We left for the El Sombrero at the crack of dawn that day, my friends. We travel to Tampa every year for the game, but the modern-day wagon train of Green and Gold told us right-of-way; this year was going to be special (1997). As we approached the stadium the quantity of Packer fans who'd made the journey was breathtaking. The beer tents were overflowing and there were cheese heads for as far as the eye could see. We chanted "Lambeau South, Home away from Home" on the way into Houlihan Stadium.
By about midway through the first half the only fans you could hear were the faithful from Title Town. You could almost hear the prompts over the loudspeakers, though of course, the Tampa Bay Announcers were playing no such thing. At one point when the score was near even we were praying for a stop and chanting the name of the one man we knew we could count on to get it: "Reggie, Reggie, Reggie" as the Minister of Defense lined up; he apparently heard the crowd chanting his name and he lifted his head and panned the packed stands and then started slowly shaking his head in the affirmative. He beat a double-team and sacked Trent Dilfer on the following play and we knew that victory was our destiny.
There even was a point in the second half, when the Packers were driving and our fans were shouting, "Go Pack go, go Pack go," that
Brett Favre had to raise his arms and ask for quiet. This was the single greatest day of my life.
After the game; when we went down town; Cheese head's made up about 90% of the people and the other 10% were too shell-shocked to protest. Wow did we laugh as the sportsbar's TV's were showing the news. Player after player from Tampa was crying about their Fan's being drown out. What a day!
(Read the news story here)
