Updated at 2:47 p.m., Saturday, January 12, 2008
NFL: Cold is no problem at Packers pep rally
Advertiser Staff
GREEN BAY, Wis. — It's a common thing for high school or college, but fans of the Green Bay Packers unashamedly enjoyed a pep rally at Lambeau Field last night to get even more energized for today's NFL playoff game with Seattle.The event drew 15,000 pompom-waving fans who filled the stands above the north end zone and cheered as if the game had already started.
"Only in Green Bay," Roger Freund said.
Among the fans were Don and Paulette Russell from North Pole, Alaska, where their son, Ryan, was a high school classmate of Packers guard Daryn Colledge.
"We saw it on the Internet and that's why we're here," Don Russell said.
He noted that the temperatures in the 20s were warm compared with the high in his hometown yesterday of minus-21.
The three-hour event included showing highlights of this season's Packers wins on a large screen in the Lambeau Field Atrium. Free T-shirts were fired into the crowd, and pompoms and "G-Force" signs were handed out.
Drawings were held for tickets to the game, and among the winners was Seahawks fan Tim McCulloch, who already had a ticket and is on his first trip to Green Bay.
"I live near Mount St. Helens," McCulloch said. "But this is the most unbelievable place I've ever been to in my life."
