Dear Packer Nation:
I write to you this week with much excitement and bated breath as I am getting set to make my fifth trip to Lambeau Field. Growing up, my love of football and the Green Bay Packers organization has grown, and I have had the pleasure to make many pilgrimages to historic Lambeau Field. These experiences have allowed me to meet some amazing people and further gain an insight into life in a midwestern football town. This midwestern hometown feel has shown me how an NFL Sunday is a religious experience for the amazing people of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Only in Green Bay, Wisconsin, can an entire city come together on a Sunday afternoon and make outsiders from different states, feel like they are back at home having a barbecue in their backyard. (Literally)
As a young child living in New Jersey, I always dreamed of what it would be like to visit the grand cathedral, where Curly Lambeau bred both a legendary and winning tradition, and where Vince Lombardi cultivated that legendary and winning tradition into a mythical and religious experience for Packer fans across the nation every Sunday afternoon.
I also dreamed of what it would be like to walk on the hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field and feel how the many legends before me felt when coming out of the tunnel into a stadium full of cheering fans. I dreamt of standing in the back of the end zone and watching Packers history, both past, and present, unfolding in my mind’s eye. I imagined seeing Bart Star’s famous Quarterback sneak in the ice bowl, LeRoy Butler’s first Lambeau leap, Reggie White’s many career sacks, and Brett Favre’s childish exuberance after every touchdown that he threw. These images were what made my love of the Green Bay Packers grow and what made my concept of Lambeau Field become so mythical.
September 8, 2012, is a day that I will remember forever, it is the day that my eyes looked at Lambeau Field, and all of its glory for the first time. My best friend (also a Packer fan) and I were driving down highway 41 heading towards the Oneida St exit listening to the song “Paradise” by Coldplay. Just as the chorus began to play, Lambeau Field appeared on the horizon, and all of our collective breath was taken away from us. We had finally made it, our dreams of seeing Lambeau Field had finally come true. The moment left us both overwhelmed with emotion, excited with anticipation, and completely flabbergasted that we had actually made this landmark trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin to see our beloved Packers.
I want you to sit back and close your eyes for a moment, and either remember the first time that you gazed upon Lambeau Field or imagine what it will be like to gaze upon it for the first time.
This is truly, a memory that every Packer fan holds near and dear to their heart and one that every fan remembers for the rest of their lives. Generations young and old gather together at Lambeau Field to remember the past and witness the present. Lambeau Field is a place that unites many different, culturally diverse people and joins them by a common bond that can never be broken. This unbreakable bond amongst complete strangers that become lifelong friends, is what makes the Lambeau experience unlike any other.
As I sit here finishing this letter to you all, my friends, I cannot help but get more and more excited and wonder what my fifth trip to Lambeau Field has in store.
Your Friend,
David Michalski
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David Michalski is a recent college graduate from Princeton New Jersey who has been a life long Green Bay Packers fan. Like the great Vince Lombardi, he values God, family, and the Green Bay Packers in that order. You can follow him on twitter at @kilbas27dave
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