Growing up in Wisconsin, I knew of some pastors and priests who made a point of getting the 11:00 Sunday morning service wrapped up about ten to the hour...giving everybody, including himself, about 15 minutes to get to a TV for the kick-off of the Green Bay Packers game. On football Sundays, the greeting line going out the door went very quickly. "Nice to see you. Have a good week. Take care...." some of that was being said as the car was pulling away. There was no Monday Night, Sunday Night or Thursday Night football. It was all on Sunday afternoons...usually on a very small, grainy, black and white TV. We'd put tin-foil on the antenna to improve the reception. The sixties, of course, were heady times for Packer fans. Starr, Hornung, McGee, Nitschke. We didn't have saints in the Lutheran church but Lombardi came close. Of course, after Vince said good-bye, things went downhill for a long while but we still watched every game. It is a little known fact, but, when a native cheesehead drives back into Wisconsin, you are stopped at the border. If you can't name at least a dozen Packers, identify which end of Lambeau Field a single blade of grass came from and know to the inch, Lombardi's hat size, you are turned away. There is also a secret hand-shake but I am not allowed to give any details. If I did, I could have my lefse and cheese curd allowance cut off.

My wife's childhood memories of Packer games, bring to mind a series of brand-new sticker books...given in the hope that she and her sisters would be so busy from noon to 3:00 that her dad and uncles wouldn't miss a play. Once the Packer's Bobblehead was positioned on top of the TV and the autographed football was being tossed around the living room, it was all about the game. Today, she is a big football fan. There have been some Monday night games, involving teams we really have no vested interest in, when I will be fast asleep, only to be awakened by my wife's hollering. The noise doesn't bother me but waking up to see her doing an end-zone dance, wearing face-paint, and carrying a cardboard plate of nachos, can be disconcerting.

When I started at KMBC, the Packers weren't very good and the Chiefs were not much better. I made a deal with the news director that, if the Packers and Chiefs ever played each other (again) in the Super Bowl, I'd be on the crew to go to the game. It seemed like a safe bet until just a few years later when Sports Illustrated had the two teams on the cover, predicting just that match-up. It did turn out to be the year the Packers returned to the big game but we're still waiting for that Chiefs return trip. Interestingly, after a few months at Channel 9, my news director offered to send me to the game no matter who played provided I didn't come back.

As I mentioned, when we first moved here, the home team was not having much success. Channel 9 had the coach's show at the time and we started doing tail-gate specials, as well. As part of those shows, I would do some feature stories. Once I did a profile of living legend, Tony DiPardo. He is one of the all-time great guys and the story was lots of good fun. But, the clearest memory I have is of oldest son Alex, then just a toddler, standing in the endzone as these giant men in pads went running by him. Alex was staring straight up as they lumbered out of the lockeroom. I also did a story about the cheerleaders. This was back when they had male cheerers, too. I ended up on top of the pyramid. It was not long after that, that the squad went all female. I'm not sure if the two things are related. I did a piece, once, about the people who sit in the upper-most row in the stadium They were a great bunch. The day of the story, I was wearing a blue sweater which met with immediate disdain. So, the top-row gang all chipped in and bought me an official Chief's shirt. I still have it and, to this day, when I put it on, I get a nose-bleed.

Alex was and is a major football fan. As a child, he invented The Pretendo-Land Bowl featuring star quarterback, Chris Jetts! Talk about your fantasy leagues. This was before video games so he would draw pictures and write stories about Chris and the team. To this day, when he talks in his sleep, he sometimes is doing play-by-play for the Pretendo-Land fans. In the real world, he's been both excited and frustrated by the Chiefs over the years. Once, when the team lost a close playoff game, Alex, with all the anger a six-year old can muster, ripped off his Chief's jersey and threw it in the corner...vowing to never watch another game. He quickly renounced his renunciation.

In our house, we have a continuum of football fan fervor. Our second son has no interest at all. It all seems rather silly and convoluted to him. However, bear in mind, he is the same one who gets very engrossed in a computer game that involves nasty gnomes and places called "Wikiwakkiwoo" or something like that. He reminds me of a great uncle I used to have, back in the 60s, who insisted that football was fake and TV wrestling was real. His argument was undercut by the fact that he had a very high pitched voice and sounded a little like Mickey Mouse...a very angry Mickey Mouse. As if Mickey had been pulled over by Malibu police at three in the morning. Our daughter likes the Packers but not enough to actually watch the games. Mostly, she thinks she looks cute in the jerseys. I've already mentioned that our oldest son is a major fan. When he was little, he could recite facts and figures about every Chief and many non-Chiefs. It was like having a pint-sized Rainman running around the house. He still knows more about the team and the game than is probably healthy. I'm pretty sure the parts of his brain that should tell him about replacing the empty toilet paper roll, taking out the garbage and answering the phone when he's standing right next to it, are filled with stats about Tony Gonzales, Trent Green and KC Wolf. As previously noted, my wife loves football. She will watch any team at any time. I prefer to think that it is because she appreciates the history, excitement and strategy of the game. Period.

That brings us to Harrison. He never paid much attention to football until recently. Now, he plays the game with neighbor kids and with his big brother. He collects and trades the cards. He asked me to get Len Dawson's autograph...which Mr. Dawson kindly provided. He reads every book and article remotely connected to the game. It must be genetic, because he has become a major Packer Backer. He does the Lambeau Leap into bed. Now, I've warned him that the next few years may be a challenge..."rebuilding years" I believe is what they call them...and he will have to be patient...like Packer fans were in the 70s and 80s. I think he'll be okay about that. He already knows all the passwords, listed above, for getting back into the state and has almost mastered the secret handshake.