Arriving at the Packerville, U.S.A. offices today was the third Super Bowl XLV commemorative book. This one looks to be as good as the previous ones we ordered, and is published by the folks at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper. It features, as the others do, a chronological progression through the season, with a multitude of great photos. To order the book and other Journal-Sentinel Super Bowl XLV items, you can go here, or directly to the publisher’s page here.
If one looks only at the old film clips we’ve seen repeated for decades whenever they talk of the Lombardi Era Packers’ running attack, you’d think that fullback Jim Taylor scored every time he had the ball. Here’s proof that sometimes the result of a running play was less than spectacular. Action from Lambeau Field against the Colts in either 1961 or 1962.
Until we decide what our off-season schedule will be here in Packerville, U.S.A., we’ll keep updating the blog here with Packers news and history. Here’s a list of the “Top Ten Packers” of all time, as compiled by the N.F.L. Network. See how this list might compare with your own...
Coach Mike McCarthy’s brief interview from the N.F.L. Combine in Indianapolis (click here).
Linebacker A.J. Hawk on the N.F.L. Network, on the “state of the Packers” (click here).
Ted Thompson meets with the press at the N.F.L. Combine (click here).
Lastly, it only took 19 days after the Super Bowl XLV victory, but the invoice for our 2011 season tickets arrived in the mail today. The account is already paid up with the money for playoff tickets that went unused (no home playoff games in 2010), so we’re all set. Above is the letter from Packers’ president Mark Murphy to the season ticket holders. We thought maybe those of you on the waiting list (83,000+ strong) might like to see what the team has to say to its loyal followers.
The second commemorative Super Bowl XLV book arrived today at the Packerville offices, this one being the “official” book produced by the Green Bay Packers. This book has more in-depth writing than the Green Bay Press-Gazette book that arrived yesterday, but also has a very good selection of photos throughout. To order this book, you can go here, or here.
Today, the first of the commemorative Super Bowl XLV books — “Green, Gold, and Glorious” — arrived at the Packerville, U.S.A. offices. This one is produced by the Green Bay Press-Gazette, and is very good, like the other book they produced recently, “Titletown’s Team.” It features page after page of high-quality photos from throughout the 2010 season, culminating in the Super Bowl victory a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it is mostly a photo book with informative captions and no lengthy articles. We urge anyone interested in such things to pick this one up before they’re gone. To order online, you can go here. Unfortunately, if you had ordered right after the game, you could’ve saved quite a bit of money with early orders. But, it’s still worth the price.
In this undated photo, Green Bay Packers’ head coach and general manager Vince Lombardi is crouched on the City Stadium/Lambeau Field sideline, deep in thought about his team on the field. Behind him, in the dark suit, is longtime Packers’ team photographer Vernon Biever, who just died this past year. Almost all of the famous Lombardi Era photos you’re familiar with were taken by him. This day, he was captured in a photo instead of tripping the shutter.
The pass shown above would’ve gotten you on the sideline at Green Bay’s City Stadium or presumably at any visiting stadium around the league in that championship year of 1944. The 1944 season was their 24th season in the National Football League. The club posted a 8-2 record under coach Curly Lambeau, earning them a first-place finish in the Western Conference. The Packers ended the season beating the Giants 14-7 in the N.F.L. Championship Game, their 6th N.F.L. championship. Don Hutson led the NFL in touchdowns for a record-setting eighth time in his career. Below, the team celebrates in the locker room following the title match in New York.
Today we have Part II of our series of publications on the Packers’ victory in Super Bowl XLV. We’re not sure how many of these are available nationally, but here in the upper Midwest, there have been quite a few on the newsstands. Above and below are the front and back covers of the Collector’s Edition Sports Super Bowl issue.
This “Historic Collector’s Edition” focuses entirely on Aaron Rodgers’ career up to this point (front and back, above and below).
From yesterday’s Aaron Rodgers post, we now go back to December 8, 1935, where we see a team portrait of the Packers on the day they would play the final game of the season. On that day, they were in Philadelphia to play the Eagles in front of 4,000 fans. They defeated Philly by a score of 13-6 to wrap up second place in the Western Division with an 8-4-0 record.
In case all of you haven’t seen the Aaron Rodgers “Got Milk?” ads that were shot during Super Bowl XLV week, we’ve got a couple of the versions here for your viewing. Isn’t it great to see him getting the national attention he deserves? A job well done in winning the Packers’ 13th N.F.L. title, young man! Godspeed to you and your teammates as you begin a dynasty in Titletown.
We’ve set the way-back machine for further in the past than normal today, as we share this poster from 1931. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Packers had to advertise to boost ticket sales, a strange concept these days in Green Bay. If we had the money back then, we would’ve certainly purchased a couple of tickets to this game with their not-yet-longtime rivals from the Windy City. What better place would there have been to be than at City Stadium behind East High School on an Indian Summer afternoon? The Packers prevailed in this game, 7-0, in front of 13,500 fans.
Today we make a stop in Milwaukee in what we believe is 1960, with the Packers playing the San Francisco 49ers on October 23rd. Above, Max McGee (#85) and Jerry Kramer (#64) can be seen watching the tackle being made on what is possibly fullback Jim Taylor. In the background is the Packers’ bench, which is next to the opposing team’s bench area. Both benches were on the outfield sideline, so as to give the folks in the infield box seats a view of the action.
In this photo, a 49ers player is being corralled eight yards shy of the goal line by Emlen Tunnell (#45) and Hank Gremminger (#46). At right is LB Tom Bettis (#65). The Packers were victors that day, 45-14 in front of 39,914 fans.
What a great time this is for those of us who collect Packers’-related publications! Today we present five magazines that we’ve found this week which commemorate Green Bay’s Super Bowl XLV victory. Above is the regular weekly edition of Sports Illustrated for this week.
SI also puts out a special edition devoted to the champions of the N.F.L. each year. This is the issue for the Packers — our World Champions.
MMI put out two publications this week, seen above and below.
Above is Lindy’s issue for the Super Bowl XLV champions. We will be receiving three more publications this week, which we will share here on the Packerville blog. Savor the championship, Packer fans.
Though we’re not ready to even think about stopping the celebration of our 2010 World Champion Green Bay Packers, we’ll take a break to look back in history, as we always do. This publication is from 1985, and it was used to convince potential players that playing and living in Wisconsin was a great choice. There are some fine photos of the old Packers facilities — including their rarely-pictured “The Barn” indoor practice building — as it was during the Forrest Gregg coaching era. It’s also neat to see how they used former players to sell the franchise on future players.
