Greetings from Green Bay!

It was a beautiful Wisconsin evening for the 3-1/2 hour drive to Green Bay, and other than what seems lately to always be rotten traffic in Milwaukee, we made it up here by 7:00 p.m. We saw cars with obvious Packer fans heading North with license plates from places like Arizona, Kansas, and Virginia.

Not many people hanging around Lambeau at that time, as the Pro Shop had just closed and there wasn’t anything open except Curly’s Pub. Instead of eating there as planned, we wanted to check out the new construction in the South end zone before it got dark. 

Before we show that, here’s the North end with the recently-completed new gate. 

You can see the new entrance better here... 

... and here are two close-ups (above and below). 

This shows the new entrance and its proximity to the Atrium entrance (seen at left). 

Now we’re on the West side of the stadium, where the new construction meets the “old.” 

Looking at the Southwest corner (above and below). 

 

A look at the existing West side of Lambeau in the gorgeous sunlight. 

Views of the South end (above and below), where the 6,700 new seats are being added. 

 Looking directly at the South end with the new HD scoreboard on top.

A view of the Southeast corner. 

We call this one “Sunset at Lambeau.” 

(Above and below), an empty Lambeau Field Atrium awaits the throngs of new Shareholders for tomorrow’s meeting. 

We will have a report from the meeting on Tuesday evening, after our late arrival home from Green Bay.

The Lombardi Family’s First Home

Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi’s second (and most famous) home in Green Bay has been featured widely in the media and can be found easily by doing a Google search. But the first home the Lombardi’s lived in upon their 1959 arrival in Green Bay is much lesser known. Pictured above are Vince Lombardi, Sr. (left), Marie Lombardi (next to Vince, Sr.), Vince Lombardi, Jr., and Susan Lombardi (on lower step). According to “When Pride Still Mattered” by David Maraniss, the coach “impulsively” purchased the home while in Green Bay to interview (and ultimately be offered) the Packers’ head coach and general manager position. This was with no input from his wife or family. One can only imagine the grief he received later. It wasn’t very long before they moved into the second home.

The modern-day home is shown above in this Bing Birds-Eye view. It is the white home with the blue dot on it. We may do a drive-by visit on our upcoming Training Camp trip. How’s this sound for an upcoming Green Bay visits itinerary?: This Tuesday to the Shareholders’ Meeting, returning home late that night. Then hopefully a trip back up next Saturday for a Training Camp practice (up and back on the same day). Then, the official Training Camp visit with the family from August 4-8. Lastly, a two-day trip for the Thursday, August 16th preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. It’s 416 miles round trip, or seven hours in the car (round trip). But, if it wasn’t worth it, we wouldn’t do it.

PACKERS ON THE FIELD:

• Quarterbacks Preview

• Running Backs Preview

• Receivers Preview

• Tight Ends Preview

• Offensive Line Preview

PACKERS OFF THE FIELD:

• Holmgren Enters Packers Hall of Fame

• Holmgren turned Packers back into winners

• Mike Holmgren Hall of Fame Photos

• Favre congratulates Holmgren, but not in Green Bay

• Holmgren: '92 was “a good coaching staff”

• Holmgren's advice: Enjoy the journey

• Jim Irwin's family appreciates support

OTHER NFL NEWS:

• NFL’s replacement officials would include first female ref

Time for Summer Camp

This week the NFL world gets back in full gear for the non-stop ride to Super Bowl XLVII in February. For Packer fans, it starts with the annual Shareholders’ Meeting on Tuesday morning and Training Camp practices beginning on Thursday. Isn’t it great to finally be back to The Game? The end to last season was so incredibly frustrating after the 15-1 record, and really, where do they go from here? Is anything less than 15-1 a failure? Is anything other than a championship a complete failure? The bar has been set high in Green Bay for a generation, thanks to all of the success since the Mike Holmgren years. And by the way, Mike Holmgren enters the Packers’ Hall of Fame tonight in a ceremony that is underway as we type this. On Tuesday, we’ll be at the meeting and will provide some photos and coverage, but probably not until Wednesday due to a late arrival home after a day in Titletown.

We’re starting the “Packerville Newsroom” back up, but it is going to be different than in past seasons. As we mentioned earlier, the major Wisconsin newspapers are all going behind “pay walls,” which means that there will no longer be links to free articles here in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, or either Madison, Wis. newspaper. We will try to post articles of interest that are still in “free” newspapers and sites. If you’re used to getting your football news the same way you’ve been getting it on the internet since the mid-Nineties, your world is about to change, and you are going to find yourself with a lot less info available to read. Much of what we will be able to link to will be more from national publications than Wisconsin sources:

PACKERS ON THE FIELD:

• 2012 Green Bay Packers Preview

• Green Bay Packers Team Report

• Complete 2012 Packers’ Training Camp Guide
• B.J. Raji to have snaps limited by Packers
• Graham Harrell believes he’ll be ready
• 2012 Packers’ Training Camp Schedule
• 2012 Packers’ Training Camp Roster
PACKERS OFF THE FIELD:

• Mike Holmgren readies for Hall call

• Holmgren on Favre-Packers

• Favre says he has no relationship with Packers

• Packers preparing for Tuesday’s Shareholders Meeting

• Ashwaubenon reconsiders Packers ticket resales

• Ground broken for Cabela's
OTHER NFL NEWS:

• NFC North training-camp reports
• NFL statement on negotiations with game officials
• Officials say NFL planned lockout
• Summer vacation almost over

Over the Line? Nope.

Remember the “Instant Replay Game” on November 5, 1989? We sure do. It was a day of great thrills for Packers fans.To put it in context, this was nearing the end of the era where Chicago was dominant and Green Bay was not. Think of the Packers-Bears rivalry in the 1990’s in reverse. Chicago had won the previous eight games, and so a Packer victory seemed unlikely against Mike Ditka’s team. But the end of this game was quite stressful and thrilling indeed. The coverage starts with the pre-game show and a feature on the rivalry, followed by the start of the game. It then fast-forwards to 4:44 left in the Fourth Quarter, and the thrilling conclusion. If you want to skip the preliminaries, got to 8:30 of Part 6, and then watch Part 7 as well. We spared you from having to watch The Mike Ditka Show, which was in Parts 1 & 2.

Not For the Weak

There’s an old saying that “history ain’t pretty,” and today we’re going to prove that in a big way. Most fans will question why we’d post the December 7, 1980 massacre of the Packers by their arch nemesis — the Chicago Bears. Yep, that’s right... this is the 61-7 loss that Green Bay fans should want to forget as much as Super Bowl XXXII. But we’re presenting it as a historical document of an earlier time in Packers’ history — a time that makes you appreciate everything that’s happened since 1992 that much more. And for those of you who are young fans whose only knowledge is success in Green Bay, this is what the rest of us had to go through year after year.



NOTE: Several readers wrote us to ask about how to get the 2011-2012 Green Bay Packers Annual Report. When we first got our stock in 1997, the proxy came for the meeting and we wrote to the company who managed the stock at that time and told them to put us on the permanent list for receiving the printed annual report. Since then, we’ve received one each year just prior to the Shareholders’ meeting. We suggest that shareholders wanting one should contact the following:

Wells Fargo Shareowner Services: 800-891-2981, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., CDT.

And speaking of the shareholders’ meeting, here is a video clip of Packers’ president Mark Murphy talking about the team’s performance in the NFL’s financial arena in the past year.

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers took time away from the links at a celebrity golf tournament to talk about his golf game, training camp, and how Drew Brees' new contract might impact A-Rod's next deal.

2011-2012 Annual Report Arrives

The Green Bay Packers 2011-2012 Annual Report arrived in the mail today, as it always does about a week before the Shareholders’ meeting. That gathering will take place on Tuesday, July 24th at 9:30 a.m. in Lambeau Field, and we’ll be there to cover it. The financial information was released earlier, and it was a good year with a lot of “green” going to the “green & gold.” We look forward to seeing the progress being made on the new seats in the South end zone and the new giant HD video boards. This  is a great time of year with the NFL getting ready to gear up for Training Camps and the impending prospect of non-stop football until February!

• Green Bay Packers Team Report


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1993 Training Camp Visit — Part II

Our second half of the visit to 1993 Green Bay Packers Training Camp begins with a shot of Head Coach Mike Holmgren inspecting his troops near the end of practice. He was 44 when he took over the reigns of the team the previous season.

The coach addresses the team at the conclusion of practice on the Oneida Street field, now known as Clark Hinkle Field. Ray Nitschke Field, located behind the Don Hutson Center along Armed Forces Drive is now the daily home of Training Camp. The field shown above is used during the season for outdoor practices. Both fields now have the same turf as Lambeau Field.

This was only one season after the arrival of QB Brett Favre, and while there was success on the field, it was not to point yet where he was mobbed constantly. In these days, he would ride a bike to practice like any other player. And, on this day that we were there, he stood outside the practice field gate in a light mist and talked to us fans and signed anything for anybody (he signed the hat your Packerville editor was wearing). In only another season or so, he could no longer go through the masses to practice because he never would arrive on time. Like today’s “stars,” he would ride in a car over to practice and come in the back way through the Hutson Center.

Soon-to-be-forgotten former Stanford RB J.J. Lasley gives a lift to the owner of the bike he’s riding.

S Mike Prior (#45) and RB Edgar Bennett (#36) head back to the locker room after practice. 

Former nine-year Kansas City Chief NT Bill Maas, who would play out his final year in the NFL in Green Bay, rides solo. 

LB Brian Noble stops to sign autographs for some youngsters. 

As does future Hall-of-Famer DE Reggie White. Players were more accessible in the days before success was a given in Green Bay, and before Training Camp attendance got to be somewhat overwhelming.

We’re pretty confident that no one else got this exclusive photo of QB Brett Favre on this day. He was riding back to the locker room through the parking lot with no one around him or chasing him.

After talking to the local kids and signing some autographs, QB Brett Favre heads indoors. 

GM Ron Wolf also walks back after practice like the rest of us, and would sign an autograph for anyone who asked. Some of the assistant coaches still mix with the crowd before and after practice, but we’ve not seen Ted Thompson. It’s a different world nowadays.

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1993 Training Camp Visit — Part I

On the heels of our 1991 Training Camp photo selection, we’re going to now take a two-part look at the ’93 camp. This camp came on the heels of a 9-7 season with the new Ron Wolf/Mike Holmgren regime. Hopes were high, and Packer fans were excited about the future. Above, WR Sterling Sharpe (#84), heads out of the locker room. Behind him is former New York Jets QB Ken O’Brien (#7).

LB Brian Noble, who would be spending his last year in Green Bay and the NFL.

DE Reggie White, who had come to the team from Philadelphia as the biggest free agent on the market, and the biggest free agent in Packers’ history. This was a great spot to go before practice, because they’d come out and down the steps and they’d be face to face with you.

A young QB who had come to the team in a ’92 trade. He took over the starting job from an injured Don Majkowski early in the season, and was seeking to retain that job in ’93. Now, what was his name again? Oh yes, Brett Lorenzo Favre.

The tradition that continues to this day — players riding kids’ bikes to the practice field. Each year, media outlets gush over these traditions of Packers Training Camp.

Pre-practice stretching and calisthenics.

QB Brett Favre in position drills. 

QB Ken O’Brien works as well. After practice, we were walking back to the stadium behind O’Brien and another player. He was talking about how different it was to practice in Green Bay than in New York, saying that “here it’s so peaceful compared to the sirens and gunshots you’d hear” at Jets’ practices.

The running backs go through their paces. Here’s some names from long ago: RB Marcus Wilson (#29), FB J.J. Lasley (#42), RB Allen Pinkett (#46), RB Edgar Bennett (#34), FB Robert Wilson (#20), and FB Dexter McNabb (#44). There was a lot of turnover on those early Holmgren Era teams.

More running back drills. 

The linebackers go through their paces. 

Defensive backfield coach Dick Jauron addresses his players. Jauron would later go on to be a head coach in Chicago and Buffalo. He is currently the Cleveland defensive coordinator, hired by — surprise! — team president Mike Holmgren. Lesson learned: always leave your early jobs on good terms.

The defense at work. 

Some offensive linemen working against each other: C James Campen (#63 – current offensive line coach for the Packers), G Harry Galbreath (#76), T/G Joe Sims (#68), and G Terry Beauford (#60).

For the end of this Part I of the 1993 Green Bay Training Camp, we conclude with another view of the offensive linemen at practice.

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