Training Camp 2007
Posted By Jill on August 22, 2007
Just when we thought training camp would always be the same…
This year, we didn’t go as a family – too many scheduling conflicts to deal with made it impossible. But Jane and I still had an itch to go, if even for a couple of days. Our plan was to go Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 20-21) to catch Monday’s evening practice and Tuesday’s morning practice. Both of those were also available on my list of practices to request on-field passes, so that was a plus. We got a hotel reservation, worked out the travel details, and got on the road by 11:30 Monday morning as planned. What we didn’t schedule was the weather. As most of you know, it’s been raining in the midwest for about a week at this point; longer in some areas. Monday and Tuesday were to be no different. But, we heading to Green Bay anyway, in hopes for the best but prepared for the worst, and at worst, we’d shop, spend time in the Atrium, and have a couple of days away from real life.
When we arrived as planned Monday evening around 4:30, we pulled into Lambeau to a display showing updates for training camp. “Monday, Aug. 20, Practice Closed.” Well, this is not a good start, but we accepted it, went in to indulge in yummies at Curly’s Pub and watch the players come out to their cars for practice. Turns out when practice is closed, so is the rest of the training camp experience… no walking/biking to the field, no autographs, no nothing. The players even get to drive their own cars (all the way across the parking lot and one block to the practice field lot). Hmm… this is not something we’ve ever seen before. We took our time shopping in the Pro Shop, then hit K-Mart (probably the only time we shop there – they have the best selection of Packer stuff after the Pro Shop and Jersey Store). Then we went to our hotel and got settled, with just a late run to the store for ice cream. That wasn’t as easy a task as we expected – Walgreens and convenience stores are NOT open 24-hours in Green Bay!
Tuesday morning, we got up, I got some breakfast, and we started to get ready. We checked the website for an update about practice – it wasn’t raining but the forecast wasn’t promising – it had practice listed as scheduled. We had no idea if our on-field passes would allow us inside if practice ended up being closed. We continued on with a phone call to Timmy, who informed us that when he checked the website, it said practice was moved inside. Well, we would meet where we were supposed to and hope for the best. As practice time was getting close, the ladies who we were to meet showed up, with passes in-hand… a good sign, but we weren’t going to jump to conclusions. Practice was indeed closed again, and we just weren’t sure what would happen next. And when they opened the gate and called us in, we were shocked! We were going to be able to watch practice after all, inside the Don Hutson Center! We really thought we had already been spoiled in past training camps, but this took it to a whole new level!
Brett was his same old self, joking with teammates and coaches, squirting water at people, and generally just having fun. When we first walked in, they were doing a walk-through without their helmets, which was really fun! And being inside made it much easier to hear the players and coaches talking.
We finished out our visit with a little more shopping and then headed back home, reluctantly, as always.
More photos are on our Flickr site, and I’ll add Jane’s when I get them (she has a much better camera).
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