This year's NFC Championship had all the makings of another such a legendary game - and it had the ridiculously cold weather to boot.
Welcome to our little adventure attending ICE BOWL II: the Green Bay Packers versus the New York Giants in the 2008 NFC Championship Game.
Cari and I were lucky enough to get a pair of tickets from a true philanthropist and a great champion of the Door County Community Foundation, Dick Egan. Like the rest of America at the start of the NFL season, Dick wasn't sure that the Packers would make it to the playoffs at all, much less host the NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field. So months ago he booked an overseas vacation for this time of year. And thus while Ice Bowl II was kicking off, Dick found himself in New York on his way to India - but he was kind enough to let us have his seats for the big game!
Of course, it has been quite a while since either of us have been to a Packer game, and it just so happened that this Packer game would be the second coldest game in the history of the NFL - just a few degrees warmer than the original Ice Bowl with Bart Starr some four decades ago.
The temperature at kickoff was 5 degrees BELOW zero, with wind child of -28 degrees. That was at kickoff when the sun was just setting. Three and a half hours later it would be much, much colder!
To make matters worse, the vast majority of Lambeau Field seats are on old fashioned bleachers - the kind you find at most little league baseball fields. These are metal benches without backs, and they can get very, very cold!
Lots of people were walking into the stadium carrying 2 pieces of that solid pink building insulation. They would sit on one piece and put their feet up on the other to avoid touching metal if at all possible!
Ice Bowl II was already earning it's nickname.
So Cari and I bundled up that afternoon and headed off to famous Lambeau Field...
I'm sure you've all seen an ice scupture.
Well, on this day, they made a scupture out of snow...
But it was so cold, the snow sculpture was as hard as ice!
All total, Ice Bowl II set an all-time record for attendance at a home Packer game...
Yep, 72,740 people showed up for the NFC Championship.
The goofy part of it is that the official population of the City of Green Bay as of the 2000 census is only 102,313!
The atrium at Lambeau Field was absolutely overflowing with people trying to make their way to their seats out in spite of the bitter cold, sub-zero temerpatures and wild chills...
The great news for us is that Dick's seats were indoors!
The halls leading to the Club Seats and Boxes were far less crowded and a comfortable 72 degrees...
We had a great view of the field with the game on tv above us and a sunshade over the windows...
Of course, the best part for Cari is that she didn't have to wait in any lines for the ladies room...
Okay, I know the picture above isn't all that great, but I challenge you to stand outside a women's restroom some time and try to discreetly take a picture without getting arrested.
From the enclosed walkway that goes around the Club Seats and Boxes you can see some interesting things below.
For instance, Lambeau Field is notorious for having far less parking than a venue of its size should. And since this is the same stadium (with renovations) that the Packers have been using for five decades, it is surrounded by just everyday neighborhoods which don't convert easily to parking lots.
Of course, leave it to some enterprising folks to turn their backyards into parking lots (for only $20 a spot!)...
There is parking at Lambeau Field, of course, and some folks hang out there just to be near the game.
Even on this ridiculously cold day, this guy who did NOT have a ticket set up a generator and TV in the back of his car so he could watch the game outside of Lambeau Field...
This guy, my friends, is a true fan.
Our seats were warm and balmy, but it was great when some of the folks from the UW Madison band came inside to fire us all up for the game...
We even encountered the hero from the original Ice Bowl. And me being the pushy one, I just had to ask him if he'd be good enough to pose for a quick picture...
A picture of Bart Starr with my lovely wife Cari.
Very, very cool.
Of course, I had to wonder if people watched the game this way when Bart Starr made his famous dive across the goal line in the original Ice Bowl.
It's certainly an improvement that we had a menu so we could order food to be brought right to our seat...
But I'm not so sure if Bart would approve of this...
Yes folks, at Ice Bowl II we could order a Chicken Caesar Warp complete with a whole wheat tortilla.
Okay, maybe some things aren't an improvement.
I have to admit that I was surprised to learn that apparently the United States of America shrunk during the national anthem...
Excuse me folks, but where exactly is Hawaii and Alaska in that giant flag map?
Humpf.
The game began and for the first time I saw something I had never seen before - an entire team wrapped in blankets huddling on a heated bench!
Well, not quite everyone.
In the picture below you'll see the two heated white benches on the Packer sideline. On the left side of the picture is one bench which is completely empty. On the right Packer player are sitting all over it...
Here's a zoom-in on the right side bench. Note that the entire Packer team on the sideline is covered in those green blanket jackets. I certainly don't blame them, it was bitter cold outside...
However, here is a zoom-in on the left side bench...
Notice only one player standing there all alone, not wearing any coat or blanket at all.
Good ol' number 4.
Brett Favre is one very, very tough dude.
Unfortunately, it appears he is easily distracted.
Why else did they post this sign on the jumbotron every time he stepped under center?
Well, Ice Bowl II was setting up to be a game for the ages.
Here's Mr. Favre about to throw his second touchdown pass of the game...
Of course, you know what happened from there. The Giants miss a field goal and the game goes into overtime.
The Packers win the toss, setting up a chance for Favre to add to his legend and create one of the greatest games at Lambeau Field by driving down the field for a touchdown.
But alas, an interception and field goal spoiled that story.
And thus Ice Bowl II is a game that most Packer fans would just as soon forget.
The stadium cleared out remarkably fast, except for the few Giants fans who crowded around the Fox Broadcasters...
I have to admit that I enjoyed watching Jimmy Johnson physically shiver from the cold during the commercial breaks...
I will admit that I enjoyed the fact that the Giants fans were denied the chance to see the NFC Championship Halas Trophy presentation. It was so ridiculously cold by the time the game ended that they moved the celebration into the locker room.
So maybe this won't go down in history as one of the legendary Packer games.
Oh well, we still had a heck of a lot of fun...
There's always next year!
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