Inbox: The last live Packers play my dad ever saw was the Randall Cobb fourth-and-8 catch
How has a Packers game impacted a noteworthy event in your life?
My dad went blind in 2016. A short time earlier, my wife and I had tickets to a Packers-Bears tilt. I had gotten tickets for Christmas because she told me that she had never seen the team live in-person. The morning of the game, we catch a horrible stomach bug. We call my dad and see if he wants the tickets. He takes them despite the fact that it’s short notice. This was December 2013. The last live Packers play my dad ever saw was the Randall Cobb fourth-and-8 catch. (Editor’s note: That may be the greatest Outsider Inbox answer ever, Brian. Thank you for sharing that.)
“We want the ball and we’re gonna score!” I had just moved to Chicago and decided to go to this bar I had heard about, Will’s Northwoods Inn, to watch the game. I started talking to this cute girl during the game. Twenty years later that cute girl is my wife. If Al Harris hadn’t picked Matt Hasselbeck, neither my wife nor I would have been at Will’s that night to drown our sorrows in each other’s company after fourth-and-26.
Not me, but my older brother. He was born in mid-December 1962. My parents quickly set the date for his baptism on Dec. 30. After the Packers won their conference, my parents huddled up with the parish priest and all three decided the baptism would be at halftime.
After my sister’s tragic death in 2019, a group of the guys decided to take “a trip of a lifetime” and go to a game at Lambeau. This fall will be our fourth “guys” trip. Memories make us rich.
My wife and I got married on Black Friday in 2015. Our wedding rehearsal was scheduled for Thanksgiving night, the Packers also played that night. I am the only Packers fan of the group, but the rehearsal broke up halfway through so people could go home to watch the game. Worse the Packers lost that game. Fortunately, the wedding went off fine!
While living in Florida in 2010, I was diagnosed stage-4 melanoma. The cancer produced a malignant growth on my spine which caused me to be in considerable pain. Corrective surgery was scheduled for the week prior to Super Bowl XLV. I made my surgeon promise that I would be discharged before Sunday. I was discharged on Saturday, pain-free. On Sunday, I was able to enjoy another Packers victory.
During early fall 1997, my buddy and I were filming a large 13-point buck on the farm we hunt. He was a trophy who we nicknamed “Lucky.” Our confidence in bagging Lucky on the opening weekend of bow season was sky high…but then we were offered front row Packers vs. Vikings tickets at Lambeau. What a dilemma! We chose Lambeau over Lucky and another guy with access to the farm killed Lucky while we were at the game. Choices!
Thanksgiving Day 2009. My mother-in-law was in hospice after a long battle with lung cancer and was not expected to make it through another day. The family had gathered in the nursing home for Thanksgiving; just waiting and consoling. The Packers beating the Lions that day gave us all a small lift and a much-needed distraction.
I was scheduled to have a long day at work on Dec. 8, 1996, church in the morning and church meetings all afternoon, but since my youngest daughter was born on the seventh, I was excused from all the meetings and spent the day watching the Packers throttle the Denver Broncos while holding my little girl. As we all know, the Packers won the Super Bowl that year. The first Super Bowl, I remember.
My second baby was born in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving last year. I will never forget holding her in my arms for nearly the entire game while my wife got some well-deserved rest in the bed next to me and trying not to jump out of my chair as the Packers announced that they will in fact be just fine operating under Jordan Love. Her arrival marked a turning point for the team and the completion of my lovely family.
My wife was giving birth to our first son in Manchester, Iowa. A great Northern Iowa player Bryce Paup was starting in his second season for the Packers and had a great first game of the year against the Eagles, so we named our first son after Bryce Paup. My son was an honorary member of the Bryce Paup Fan Club, and I took him to a game at County Stadium and my son got to meet his name.
The Packers game that affected me the most was the 2011 Super Bowl. My dad and I had watched Green Bay football for more than 50 years. Watching Packers football with my dad was a huge tradition with our family where family bonding took place and we could review the successes, trials of the work week. When the Packers sealed the win, my dad I stood up and hugged for about 30 seconds. Three weeks later, my dad passed away. God is kind in letting the two of us watch our last game together be a Super Bowl win!
