Pilgrimage to Packerland!

Check out my interview with Tom Perry of the Green Bay Press Gazette during my pilgrimage!

Monday July 6th, 1998

It's nice to be in a state where every grocery store has 48 different varieties of bratwurst!

I arrived in Milwaukee last night (120 miles south of Green Bay) and immediately checked several papers to see what they had to say about the upcoming Packers stockholders meeting. With 48 hours remaining to go the consensus seems to be that no one has a clue as to how many stockholders will actually show up for the meeting. The Packers have announced that they are expecting 20,000 people and for all they know 20 may show up. I think they will be close to 20,000 considering that they will be opening the gates to the parking lot at 8am for tailgating. (No alcohol will be allowed in the stadium.) They have also adjusted their schedule to open the stadium at 8am instead of 9am to make sure everyone would be seated on time for the 10am start. A 1997 Packer highlights video "The Excellence Continues" will be shown on the stadium screens at 9:35am.

Although they are forecasting rain for Green Bay tomorrow (Tuesday), the meeting on Wednesday should be sunny and in the 80's.

As I write this, ESPN is showing the history of the NFL with a ton of Packer clips. The hotel where I am staying tonight just had their Manager hosted cocktail hour and after a few Leinie's Red Ale's, life can't get much better. I have no clue what to expect when I arrive at the stadium parking lot on Wednesday except that I will immediately have 19,999 new best friends.

That's it for tonight! Tomorrow I drive to Green Bay and will update this page in the evening.

Tuesday July 7th, 1998

Greetings from where the hydrants are green and yellow!

There was a light drizzle on the drive from Milwaukee to Green Bay, but my convertible's top was down and the Doobie Brothers were blasting from the cassette deck. Amazing that if you go 70 mph the rain will curve over the front seat and land on the trunk! I bought a digital camera to take some pictures of the meeting for the web, and once I have time to hook everything up, I'll publish some of the pictures I've taken.

After checking into the hotel I took a dry run to Lambeau (5 minutes) and stopped to walk around the outside of the stadium. Geez it's big! When you compare it to everything else in this city of 96,000 people, it's no wonder. The Packers Hall of Fame is across the street from Lambeau and right next to the Don Hutson Training Facility for the players. There are Packer souvenir shops everywhere. All of them are stuffed with visitors. I found out that tomorrow the Hall of Fame and the main Packer Pro Shop will have many discounts for shareholders so I refrained from maxing out my credit cards today. I did stop by The Stadium View bar which has a flag for every sports team known to man hanging from their ceiling. The taps were 75 cents so I had to stay and watch the Brazil - Holland soccer match. There were 40 Brazilian fans, waving flags and all, taking up a huge corner of the bar. Weird to hear cheers for Brazil in a bar densely coated in Packer memorabilia.

There was an interview on local TV with someone that traveled from Texas for the meeting. I've got him beat, so my plan tomorrow is to walk up to anyone with a TV camera and make them interview me. The few quotes I gave the reporter from the Green Bay Press Gazette last week should appear in a special edition of the paper tomorrow afternoon.

The Pack has to beat 20,109 attendee's to become the largest shareholder meeting in the US (AT&T had that many in 1961-Touch Tone Calling was introduced at the gathering. It beat out the attendance at the White Sox game on the same day.) The stats for shareholder attendance are published everywhere in Green Bay, so here they are for you:

AT&T, 1961: 20,109

Wal-Mart, 1998: 18,000

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., 1998: 14,000

Walt Disney Corp., 1997: 11,000

After standing out in California by wearing Packer T-shirts, it's weird being dressed like 95% of the people I've seen today.

SHAREHOLDER DAY, 6:00am Lambeau Field Time

The live reports have begun on local TV from Lambeau Field. It was announced that they are renaming a street near Lambeau Brett Favre Pass. It will join Lombardi Ave. and Holmgren Way as renamed streets surrounding Lambeau Field. There was actual controversy on the naming of the street. Many wanted Brett Favre Way vs. Brett Favre Pass. It's amazing what a small town can argue over! One Council member voted against the renaming of the street. I think his impeachment papers were started today.

I'm off to breakfast and then to the meeting.

The Lambeau Cam on TV shows a great sunny day ahead!

Corner of Lombardi Ave and Holmgren Way

MECCA, 8:01 am

As I drove into the Lambeau Field parking lot the gates to the stadium were opening. There were 300 people already lined up to enter through the gates. As I was getting some things (cheesehead, camera) out of the trunk of the car a DJ from a local top 40 radio station, WIXX came up to the folks in the car parked next to mine and asked them if they wanted to be interviewed on radio. The group of four stuttered and finally said no. He then turned to me and asked the same question. Before he finished I yelled "ABSOLUTELY!"

He took me over to their van and I heard their morning team, "Murphy in the morning with Marty" in the studio go live with the DJ in the parking lot. He then introduced me as one of the new proud shareholders...all the way from California. Their morning team, Murphy (male) and Marty ( female) asked me questions like: "Why did you arrive so early? To tailgate! "What are you having for breakfast?" Bratwurst of course! "How many shares to you own?" A whopping ONE. Murphy then asked me what I do for a living and then Marty started asking me personal questions: Am I single? Ever been married? How old am I? What do I look like? (I answered HUGE.) Murphy then interrupted her and said to me, "You know Marty is single and sizing you up?" I then invited Marty down to Lambeau for a bratwurst and said that I would be the one in the FAVRE jersey. (Along with 15,000 others.) She said thanks, you're a big help! They both then thanked me for going live with them and as I walked away from the van I could hear Marty asking the DJ in the parking lot while still on the air, "So what does he really look like?" His response was that I was a hunka, hunka, burning love and it was her loss. I look my best on radio.

As I got in line to enter Lambeau, the local FOX affiliate was interviewing people in line, and yes, I made it perfectly clear that I came all the way from 49er country to attend the meeting. They of course stopped and interviewed me. They had the same basic questions for me. (Being a star can be so tedious.) Was I originally from Wisconsin, where do I work, how many shares do I own, why am I a shareholder (To be part of the most unique franchise in NFL history and future.) The reporter liked that phrase so that should make the 6pm and 10pm news here locally tonight.

Well, that took care of the print, radio and TV media for me. I then proceeded inside THE FROZEN TUNDRA. Okay, it was 80 degrees but I had visions of seeing everyone's breath as they exhaled. I walked around the concourse area first and the Packers had set up several stalls that just sold shareholder apparel. All of the stalls were jammed with shareholders buying up everything. While I waited in line 45 minutes I could see the inventory deplete before my eyes. By the time I got to the front, only shirts and sweatshirts were left. Everything else was gone. They did tell us that shareholders would be getting a special mailing to order this stuff from home. Good thing. Don't make your shareholder's mad before the meeting!

I then walked through the tunnel to view the stadium. Lambeau Field holds 61,000 people, (2/3 the population of Green Bay!) all of them on benches. Not a single seat in the house. That is if you don't count the 3 floors of private boxes that surround the entire stadium. You can walk the circumference of entire stadium while staying in the same row! Which, of course, I did.

As I mentioned earlier the Pack had to beat 21,109 to be the largest shareholders meeting. They announced after the meeting that 18,707 attended. Oh well, there is always next year!

About 9:35am they showed "The Excellence Continues." A video of the games played last year.

What other stockholders meeting in the country starts with the national anthem? That was really cool. I expected the team to appear all suited up and ready to play. The President, Bob Harlan, started the meeting and introduced GM Ron Wolf who gave us a status of the offense and defense. Any time he mentioned a players name he was interrupted with applause! When Harlan mentioned that Wolf was persued by 2 NFL team in the off season, and that he chose to stay in Green Bay, everyone in Lambeau gave Wolf a 50 second standing ovation. His response to the crowd was, "You are utterly and simply amazing!"

We were given a copy of the statement of income and balance sheet so various other Packer Exec's got up and spoke about the numbers. I will post this as soon as I transcribe all the data.

Then came the question and answer period. They had 10 microphones around the stadium and several got up to ask questions. No, I didn't ask a question. I've had enough exposure in GB. Any type of question you can imagine was asked. Here are a few classics:

Why isn't Dorsey Leven's signed yet? Ron Wolf: "Because he is not worth what he is asking for!" That response triggered a gasp from the shareholders, then loud applause. Wolf seems like a no nonsense GM. If you are worth what you're asking, you're on the team. Otherwise thanks for playing with us. BUUUBYE!

Bob Harlan, you are a great man and Milwaukee, my home city, loves you. Can I have your autograph? Bob Harlan: "Thanks. Later. Next question."

My same sex partner and I are disgusted by Reggie White and his comments and I would like to know what the Packer's are going to do about those comments he made to the Wisconsin Legislature? The entire stadium erupted in Booing the guy. Bob Harlan's response: "Thanks for your comment. Next question."

There were several good questions regarding the income statement and what the legal charges the last 2 years were for. 97's legal charge was for our final payment in the players/owners confrontation in '93 and a smaller charge was for a settlement reached by the NFL with Sullivan, the former owner of the NE Patriots. All NFL teams had to cough up money for that one.

I stayed at Lambeau for about an hour after the meeting calling relatives and friends on my cell phone. How often would I have a chance to call someone from Lambeau Field?

As I walked to my car I passed by a few tailgate parties and stopped to talk to a couple of guys that came for the meeting, but lived locally. After finding out that I was from California they "forced" a Point beer and a bratwurst my way.

I figured that my last evening in Green Bay should be spent at Packer great Fuzzy Thurston's bar, Shenanigan's. Unfortunately Fuzzy was away for the week. There I met two "Yuper's" - Upper Peninsula folk for those of you not from the Midwest. I reminisced with this couple of all the great Packer games the last few years. No matter where you go in this city, or for that matter this state, someone is always willing to talk Packers with you over a beer and a brat.