April 10, 2017 at 1:49 p.m.
Shoutouts & Callouts
Packers, community show each other the love
Shoutouts & Callouts
Think about it. It's the middle of April - long after the sting of the team's NFC title game loss and well before the first bike rides to training camp - and yet the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium was packed Friday night with fans hoping to catch a glimpse, and maybe get an autograph from, a backup quarterback (Brett Hundley), a fullback (Aaron Ripkowski) and a young player who's turned into a serviceable middle linebacker (Jake Ryan) - along with Packers' president Mark Murphy, retired kicker Ryan Longwell and the team's all-time rushing leader, Ahman Green.
There was even a spattering of fans who lined up on Brown Street hoping to catch a glimpse of the team's tour bus as it made its way from the VIP event at Northwood Golf Course - stopping for an obligatory picture with the Hodag statue in front of the Rhinelander Chamber office - on its way to Rhinelander High School for the main event.
One couldn't blame Murphy if he were busy checking in on what general manager Ted Thompson was doing in preparation for the draft, keeping tabs on the Titletown District construction project or any other of a myriad of items that the head honcho of pro football team is responsible for overseeing. Longwell and Green could simply be enjoying retirement (Retired wide receiver Robert Ferguson could not attend, according to Murphy, because he and his wife were expecting their fifth child). You wouldn't fault Hundley, Ripkowski or Ryan for enjoying the offseason, with weeks before organized team activities take place.
Yet all six took time out of their busy schedules to not only visit Rhinelander, but scores of towns in the Northwoods and Upper Peninsula of Michigan over a four-day whirlwind that concluded Saturday. The Packers visited factories, schools and hospitals, helping to raise money for several non-profit organizations along the way.
The Northwoods Alliance for Temporary Housing (NATH) was the beneficiary of the Packers' Rhinelander stop. Through the sale of sponsorships, $150 VIP tickets and $30 general admission tickets, NATH executive director Tammy Modic expected the event would pump an extra $40,000 to 50,000 into the organization's coffers as it works to combat homelessness in the area.
I think of all of this and ask myself, in what other NFL market would this occur? Juxtapose Friday night's scene with the backdrops in St. Louis, San Diego and Oakland, where fans have been left jaded by the departure, or imminent departure, of the franchises they've come to know and love over the decades. Those franchises were lured away by the prospect of bigger, more lucrative markets, state-of-the art facilities and the all-mighty dollar.
Green Bay is not only the smallest market in the NFL, it's the smallest market of all the big four professional sports. Yet the Packers find a way to consistently finish in the top third in the league in total revenue. To be sure, the team's prolonged run of success over the last 25 years has something to do with it. But, in order for a team to survive, let alone thrive, in a city the equivalent in size to many college towns, there needs to be a love affair between the team and its fans.
Modic said people from as far away as La Crosse, some four hours southwest of Rhinelander, were at Friday's event. In what other NFL market would you see that kind of devotion? What other NFL team would turn its first training camp practice into a holiday and sell out its intrasquad scrimmage? Most NFL teams have trouble giving away their tickets to preseason games.
It would be easy for the Packers to take this passion for granted but, as events like the annual Tailgate Tour prove, they don't. It's not simply a matter of unconditional love from the fan base either. Look no further than the Brewers and Bucks for proof of that. Aside from the Bucks' mascot making a stop at a local short track last summer, when's the last time that you can recall either team making a significant appearance here in the Northwoods? Both are trying to broaden their reach between the Brewers' single A affiliate in the Fox Cities and the Bucks starting an NBA D-League team in the same area. That expands both franchises' reach outside the Milwaukee area, but not much up here. As a result, while there are a few diehard Brewers and Bucks fans around this neck of the woods, their following pales in comparison to the Packers.
Dallas bills itself as "America's Team," and, frankly, they can have that title.
The Green Bay Packers are Wisconsin's team and, as events like the Tailgate Tour prove, that's a title the team wears with pride.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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