I was There

There’s those special days in our lives, the one’s we’ll never forget, the one’s when we see history being made and we know it.  The Moon Landing, the Berlin Wall coming down, the election that took months to count.  And we can say, “I was there.”

I was there; I saw history being made; I was there for the call that ended the lockout.

One of my twitter friends, a Seahawks fan, graciously invited a couple of his Packer-fan friends up for the game.  I traded in a pile of my Amtrak rewards points for a roundtrip ticket and bordered the train.  A short ride up, only a day, Daddy Bunny and I watched the beautiful Northwestern coast role past as I headed to one of the most exciting days ever, my first Packer game.

I met up with my friend for a tailgate in a parking lot near the stadium.  A wonderful mix of Packers and Seahawks fans milled around the area.  Brats and burgers were grilling; footballs were flying through the air; and one crazy group of people was playing beer pong.  My favorite part was the State Farm commercial impressions, “Roggg-ers!”  Everyone was so nice, some Vikings fans even came over to chat.

The stadium was packed and packed with Packers fans as well as Seahawks fans.  I estimated about a quarter of the stadium was Packers fans; others estimated about a third.  Mind you, Seattle is 1,933 miles away from Green Bay.   There were Packers fans behind me and Packer fans down to my right.  Everyone else in my group was a Seahawks fan, but that only made the game that much more fun.

All of us on the edge of our seats, back and forth, up, down, another sack.  Another ridiculous call, another amazing play.  Football, football at it’s finest; reffing at it’s worst.

When the game ended, I mean actually ended, after the players came back out of the locker rooms to pretend to kick the extra point that the refs had just not bothered about until they realized they had to bother about it – when the game ended, the sympathy came pouring in.  Texts from angry family members on the other side of the country.  Texts from friends in Cali telling me it was ok to be mad.  Tweets from everywhere offering condolences and decrying the horrible call.  And most of all, apologies from Seahawks fans who sincerely meant it when they said it was a bad call, but couldn’t hide their own joy at winning.  Permission to be mad?  How could I be mad?  I was surrounded by incredibly happy people, and incredibly happy people who weren’t gloating, who were gracious winners, who accepted the win for the sketchiness that it was.

It was a most amazing game to be at.  What a great first Packer game!  Thank you, MtySeahawk

Now, I just wonder how many people’s Facebook pages I’m on. People really wanted a photo with a real, live cheesehead.