digitaldean
09-08-2007, 08:20 AM
This bloke is following his dream team for 1 year, let's hope MM and the boys can make it worth his while.
AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OY! OY! OY!
______________
Family moves from Australia just to back the Packers
By Mike Hoeft
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — Wayne Scullino recently quit his job, sold his house and cars and moved his family to Green Bay to follow his favorite football team for just one season.
Scullino, a Packers fan from Sydney, Australia, admits it's crazy.
"There's not a single person we've met who can believe it," he said. "They say it's absolutely nuts. At the same time, they say it's great."
In town less than a week, he already scored two tickets to Sunday's home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. It will be his first game at Lambeau Field.
After arriving here Sunday with wife, Kelly, and sons Ben, 2, and 9-month-old Luc, Scullino said it was emotional seeing Lambeau Field and realizing he was here.
"It's something I've always wanted to do," said Scullino, who quit his job as a phone equipment salesman. "And with the house money in the bank and the boys not yet in school, it's literally now or never."
His plan is to attend as many home and away games as possible, tour the United States, "make a ton of friends" and keep an online diary until the day they fly home.
His goal is to publish a book as "The Once in a Lifetime Fan" that would inspire others to drop everything and follow their dreams.
"The Web site isn't so much about football as it is the idea that we've given up everything to follow a childhood dream. You know, the dreams you forget because you're too busy being an adult all of a sudden," Scullino said.
He acknowledged the dream carries challenges. They've never lived in snow, or outside a major city, or driven on the opposite side of the road or been without a paycheck for six months.
"Oh, and the fact that we're using our life savings to do so with the very real prospect of having nothing on our return," he said.
Kelly Scullino said she's willing to back the Pack in a foreign land as long as they can take care of the boys.
"I just hope it's not too unsettling for them," she said.
For now, the family is staying at local motels, but they hope to find furnished lodging.
Kelly Scullino said the biggest things she'll miss from home will be beaches near Sydney, food and family occasions like weddings and birthdays. Ben will turn 3 and Luc will celebrate his first birthday here without their grandparents.
They've also been warned about Wisconsin winters.
They're both excited about seeing a white Christmas, making snowmen and sledding, but they're also dreading the cold.
Australia — 9,249 miles and a 15-hour-time difference from Green Bay — is in winter now and usually drops to about 55 degrees.
Kelly Scullino said she hopes to find a toddler play group for Luc and new friends for Ben.
Wayne Scullino has been a Packers fan since high school. The first full game he saw was Minnesota at Green Bay.
The Packers, led by Don Majkowski, won 20-19 in that Nov. 26, 1989, game. Never mind that he watched a tape of the game a year or so later, "the fact that it was full length was all that mattered."
Mike Hoeft writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OY! OY! OY!
______________
Family moves from Australia just to back the Packers
By Mike Hoeft
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — Wayne Scullino recently quit his job, sold his house and cars and moved his family to Green Bay to follow his favorite football team for just one season.
Scullino, a Packers fan from Sydney, Australia, admits it's crazy.
"There's not a single person we've met who can believe it," he said. "They say it's absolutely nuts. At the same time, they say it's great."
In town less than a week, he already scored two tickets to Sunday's home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. It will be his first game at Lambeau Field.
After arriving here Sunday with wife, Kelly, and sons Ben, 2, and 9-month-old Luc, Scullino said it was emotional seeing Lambeau Field and realizing he was here.
"It's something I've always wanted to do," said Scullino, who quit his job as a phone equipment salesman. "And with the house money in the bank and the boys not yet in school, it's literally now or never."
His plan is to attend as many home and away games as possible, tour the United States, "make a ton of friends" and keep an online diary until the day they fly home.
His goal is to publish a book as "The Once in a Lifetime Fan" that would inspire others to drop everything and follow their dreams.
"The Web site isn't so much about football as it is the idea that we've given up everything to follow a childhood dream. You know, the dreams you forget because you're too busy being an adult all of a sudden," Scullino said.
He acknowledged the dream carries challenges. They've never lived in snow, or outside a major city, or driven on the opposite side of the road or been without a paycheck for six months.
"Oh, and the fact that we're using our life savings to do so with the very real prospect of having nothing on our return," he said.
Kelly Scullino said she's willing to back the Pack in a foreign land as long as they can take care of the boys.
"I just hope it's not too unsettling for them," she said.
For now, the family is staying at local motels, but they hope to find furnished lodging.
Kelly Scullino said the biggest things she'll miss from home will be beaches near Sydney, food and family occasions like weddings and birthdays. Ben will turn 3 and Luc will celebrate his first birthday here without their grandparents.
They've also been warned about Wisconsin winters.
They're both excited about seeing a white Christmas, making snowmen and sledding, but they're also dreading the cold.
Australia — 9,249 miles and a 15-hour-time difference from Green Bay — is in winter now and usually drops to about 55 degrees.
Kelly Scullino said she hopes to find a toddler play group for Luc and new friends for Ben.
Wayne Scullino has been a Packers fan since high school. The first full game he saw was Minnesota at Green Bay.
The Packers, led by Don Majkowski, won 20-19 in that Nov. 26, 1989, game. Never mind that he watched a tape of the game a year or so later, "the fact that it was full length was all that mattered."
Mike Hoeft writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.