridiron love. The only contract dispute I have to worry about in Louisville is Cardinal coach Bobby Petrino's. Don't tell Al Harris, but they recently signed Petrino to a 10-year, $25 million contract.
And it's really too bad that the whole Tim Couch thing didn't work out. The Green and Gold would have ended up with a huge Southern fan contingency. After all, Kentucky fans love to support their own . . . and buy their jerseys.
From the Aug. 24, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
GO PACK GO !!
By BETH WILBERDING
Packer Plus writer
Posted: Aug. 24, 2006
Editor's note: Beth Wilberding, a native of Louisville, Ky., is working as the Dow Jones summer intern for the Journal Sentinel sports department and Packer Plus. Wilberding is a senior majoring in journalism at Western Kentucky University where she also serves as the sports editor for the school's student newspaper, the College Heights Herald.
Green Bay - Where I grew up, No. 4 is, well, just a number. Green and Gold clashes too much with our Cardinal red and Wildcat blue personalities. And, unless a local athlete is on either team's roster, February's Super Bowl game in Miami will be just another excuse to party. Unless the Packers achieve the shock of the season and get to head to South Florida, because guard Jason Spitz played for the University of Louisville, after all.
Kentucky is rich in college sports history. While most sports fans probably have a professional team they follow, their college team preference is probably where there strongest sports allegiance lies. I, for one, have always preferred the college football arena to the professional one. So when I got my first visit to the hallowed Lambeau Field for the exhibition game when the Packers trounced Atlanta, I had many preconceived notions - some might say stereotypes - about what my visit would be like and how the Green Bay fans would act.
I assumed that from the time I wandered from the parking lot tailgaters to the stadium itself, it would be an orgy of beer, cheese and rock and roll music. I was expecting Bears bashing and more than a little Falcon roasting. Right now in Louisville and Lexington, there is a lot of trash talking going on as the annual Cards/Cats football rivalry is less than two weeks away.
Game day of the first home exhibition game for the Packers? Just good-natured tailgating featuring people with the ubiquitous cheeseheads and Brett Favre jerseys. But I did feel at home when I walked by some tailgaters blasting Johnny Cash. I didn't expect to hear country music at a tailgate this far north of the Mason-Dixon line.
It just amazes me that Green Bay, a city of about 101,203 according to census.gov is able to support a professional sports team, while Louisville with its 556,429 (closer to a million when some other counties populations are counted in) remains focused solely on college sports.
And at this point, I don't think Kentucky would be able to support a professional sports team. High school and college football are so popular that even if a NFL team came to the state, once the novelty of it all wore off, I think people would want to go back to their smaller arenas.
There isn't even a blanket loyalty to one regional team - the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans - all command small pledges of allegiance. There were a plethora of Cleveland Browns jerseys floating around early in the Tim Couch era. I even see the occasional Favre jersey back home.
But in Louisville, a red and white No. 12 jersey - that of Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm - commands more respect, especially during the annual pre-season Heisman hype.
But we have supplied Green Bay with a plethora of great athletes. Paul Hornung is a Louisville native. Couch is a University of Kentucky boy. And I heard Cletidus Hunt, who played at Kentucky State, made an impression on the program, though I don't think it was a good one.
OK, one of three isn't too bad. I'm sure Spitz, and maybe Louisville native Arliss Beach, will more than make up for those two. After Saturday night's game, coach Mike McCarthy did say Beach was a tough, physical player, adding
"I think he's a young man who has a great future."
Will that future be in Green Bay? If it is, it seems as though he'll be embraced by some of the most positive fans in the world. Beyond having one of the most historic sites in professional sports to showcase their team, Packer fans have such an upbeat, hopeful persona.
Anne Tilley, a Racine native who said she has been a Packers fan since she was "10 seconds old" said there was nothing not to love about the Packers.
"They have got the most devoted fans of any team in football," she said.
I guess when you can draw more than 60,000 fans to an intrasquad scrimmage and 69,000 fans to an exhibition game, the fans are pretty committed to the Packers - or somewhat masochistic coming off that 4-12 season.
But I appreciate that true love of a team. When so many people become Boston Red Sox fans because some "curse" has lifted, it's refreshing to see the kind of turnout a team with a big question mark over its season can draw.
Fourteen-year-old Jacob Mason of Oak Creek said he was raised on the Packers.
Green Bay fans, he said, just want to be there to support the team and show they care.
That doesn't mean the fans are perfect by any means. I appreciate the wave as much as the next person, but isn't once or twice around the stands more than enough? First of all, how is anyone able to watch the game when he or she has to anticipate the next rising of the bodies? And second, how many beers get sacrificed to the wave when a person jumps up too quickly, or some poor stiff who just wants too see Vonta Leach make a reception has his beer knocked over?
Also, I haven't seen that much clothes on cheerleaders, particularly cheerleaders for a NFL team, ever. It was cool to see cheerleaders who appeared to be more than just eye candy.
And this recent trend of showing commercials on the JumboTron which seems to permeate Lambeau Field and other professional and collegiate stadiums just has to end. One of the bonuses of seeing a game in person should be missing out on commercials.
Lambeau Field is a beautiful stadium, and the Packers have to have some of the greatest fans in sports. Anybody who is willing to sit through a game when it is below freezing outside, no matter how good the team is, commands my respect.
But I think I'll have to stick with college football as my first gridiron love. The only contract dispute I have to worry about in Louisville is Cardinal coach Bobby Petrino's. Don't tell Al Harris, but they recently signed Petrino to a 10-year, $25 million contract.
And it's really too bad that the whole Tim Couch thing didn't work out. The Green and Gold would have ended up with a huge Southern fan contingency. After all, Kentucky fans love to support their own . . . and buy their jerseys.
From the Aug. 24, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
GO PACK GO !!