What's in a Name?

A comment on Cheesehead TV got me thinking about something I have thought about a lot when I have time to think, which at times is a lot and at other times not so much with my feast and famine schedule.

Out, Out, Damn G-Force

The messy divorce between the Viking mascot Ragnar and the powers-that-be had someone say the Vikings could buy the "G-Force" stuff at a cheap price to replace him. I would give them all of the stuff, including the huge G-Force flag they use when the team comes out of the gangway, for free and throw in 24 bratwursts and a case of Milwaukee's Best to sweeten the deal.

A few years ago when everybody and their brother formed a nation the Packer fans and the media started using Packer Nation. I yelled out the door why change what makes the Packers special. WE ARE PACKER BACKERS and no other team has them.

Kati #1 Packer Fan-Owner!!! Showing off my Packer Tattoo at a Packer Rally in San Diego!

Why be lumped in the sea of unwashed and unfulfilled? There are no Bear Backers, Viking Backers, Lion Backers or Cowboy Backers. I'm sure they are all called just fans and (put in the name of the city) Nation.

I think and I might be wrong the first nation was Raiders Nation. If I was a Raiders fan I wouldn't be proud of the name being used by every college and professional team (imitation being the greatest form of flattery). I hope whoever did coin that phrase got it copyrighted. And this bears (no pun intended) repeating to join everybody else makes you (no matter which team you identify with) just one of the crowd.

Packers Bikini Girls in the Cold

We, the Packer Backers, are not one of the crowd , we are the crowd. We watch the games in our Cheeseheads and Cheesebras and other items. We show up in good times and bad. We fill Lambeau Field in warm weather and below freezing temperatures. We love being one of the oldest professional teams in history. We don't live in the past, but we love our heritage (Curly Lambeau, Don Hutson, Vince Lombardi, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Brett Favre and way too many to mention in one post). We are a team that is like a time anomaly from Star Trek, we are all at once in the 1920's and 30's, the 60's, the 90's and now the 2000's.

Packer tailgaters will grill anything

The Lambeau crowd didn't invent tailgating (the first tailgate celebration is believed to have occurred near the start of the Civil War. Civilians traveled out from Washington, DC to witness the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861. The first sports tailgating is thought to have been at the first American football game played in 1869 football game between Rutgers and Princeton), but they sure did make their version a particular Wisconsin event and, as I found out (not that I didn't already know, but this was a nice reminder) an enjoyable event for the opposing fans with a story about four Seahawks fans who came to the Shrine Sunday night and were taken in and shown Green Bay hospitality.

Tailgating Hospitality

Take that San Francisco. I shutter to think the Super Bowl will be held in a city that takes pride in killing and maiming the opposing team's fans. Packer Backers better beware, although it might not be so bad with the 49ers not in the hunt to play in their own Super Bowl.

Cheeseheads and Cheesebras

So, here's to you, Packer Backers. You of the Lambeau Leap. You of the Cheeseheads and Cheesebras. You of the bikini girls in 20 below. You who grill everything. Here's to you, the greatest fans in the world (and that's not just me talking ask those four Seahawks fans).
 

 

1st. Lambeau Leap in 1993