Frozen tundra, toes and noses
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- January
- 19
I’m in Green Bay, and I’ve got to tell you, minus-4 under a sunny sky doesn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought it would. Of course, by some time during the NFC title game tomorrow night, it will be colder than that, with a windchill that could make it feel like minus-30, they’re saying.
And mind you, I only walked 100 yards or so to my rental car, and then into a few shops, with gloves, a huge coat and a hood—and had icicles inside my nose by then. I didn’t stand out there and tailgate for two hours, then stand in the frigid wind for three-plus hours of football.
That said, the connecting flight fron Detroit to Green bay was loaded with fans—actually more Packers fans than Giants fans. When the pilot announced before takeoff that the temps in Green Bay had hit minus-14, fans of both teams cheered. These people are hard-core, and I say that with all admiration. By the time we landed it had warmed to minus-9, and soon was heading toward a balmy zero.
The coolest part of the flight was the landing, banking in right around Lambeau Field, seeing the place in all its frozen glory, surrounded by several inches of snow that covers the entire area. It was snowing in Detroit, too, so beware if you plan on going through there.
By the way, on one of the main highways in the area is a video billboard which genuinely welcomes the New Yorkers. It says, “Giants and Fans, Welcome to Heaven in a Freezer.”
It reminded me of the 1986 NLCS in Houston, where there was a sign that told Mets fans to go North, when the game was actually going to be played South.
Oh, and if you plan on finding a room once you get here, don’t. The thing about Green Bay, which I guess is by far the smallest city in any big-league sport, is that most of the Packers fans come from elsewhere in the midwest. In other words, they fly or drive here, and they stay in a hotel or motel on gameday. So there are rooms available tonight, and Monday, but not Sunday. I’m 30 miles away, and I made my reservation Tuesday. And if you can find a room, plan on paying big bucks—the good folks of Wisconsin take advantage of the Packers-Sunday supply-and-demand.
Another thing about the flight. I opened the in-flight magazine on Northwest (and Continental) and in it is a full-page ad for HGH, Human Growth Hormone. Buy it and improve your growth and your life, it says. Holy cow!
Then I watched some of the C-Span replay of Donald Fehr and Bud Selig being grilled by Congress on Tuesday, and sure enough, Fehr had torn out the ad from his in-flight magazine and showed it to the whole world. How can this happen???
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 3:23 pm by Carp. 
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Ernie Palladino
Hi Rick,
Enjoy the game. Miss you on the NHL beat.Who ? Besides congress actually cares about steroids and hgh. Grown men have decided to takes these substances.Jail time for this is nonsense,remember the war on drugs and the rockefeller law what a farce they are. Tell congress not to waste our money on these investigations.Winning is the American way ,so we’ve been taught. I think the team who has the most ball possession , least fumbles ,drops,will win.That and Farve’s due for a meltdown.Take the Giants.
You’re not implying that anyone on the Packers revived his career with HGH are you?
rick today was actually going to be the coldest day of the week in green bay. temps r going to increase through the day tomm. the temp at kickoff tomm sould be 4 degrees with a windchill of -7 and the temp will drop to 0 by about 10 pm, however the windchils r expected to lessen because the winds should only be around 7mph by kickoff. not a big deal the wind wont be a factor just the bone chilling cold, but reports from lambeau is they can get the surface to the field to 50 degrees ne time they want, so if the surfaces is heated the air at the fields surface should be a lil warmer then the outside temperature. if the giants take the rite precautions and use the rite things to heat themselves they will be fine, the cold has never killed neone especially teams from new york who have played in cold before, its the wind and thw wind chill that can take over games ( as giants fans no with eli) and that should be a non factor tomm. according to the national weather service.
so if u thought today was ok tomm should feel like a heat wave for u cuz it will feel niticably warmer, as today wind chills in green bay were -41 degrees at one point with winds from the north at 25mph, tomm during the game the windchill will not exceed -10 and the winds will be soft and calm not exceding 10mph.