PACKERVILLE, U.S.A.: Back from a Packers’ Victory

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Back from a Packers’ Victory

Yes, it was a meaningless win in the overall scheme of things, but a win is a win nonetheless. If you’re going to pay the same price for a game that doesn’t count in August as you’ll pay for one that decides the Division in December, it’d be nice to at least have the team win the game, right? We enjoyed the trip to Green Bay on Friday, we enjoyed the game, and we enjoyed making a few stops for merchandise procurement before we left town on Saturday afternoon. Preseason games — to us — are fun to watch, if you enjoy seeing guys trying to make the team, seeing the back-ups play, and having no stress about how the game turns out.

While some would say “I can see the game better at home on T.V.,” attending games in person is the superior experience in our opinion. If we were watching at home, we couldn’t focus on T.J. Lang on one play, and then on Derek Sherrod on the next play. Or scan the sideline with our binoculars to see who’s doing what. And next year, Lambeau Field will have HD video replay screens four times the current size. It just may elevate the experience to be a combination of the best of watching at home and watching live in the stadium.

A few notes from last night’s game: With all the frantic attention to head injuries lately, someone needs to get the attention of the equipment staffs and the players about how to properly fit the helmets to the players’ heads. There were more helmets flying off last night than we can remember in recent memory… with Randall Cobb’s knee bruise, does anyone but us wonder why players are allowed to wear absolutely no padding on their thighs and knees?… the 97-yarder from QB Matt Flynn to WR Chastin West was really a beautiful sight, coming right at us in the North end zone… the first-string offense seemed sluggish, until the late first-half TD to Greg Jennings… perhaps it was more noticeable being at the game, but the defensive players were constantly being shuffled throughout the entire game. Few plays on defense had the same personnel two plays in a row… Tim Masthay, while receiving much praise this week for his vast improvements, had a couple of bad punts in a row in the middle of the game. Like, ugly bad…