Dateline: brother Andrew's house in Stevens Point WI, 4 October 2004
Yesterday was a beautiful day to watch football at Lambeau: brilliant sunny 60 degrees with a bit of wind. Kevin and I had a great time at the game. Unfortunately, the Packers did not. So . . . I made a point of catching up with Bob and Roseanne from the first row (they have seats 9 and 10 next to my seat 11--where my guest sits (this time Kev) and Mike and Julie from MN who sit in the 11 seats in rows 3 and 4 (my second seat is the 11 in row 2 in section 342). Those four have been to all our games, so we're getting to know each other over the years, and they were happy to see how much Kevin has grown. I also discovered that Bob is a graduate of Chilton H.S. in Chilton WI, my birthplace just south of Green Bay.
The first half was pretty bad for the Pack, the only bright spots being a missed FG by Giants and an end zone pick by Darren Sharper of Kurt Warner pass in our corner of field. Then in second half near end of 3rd we had our brief shining moment: 3rd and long and Favre is decked, yielding a roughing the passer penalty and first down. Problem is, it also yielded Favre's concussion. He was pulled off field and sub Pederson got them to a 4th and 4. Without being cleared by docs, Favre just stood up, put on his helmet and ran out on field, pulling Pederson out of huddle just as they were breaking. Favre then floated a ball right on the money to the corner of the field (our corner) as he saw Javon Walker begin a turn out on about the 10-yard-line. It's the kind of play you have no understanding for when watching on TV, because you can't see the route unfold--you just follow the ball. But having it in our corner, we could see the play unfold second by second and it was a most amazing pass, yielding a 27-yard-TD and keeping his TD-pass-per-game streak going.
Favre lobbyied hard to get back in, but once the team doc got ahold of the head coach, they all told him no way with a concussion (good call). Hence, we give up two TDs over rest of game and were never really a threat, despite it being close.
Sad, but Kev and I really enjoyed our time together and I got to see two of my brothers, one sister-in-law and two nephews.
When we drive south today, we'll pass right by the kennel where our new puppy is. Stormy is a two-week-old Chesapeake Bay Retriever female that I'll pick up when I'm here in November for the Vikings game. Given the 1-3 start, I'm guesing I won't have to worry about playoff tix this year, so I'll to make that a good game for the memories. With the Vikes, that should be easy.
So I'll leave the area today holding on to that one great Favre memory and the fact that PNM is 206 on Amazon . . .
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