It's All About...The Cheese

And amid the belated Happy Thanksgivings I wish to each of you, I wish you a little cheese. This entry will end up being a little cheezy, no matter how you "slice" it. (Warning: The bad jokes will not improve from here on out. Turn back now.)

My Thanksgiving was not typical, but I sure give thanks for it today. What a BLAST! Scott got me tickets to go see the Packers vs. Lions at Ford Field, and I was ready to deck the halls with green and gold. I woke up early, decorated my face with some GB tattoos...

donned a bit of the green and the gold and the cheese (with water all glamorously down the front of me from applying the tattoos)...

It didn't even take 2 hours to get to Detroit. There was almost no traffic until we got within a mile of the stadium or so. Once we got parked, we found we had to walk right through the middle of the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade to get to the stadium. I have watched that parade since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and it was really neat to see the huge floats and balloons in person. The Tuskeegee Airmen passed right in front of us and it was very, very moving.

And as the policeman let us across the street in a lull, I risked my cowboy-hat-cheesehead blowing away to snatch a picture of the parade from the middle of the street:

Getting closer to the stadium, we saw as many cheeseheads tailgating as Lions fans!!

Security there was tighter than any airport I've been to since 9/11. We got frisked and wanded and my purse was searched. There's a limit to how nice of a camera you can bring into the stadium, and mine fits the lens limit. I had to convince this nice security man that my camera was a still camera and not a movie camera. Sorry, Mr. Security Guy. I was lying. It does both.

I grabbed a beer -- NOT a common thing for me to do at 11AM, but it was a Packers game, sheesh! -- and bought a program and climbed and climbed and climbed to our seats. I am not complaining. They were nosebleeders, but it was a great view of the field!

Even being there early, my boys showed up on the field with an hour to go:

And the only man who has my heart at the moment, my revered Brett Favre, warmed up. Even from that far away, and even when running drills, that guy just looks like he's having a blast. I do appreciate watching that.

I was seriously ready for some football. When it started out 6-0 Lions, I was a little...um... nervous. You see, I've seen the Pack play live about 7 or 8 times. I'd only ever seen them win ONCE. Even during their '96 Superbowl season, I was only at games they LOST. I had nothing to fear.

These folks shown below were sitting next to us and were a RIOT. There were a ton of like-minded cheeseheads there, so I was in good company. (Scott, though he was wearing Dallas Cowboy gear, did actually root for the Packers. I was impressed...hadn't heard him do that before. I have a feeling next week's game will be a little different story, though...)

As you may or may not know now, my boys pulled through in glorious form, winning the game 37-26. Favre set a Green Bay record with 20 consecutive completed passes, his 7th 300-yard passing game this season, and passed for 381 yards. Jennings caught 2 more touchdown passes, Grant scored again, and Driver had 147 yards. Now I'm thinking that I need to drive to Wisconsin to see if I can buy same-day tickets for the 12/30 Detroit game...but we'll see. I Tivo'ed the game, but haven't had time to watch it yet. I'm saving that for tomorrow night.

As we left the stadium, we noticed yet one more sign that Packer Fans are just the BEST:

And there you have it. My fantastic Thanksgiving Day, 2007. We made it back to Scott's house in time to watch the last quarter of the Dallas game, and then I mosied home. NFL Football Rocks My World.

(More to write about today, but no time. Must. Go. Buy. Sweet Potatoes.)