My kids & me.. the best fans! Hear us!!

The 1997-1998 season was even sweeter than the last. Major injuries to key players, rarely scoring more points than the betting line, and overcoming the “repeat syndrome” when every other team was gunning for the Superbowl Champs were major challenges to the team this year. At times it looked bleak, but they overcame all odds!

Jerry Kramer, a Packer Hall of Famer from the 60's (when the Packers won FIVE NFL titles) best described Packer fans after the ’97 NFC Championship game at Lambeau -- ICE BOWL II – panthers vs. PACKERS:

"Packer fans aren't just fans, there a Fan-amily" Yeah, he's right. We're alot like a family. Our team is humble, and down to earth and lovable. We love our Green Bay Packers!!!

Hear Nitschke!

Nitschke, on Mike Holmgren!

Another pro-football Hall of Famer, Ray Nitschke, put my official Superbowl 97 ballcap out of commission. He signed the brim “Ray Nitschke H.O.F. ’78 at the WI State Fair. That was enough to retire it to display only. Ray Nitschke is a super nice guy who was a super MEAN linebacker during the 60’s dynasty years!

He held my two-year-old for pictures and let kids wear his Superbowl II ring. It was HUGE with three large diamonds in the center of a football. Ray said that Vince Lombardi designed it with one diamond for each Championship in the three-peat of 1965-1966-1967.

Ray passed away in March. In the whole 2 minutes I knew him, he made a lasting impact on me and my family. He was a celebrity, but he took the time to acknowledge you and you could actually FEEL the love he had for the fans. He will be missed.

My car's personalized license plate has been "GB PKRS" since '89. When my car was new, a fine Chicago Bear fan keyed my trunk when I parked in Illinois one day. Don't you love 'dem guys! I updated the plate to the new WI sesquicentennial plate in celebration of the 97 Superbowl win, but kept the same message. Some people ask me if I’m a Packer. I tell them to just look at my car and ask again! :)

We’ve endured some harsh 4-12 dismal seasons. Us Packer fans have paid our dues!

Megan is 3 now and wanted to say HELLO!

The Pros and Cons of the ’97 WORLD CHAMPION Green Bay Packers

THE PROS:

THE PLAYERS:

They thank us Packer fans and God for their success.

• Reggie White, one of the most special players EVER to wear a Packer uniform. He captures the fans hearts on and off the field. A true role model who acknowledges the fans and reaches out to them. He's going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Packer!
  
• "This is a team. I'm jumping out there to back this team. I've played on a team where maybe guys were looking at their statistics. It seems if they do it here is subtle, really really subtle" Free Safety Eugene Robinson, on Packer team unity.
  "If you have a problem, there isn't a player on this team you can't sit down and talk with. That's what makes this team so special. It's not like any other organization by far." Cornerback Tyrone Williams, on what it's like in locker room.
  
  
• Brett Favre - 3-time MVP, a rocket arm, the most awesome QB in the game today- possibly ever! - enough said.
  
  
• The Lambeau leap - jump in the stands!
  
  
• THESE 2 PACKER TEAMS WERE WORTH THE 29-YEAR WAIT!!!

THE FANS:

• Lambeau field has been sold out for EVERY game since the 1950's, when Eisenhower was president. We aren't talking about inside a dome either - the weather gets wicked up here in January! Also, our loyal fans STILL support the team in even the most dismal of seasons past.
  
  
• 95,000 fans attended Packer ROAD games in ‘96! Is that support or what??
  
  

  

• the season ticket waiting list is about 5000 years (no lie), with only about 12 season tickets given up per year. Fans actually WILL their tickets to their children when they die. Last time I heard there were 47,000 on the waiting list.
  
  
• Hospitality - the opposing team’s fans don't have to worry about bodily mutilation by the world’s best fans - PACKER FANS!
  
  
• Packer fans worldwide have bought up over 200 million dollars of NFL PACKER paraphernalia, by far more than any other team, including the Cowboys.
  
  
• Fans from the smallest town in professional sports have the biggest hearts!
• Tailgating at Lambeau!!!

TRADITION:

• From Curly Lambeau's 1919 ACME Meat Packing Co. football team to the mighty 1997 Superbowl Champions and 98’ quest to repeat teams!
  
  

  

• Vince Lombardi, Packer Coach 1959-1968 - Winner of 5 titles in the 60's golden years. The best coach and motivator of all time.
  
  
• Twelve World Championship titles - they don't call it TITLETOWN for nothing! (A 13th title on the way???)
  
  
• Bart Starr, the Ice Bowl, Jerry Kramer, Max Magee, Don Hutson, etc. .
  
  
• The Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, Green Bay WI

OUR AWESOME COACH:

• In six seasons, Mike Holmgren has accumulated more victories than any of the team's ten other head coaches except Lombardi and team founder E.L. 'Curly' Lambeau.
  
  
• Possessor of a 73-36 overall record, including a 64-32 regular-season mark and a 9-4 postseason slate.
  
  
• He has led Green Bay to the NFL's best regular-season record over the past three years (37-11)
  
  
• A club-record 23 consecutive regular-season victories in "Lambeau"
  
  
• The second-longest home-field winning streak in pro football history.
  
  
• 13 regular-season victories in consecutive years (1996-97) for the first time in team annals.
  
  
• Back-to-back Super Bowls the past two years - victor of SBXXXI.
  
  

(Holmgren info thanks to packers.com)

HOMEFIELD:

• Lambeau Field is the oldest and ABSOLUTELY the BEST football stadium in the NFL. Not a bad seat in the house.
  
  
• Lambeau is to NFL football as St. Peters in Rome is to Roman Catholics - or Mecca to Islam!
  
  

  

• Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post reporter David Maraniss made his first visit to Lambeau December 1, 1996, the same Packer-Bear game I was lucky enough to go to. From the moment he parked his car, he knew he was in the midst of something special. "It was the most intensely ritualistic thing I've ever seen. It was a combination of people wearing hunting and Packers paraphernalia, mixing in this tribe-like atmosphere."
  
  
• Its unbelievable to tailgate in Lambeau's parking lot before the game. The fans are rabid on the PACK!
  
  
• COOL STORY I FOUND ABOUT LAMBEAU: "Packer fans hijack a Seattle visitor from a barstool. You must, they insisted, do a lap with us. They clambered into two cars and rode down Lombardi Ave., a few minutes to the shrine. Lambeau Field, a dark silhouette. As they turned off the street into the parking lot, half a dozen cars were exiting, even though there was little going on.

  Inside the lot's fence, inside the gates, they can touch the walls of the great edifice. They drive slowly. Treads in the snow are visible from previous churchgoers. There are no barriers, no security people running with bobbing flashlights. Zero degrees, zero hassles.

  Is a close-up lap possible at Los Angeles Coliseum, at New Jersey's Meadowlands, at Seattle's Kingdom? Well maybe. But that raises the question: Why would anyone be moved to do such a thing at those places? The feel of history is a big thing. Everyone must do their part." Art Thiel, Knight Ridder Newspapers.

• I can't think of any!

Jen from the San Francisco area lost a bet on the ’97 Championship game. She had to put this picture on her web page for a month. For some reason, the thumbs were originally down, but I helped her correct that error!