How did you become a Packer fan?

[DonHutson]

I was born one. My mother still has pictures of the Packers I drew when I was two years old. They look like like helmets with feet.

Geographical coincidence of my birthplace aside, I likely would have been a Packer fan regardless. I tend to like the old school teams with a tradition and a rabid fan base. I love the story that this small town team survived against all odds.

[DonHutson]

The 1983 MNF classic against the Redskins. First time my parents allowed me to stay up to watch the whole game.

You're lucky. I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch it even though I had a wager with my parents. If the Packers won I got to pick out a new Star Wars action figure. If the Redskins won I had to wash dishes for several nights.

My mom comes in the next morning and says, "Well, the Redskins scored 47 points... but the Packers scored 48."

From despair to elation, just that fast.

[TravisWilliams23]

First Packers game I saw was the 1965 Championship vs Cleveland.
Hornung & Taylor & Starr & Lombardi. The teams uniforms covered with
mud. Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderly, Willie Wood, Willie Davis on D. Plus a
whole lot more great great players.
I was hooked.

2 years later along comes Travis Williams. Better than Devin Hester better
than Desmond Howard. Averaged, AVERAGED 41.06 yard per kickoff!
2 kickoffs returned for td's in the same quarter!

Joe Mailman, I remember reading the Bart Starr book as a kid. Didn't
quite memorize it but finished it in one reading. Also, Kramer's "Instant Replay" was a favorite too.

[gbgary]

grew up in colorado. i guess i was about 10 (i'm 55 now). didn't know anything about football. bought some football cards, cuz the other kids had them, and big number 5 was the first card. loved the colors, and the G on the helmet. having the same initials GB was the clincher. started paying attention, asking questions, watching on tv, and what the hell...they won the championship that year. they were on tv almost every week in colorado when i was a kid. been a die-hard ever since. finally made it to Green Bay in '94, i think...nope, it was '93, and have made many trips back since. i love the city of Green Bay as it's a carbon copy of the town i grew up in...pueblo. same ethnic make-up, architecture, industrial/blue collar, etc.

[mraynrand]

1974 - Packers beat the tar outta the Lions in a rainy, muddy game. Somehow, we got the game on the tube in Iowa and my sweet, gentle mother was absolutely screaming at the TV and jumping up and down. Next day I delivered papers with my brother and the headline in the Sports Section was "Lions Sink in Mud." I was set for life.

[Spaulding]

Born into as I'm from Wisconsin. Don't remember my first game but remember my first football cards I collected with John Brockington being my favorite. Still remember the day Larry McCarren signed a photo for me.

Still kicking myself for not getting on the waiting list back then - sigh.

[HowardRoark]

Growing up outside of Milwaukee, I remember my Dad sneaking out of church early to get to Green Bay for the games. He talks about being at the Ice Bowl…so that made an impression on my very young mind.

It was probably the John Brockington, MacArthur Lane and other Packer football cards that I would organize into my shoe box that got me hooked as a kid though. Growing up in the mid 70s and early 80s, I was a more avid Brewers and Bucks fan. Now that I live in Minnesota, I allow and encourage my sons to cheer for the local teams (Twins and Wolves)…..but NEVER the Vikings. They will grow up as Packer fans too.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

Growing up outside of Milwaukee, I remember my Dad sneaking out of church early to get to Green Bay for the games. He talks about being at the Ice Bowl…so that made an impression on my very young mind.

It was probably the John Brockington, MacArthur Lane and other Packer football cards that I would organize into my shoe box that got me hooked as a kid though. Growing up in the mid 70s and early 80s, I was a more avid Brewers and Bucks fan. Now that I live in Minnesota, I allow and encourage my sons to cheer for the local teams (Twins and Wolves)…..but NEVER the Vikings. They will grow up as Packer fans too.

Seems to go against your free market ideals.

[mission]

I was born and the first clothes I ever had on were Packers. My grandfather mowed Don Hutson's yard as a kid (you may remember Don's introduction here lol), played cards with #66 and all that (we have a room full of autographed stuff back home) ... I really had no choice. He used to say to me as a little kid "tony, i cut my self shaving this morning ... " to which i acted a bit disappointed and then he would say "and my blood was green and gold, so is yours". ever since then, every time i ever cut myself shaving, ive thought of that.

Go Pack!

[oregonpackfan]

Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I was actively recruited to watch the Packers by my Dad in the fall of the '59 season. It was Lombardi's first season as coach of the Packers and I was just 9 years old.

The previous season the Packers had gone a pathetic 1-10-with Scooter McLean as coach.

It was about the third game of the '59 season when my Dad said something to the effect, "You need to watch carefully how this coach Lombardi has turned this team around. I think he his going to be a great coach."

I was hooked as a Packer fan and have been following them ever since.

Yes, I got to be a kid cheering on the Packers during the Lombardi era. As the song says, "It was the best years of my life..."

[Partial]

Chewy is my father.

I knew it.

[th87]

We moved to Milwaukee in 1988 from Chicago, so we still had the residue of the 85 Bears. Luckily, we weren't that into football then, so it wasn't like it was an undying allegiance. I was 8 at the time.

My dad started really getting into the Packers in 1989, but I wasn't all that interested. But then we watched the instant replay game against the Bears, and I was hooked. I remember my dad jumping onto the coffee table after Majik's TD pass. That was a fun season, and I remember that the Bengals had to beat the Vikings for the Packers to get into the playoffs. They'd cut to Majkowski's house from time to time to gauge their reactions. A disappointing night.

Since then, I've caught almost every game, and I got Sunday Ticket since I no longer live in the viewing area.

[SnakeLH2006]

Direct reply to topic:

2 words: (1989) Majik Man

[RashanGary]

We moved to Milwaukee in 1988 from Chicago, so we still had the residue of the 85 Bears. Luckily, we weren't that into football then, so it wasn't like it was an undying allegiance. I was 8 at the time.

My dad started really getting into the Packers in 1989, but I wasn't all that interested. But then we watched the instant replay game against the Bears, and I was hooked. I remember my dad jumping onto the coffee table after Majik's TD pass. That was a fun season, and I remember that the Bengals had to beat the Vikings for the Packers to get into the playoffs. They'd cut to Majkowski's house from time to time to gauge their reactions. A disappointing night.

Since then, I've caught almost every game, and I got Sunday Ticket since I no longer live in the viewing area.

I'm 28. Sounds like you're 29 or 30. Those are some of my first actual memories of the Packers also. Players like: Tim Harris, Majik, Sharpe, Dilwig, Randy Wright, Querry, the toolbox, Infante the coach. . . .

As a kid, my favorite player BY FAR was Sterling Sharpe. I wanted to be a receiver because of him. On defense, I loved Tim Harris and his gun routine.

[Bossman641]

Grew up and live in IL but my parents are both from the Dells. My dad's parents were big into the Packers and they had tickets to the Milwaukee games, so naturally I became a fan as well.

Can't remember the first game I watched, but I do remember the Majik Man. Living in IL we didn't get many games on TV so while my dad would be listening to the games on the radio doing yardwork my brother and I would throw the football around pretending to be Majkowski and Sharpe. I can remember Infante as coach so the first season I have a memory of would be 1990 I think, when I was 6.