...in Phoenix (Post Packers Game)

I got in late Saturday night and left early this morning so I wasn't able to post anything until after I got home from the game. (I'm borrowing a computer so I don't have the abilty to resize some of these pics....oh well.)

I've been staying Dan and Paula Hassler who are some of the best people a person could know. Don Hassler is a brother from the Iota Chapter who I had met when I was doing my Alumni Road Trip through the west coast. He and Paula have opened their home to me on more than one occassion and I can't thank them enough for the opportunity to stay with them for the game. I'm not sure if they would ever have a reason to come to Evansville (who would?), but I hope I get a chance to return the favor sometime.

The obvious bad news is that the Packers lost. Man...what a game. If I was watching the game on TV, I probably would have given up on them on halftime and missed the comeback...of which I'm not really sure how they tied it up in regulation. That said, I really miss the lack of stats, replays and general commentating you get. Never bothered my for a baseball game...probably because I have been to more of them.

I went to the game with Pete Knight, a brother from the Xi Pi Chapter, who hails from Wisconsin, but now lives in Las Vegas. He made the trip down after I called him right about the middle of the week with the proposal of a attending a playoff game. Considering this is right in has back yard, he was drooling at the thought of it. After approval from the wife, he made the trip down (and is now driving back). Had it not been for him, I would have never made the trip seeing that I needed to buy two tockets to get in the game.

The stadium is pretty nice, but it's no Lambeau Field. They apparently kept the roof closed in order to keep all the noise in. Considering the tournovers in the first quarter, there was plenty of noise to go around.Our seats were in the "nosebleed seats" up in the top section. In fact, we were in the uppermost row. No one was sitting behind us, which was great because I could stand without getting chastized and I didn't have to worry about some idiot throwing beer or food on me.

Thankfully, there was a big comeback in the second half otherwise this would have been a disappointment of a trip. When the fourth quarter rolled around, I was actually predicting an overtime which I thought would blow up in my face with the Packers touchdown just after the two-minute warning. Thankfully, Neil Rackers kept the dream alive.

It's too bad the game ended the way it did. To think it almost ended two plays earlier with a throw downfield, but was too long for Jennings. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be. With the team being as young as they are, this has to be a learning experience for a team that should be ready when the players hit their prime. Not that I want to make comparisons, but how many times did it take Favre to win a playoff. (I don't know the answer, but I hope it's not one.)

Oddly enough, the last Packers game I attended was a playoff game against Seattle where Al Harris intercepted a pass in overtime a ran it back for a touchdown. So the last two games I attended, the Packers were in an overtime game that was decided on a turnover. Weird?

I'm wrapping up the post here with a few cool pictures from the game.











(Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I took the picture of the Cardinals fan because the girl on the left had nice boobs. On top of that, the back of her shirt had the name of the kicker..."Rackers." I kid you not.)