No NFL team does training camp the way the Green Bay Packers do.
Players report today and practice begins on Saturday in the NFL’s version of Tiny Town. Fans pour down Lombardi Avenue and wander over to the practice fields in a little bit of a dream. There, behind them, is Lambeau Field, in all its historic majesty. Here, in front of them, are the Packers.
Kids greet the players as they come from the stadium locker room and offer the players their bicycles to ride down to practice. And so it is that a gaggle of very large men in football uniforms sit astride a variety of bikes with children running alongside.
The Packers are the only publicly-held team in the NFL. They have 360,000 shareholders and about 15,000 came out on Thursday for the annual meeting – held at Lambeau Field. PowerPoint slides were shown on the stadium video boards.
No, you could not get an order of cheese curds at the concession stand but the atrium restaurants probably did brisk business.
Training camp accessibility is being reduced around the league for a number of reasons – paranoid coaches, fewer practices – and it’s a real shame for fans because they can get fairly close to the action at this time of the year and get autographs from the players, all at no cost. NFL teams cannot charge admission to practices; if they do (and the Washington Redskins learned this the hard way), anyone can buy a ticket, including scouts for other teams. Scouting is not permitted at training camp workouts but coaches now have to worry that fans will surreptitiously shoot video and post it, giving away some of their secrets.
The history of this little town in northeastern Wisconsin is just so rich in football. This is no metropolis. It’s a small town that can reward its heroes by naming streets for them. Hence Lombardi Avenue. Holmgren Way. Brett Favre Pass. The statues in front of the stadium of Vince Lombardi and Curly Lambeau are the equivalent of the Pyramids (ah, well, they’re not, but you get the idea).
Green Bay is a little bit like a place that time forgot. People are polite, friendly and loyal to their team. Rarely is another NFL team jersey seen in those parts. Fans never leave a game early. The NFL grows more corporate and profit-oriented every year but some things never seem to change. Thankfully, Green Bay is one of them.
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .
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