Chumps to Champs

Packers 38 - Raiders 7

I escorted Bob and Bob, Jr. up to the Tundra for the game. Here it is in a nutshell:

The damned battery on the videocam sapped itself somehow (perhaps we should blame Warren Sapp) the night before, so I didn't grab much footage during the game. Here's the only play I did snag:

That was Will Blackmon recovering a forced fumble on a punt and jumping in the stands with about 5:00 left in the 3rd Quarter. The officials said that the Oakland player was down by contact before he lost the ball, but Oblio challenged it and Ed Hochuli got the call right -- the ball was fumbled and clearly recovered by Blackmon 8 yards deep in the end zone. That meant it was Blackmon's second special teams TD of the game. It's been over 20 years since we've had two special teams TDs in the same game... and in this game it was the same player! His first one was coming right at us in the 2nd Quarter, when he caught a punt on the run and ran it back 57 yards into the end zone. We didn't discover until later that there was some controversy surrounding the play and that Sapp was moaning on the sidelines that Will had stepped out of bounds before taking it all the way. No challenge, though, so it stayed on the scoreboard.

In the end, as you can see on the video above, we walked away as official champions of the NFC North. The other excitement happening in the stadium was due to the fact that the score of the Lions-Cowboys game kept flashing up, and Detroit was owning Dallas. Unfortunately, on the walk back to the car, we heard the news that Romo and the 'boys made a game of it in the last minute and wound up with the victory. The Lions fail to help us out once again.

Two years ago, we were 4-12. We're now 11-2. This has already been a magical season, and I am thrilled to have been able to see this particular game. Lambeau was slightly more electric than it's been in a few seasons, although it always does have that special mystique. It really is "home."