Lambeau lift
Packers fans bundle up in green and gold
Green Bay — When Shanna Barton got married in September 2015, she and her husband wore their allegiance to the Packers on their feet, Shanna in a lovely glittery green pair of 4-inch heels sporting the “G” logo on the toe, her husband, Trevor, in green and gold socks beneath his black dress shoes.
The Cincinnati couple, who are both Wausau natives, snagged a couple of prized tickets to Sunday afternoon’s Packers-Giants playoff matchup, drove nine hours to the game and wore their nuptial apparel on their feet. The only difference between Sunday and their wedding day, well, one of the differences, was the temperature.
With temperatures in the low teens at kickoff Sunday and dropping throughout the game with wind chills hovering around 2 de-
grees, the couple said they planned to keep their shoes on, including Shanna who was not wearing socks, not even hose.
“I’ll be OK,” she said shortly before heading into Lambeau Field. “I got a scarf I can wrap around my feet if they get cold.”
If Shanna Barton’s toes were cold for Sunday’s game, they weren’t the only ones. It wasn’t the coldest game in Lambeau Field history. Far from it. But these being Packers fans, most knew how to dress to stay warm and do it in Green Bay colors of green and gold.
Steve Tate of DeForest looked like he could play backup quarterback, if not for the gray hair and salt and pepper Hemingwayesque beard. He had the Packers jersey, the yellow game pants, the socks and cleats, even the Packers hand warmer around his waist and green sideline cape. No helmet, though — instead his chapeau was a cheesehead hat adorned with “NFL Owner” on the sides.
“I’m a lifelong Packer fan. I always wanted to be a Packer. That didn’t happen,” said Tate, as he stood next to a life-size Minion in a Packers outfit a couple of hours before the game. “Now I just dress like one.”
He used to wear a jersey of a current player. But if that player had a crummy game, Tate sometimes got heckled. So he switched to No. 15, the jersey of his favorite player, Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr. The heckling stopped.
Tate usually dresses in his get-up at every Packers game he attends. And he goes to plenty. This season, he traveled to all home games and every away game except for Washington and Jacksonville, Fla. Counting preseason games, and Tate does, Sunday was his 17th game for the season.
“I even went to that canceled Canton game, too,” said Tate, still steamed about the NFL’s decision to cancel the annual Hall of Fame preseason football game in Canton, Ohio, after the stands were filled with fans.
Folks wore all manner of coats, overalls, snow pants, parkas and hats to stay warm.
Aaron Gnirk, a Packers fan from St. Cloud, Minn., decided to show loyalty to his favorite team with an ugly sweater featuring Aaron Rodgers’ face and jersey stitched in yellow and gold with snowflakes dancing across Gnirk’s neck.
He bought it on Amazon.com as a Christmas present to himself and, yes, he knew it was ugly. As did plenty of other tailgaters roaming through Lambeau Field’s parking lot before the game.
“I’ve gotten a lot of high-fives. A guy even offered me $50 and offered to trade me his tickets, which were supposedly on the 50-yard line,” said Gnirk, who did not fall for it. Or at least he figured his ugly sweater was worth more than $50 and better seats.
David Sutton and his two friends, Chris Winters and Michael Miele, drove from New Jersey to attend the playoff game. When the three New York
Giants fans rolled into town, the first thing on their to-do list was to buy cheesehead hats. So they stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Green Bay and purchased three wedges of cheese for their noggins, and then they bought a can of blue spray paint.
Did the clerks at Dick’s Sporting Goods know the Giants fans plan to desecrate and deface so hallowed a piece of Packers memorabilia as the cheesehead hat?
“We told them. But the color of money is green,” said Sutton.
The three, clad in red and blue Giants jerseys and cheeseheads painted blue, had never been to Lambeau Field and were excited to visit. They bought their tickets for $200 each on StubHub and were on the road two days, arriving in Green Bay on Saturday night.
“First time for Lambeau, baby. We heard it’s awesome cold but nice people,” said Sutton.
The trio apparently had no experience tailgating in Green Bay. They stood in the parking lot with one six-pack of Bud Light at their feet. No food. No grill. No cooler. Not even a plate of deviled eggs.
“It’s OK. Some Packer fans invited us to eat with them, we’ve had brats already,” Sutton said.