Young Packers fans should read Deford's "Troubled Times In TitleTown" A window into how bad things once were in GB: https://t.co/knznyZ4ZMk
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) July 20, 2017
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I think this article should be mandatory reading for fans who weren't rooting for the Packers back then, were not alive yet, or was too young to remember these dark years on the wilderness were like prior to 1992. An example of what it felt like growing up during those dark time was when I was a kid growing up near GB in about 1975 or so my mom bought me a Packers stocking cap with the big tassle on top and the helmet logo on the front. I asked my mom with tears in my eyes "do I have to wear that?" I swear that is true.
Other mandatory reading should be this webpage:
http://www.the-kramerfamily.co...CKERS-GORYYEARS.html
I don't mean to sound like the "get off my lawn" older guy but I treasure every win this team gets, every playoff game they have played, and I will admit cried like a baby when they won the Super Bowl after the 96 season. Sometimes when I complain about the Packers defense last year I stop myself and think well it could the 70's and 80's again.
I did too, Heckler. I am an old man, too, but still got teary-eyed as the game ended. I was at a Sports Bar out here and I just sat and watched without saying a word as the team paraded around the Superdome. All those years of futility leading up to the "window" and then finally a Super Bowl....something no one thought would happen in our lifetime.
Team was in a death spiral and the piece really does show why Bob Harlan belongs right up there with Lambeau and Lombardi in franchise history.
The Heckler posted:I think this article should be mandatory reading for fans who weren't rooting for the Packers back then, were not alive yet, or was too young to remember these dark years on the wilderness were like prior to 1992. An example of what it felt like growing up during those dark time was when I was a kid growing up near GB in about 1975 or so my mom bought me a Packers stocking cap with the big tassle on top and the helmet logo on the front. I asked my mom with tears in my eyes "do I have to wear that?" I swear that is true.
Other mandatory reading should be this webpage:
http://www.the-kramerfamily.co...CKERS-GORYYEARS.html
I don't mean to sound like the "get off my lawn" older guy but I treasure every win this team gets, every playoff game they have played, and I will admit cried like a baby when they won the Super Bowl after the 96 season. Sometimes when I complain about the Packers defense last year I stop myself and think well it could the 70's and 80's again.
The hat story is pretty funny. Growing up in Western Wisconsin it was amazing how many Vikings fans there were growing up. Wearing a GB hat was just asking for kids to make fun of you.
Funny how all those Vikings fans disappeared in the 90's.
michiganjoe posted:Team was in a death spiral and the piece really does show why Bob Harlan belongs right up there with Lambeau and Lombardi in franchise history.
It's almost like a bunch of old white guys living in the past.
**** I don't need to read the article. I was fully aware of the state of the team in 1987 living in Appleton and just entering HS at that time.
Wisconsin sports in general at that time completely sucked albeit the Bucks that couldn't break through and a mediocre Brewers team that gave us false hope but could be fun to follow.
Looking back, it's amazing just how far things have come over that period. Wisconsin football and basketball have become legit Top 15 programs. The Packers are Super Bowl threat every year. Marquette basketball has been consistently solid. Ironically, it's the Brewers and Bucks that can be a source of frustration.
I'll still always remember the moment when the Packers won SB31. Sitting amongst a group of Vikings fans rooting against them living in Mpls. Had a smile on my face for days. Same thing when UW won the Rose Bowl in 1993 and the Badgers Final Four trips.
Tschmack posted:**** I don't need to read the article. I was fully aware of the state of the team in 1987 living in Appleton and just entering HS at that time.
Wisconsin sports in general at that time completely sucked albeit the Bucks that couldn't break through and a mediocre Brewers team that gave us false hope but could be fun to follow.
Looking back, it's amazing just how far things have come over that period. Wisconsin football and basketball have become legit Top 15 programs. The Packers are Super Bowl threat every year. Marquette basketball has been consistently solid. Ironically, it's the Brewers and Bucks that can be a source of frustration.
I'll still always remember the moment when the Packers won SB31. Sitting amongst a group of Vikings fans rooting against them living in Mpls. Had a smile on my face for days. Same thing when UW won the Rose Bowl in 1993 and the Badgers Final Four trips.
Isn't that the truth? I know growing the only way I EVER got to see the Badgers play was getting up on Sunday morning and seeing the game on PBS tape delay. UW is another team I sometimes shake my head with how far they have come as well. I never thought the football or their basketball teams would be top 10 consistently. I will admit to being floored with shock when UW out of the blue made the Rose Bowl. Something I never would have thought would happen in my lifetime.
That is crazy about the Bucks and Brewers isn't it? back then (I graduated in 84) the Bucks were pretty darn good and the Brewers had a decent run for a few years there. Now they just make me shake my head.
As for the Packers hat there is more to that story. All of us in grade school honestly only in secret rooted for the Packers but we all had teams we rooted for openly. One kid was a Steelers fan, one a Rams fan, etc. I was a Raiders fan I had my room all decked out in Raiders stuff and wore their gear all the time.
And last but not least I wish there was a way I could me Mr. Harlan and thank him for what he has given us as fans. 25 years of very good football the man needs to be in the HOF.
Ha. Yes. The PBS Badgers! Also on Sunday mornings I could watch Notre Dame as Lindsay Nelson (with his odd assortment of sport coats) would announce the game. Ahhhh, those were the days. Ha.
Oh, is this the time now that Hanky makes his ageist-sexist-racist "old white men" comment? Or does that come out later in the thread? 
Guess the good thing about living in California during the 70's and 80's was that nobody razzed you for being a Packers fan. However, since they were so bad they were rarely on national TV, got a two paragraph recap in the local paper. Had to subscribe to the Press-Gazette during the season and wait a week for it to arrive to learn what happened. Wasn't until the big satellite TV dishes came about in the 80's that you could see a game (and usually without commercials) Still have the unedited "Snow Bowl" game on a VHS tape, showing the announcers shoveling snow out of the open booth during TV timeouts.
SanDiegoPackFan posted:Oh, is this the time now that Hanky makes his ageist-racist "old white men" comment? Or does that come out later in the thread?
Hey stupid, look up. Oh wait, stupidist. You win.
Henry posted:SanDiegoPackFan posted:Oh, is this the time now that Hanky makes his ageist-racist "old white men" comment? Or does that come out later in the thread?
Hey stupid, look up. Oh wait, stupidist. You win.
Geez, Hanky. You're losing your touch. You didn't write "STFU".
But hey, you at least managed to fit in the obligatory "stupid". 
professional victim - you've got it down. 
He cant take it when its a joke about him trying to be all "clever", snarky yet way too predictable in his bias.
slowmo posted:Guess the good thing about living in California during the 70's and 80's was that nobody razzed you for being a Packers fan. However, since they were so bad they were rarely on national TV, got a two paragraph recap in the local paper. Had to subscribe to the Press-Gazette during the season and wait a week for it to arrive to learn what happened. Wasn't until the big satellite TV dishes came about in the 80's that you could see a game (and usually without commercials) Still have the unedited "Snow Bowl" game on a VHS tape, showing the announcers shoveling snow out of the open booth during TV timeouts.
The snow bowl was the only time in my lifetime I have ever had Packers home game tickets in my pocket. Well wouldn't you know that when I did it snowed about 2+ feet along the lake shore and guess who couldn't go?
I had a similar experience with following the Packers. I joined the military in 85 and was stationed overseas during the real dark times of the late 80's. We had to wait two days for the stars and stripes newspaper to come out with the NFL scores in them and it had about 1 paragraph of the Packers recap. Thankfully my dad sent me cassette tapes of the radio broadcasts and sent me the GB Press Gazette as well.
Thanks for your service, Heckler. Amazing what the technology is now compared to the 80's and 90's.
I know when I had moved out here in the early 80's there was nothing except waiting for the Packer Report to come in the mail. I usually got it by Saturday before the next game at least. The only "up-to-date" news I could get was XTRA 690 AM radio with Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton. It seemed he always had a lot of NFL coverage. Not much on the Packers though until they started to make noise in the NFL Central.
Media coverage sucked back in the 70's and 80's.
Often times, a small paragraph of a game recap in the Monday sports section of the paper was the only source. At one time, they included game stats with the recap, but those largely disappeared by 1980.
Next came MNF halftime highlights, but since we were so bad, the only time we could see the Pack was in another team's highlights.
Cable sports highlight shows flourished in the middle to late 1980's, and would have some decent coverage of the games played that day. Unfortunately, they were all but done by the early 1990's, MNF's highlight show had dwindled to little more than a 30 second commercial, and Sportscenter was devolving into the crapshow it is today.
The innerwebs arrived just in the nick o' time...
Not only that, younger fans should take a minute to stop and think about how lucky we are that--in the last 25 years--we've had 2...two...TWO...first ballot HOF quarterbacks. That's a quarter-century (FYI... the Montana/Young dynasty was only 17 years).
The Bears had close to 15 and the Vikings are over 20. Perhaps 1 of those 35 quarterbacks will be in the HOF, but I have zero idea who, if any.
Timmy! posted:The innerwebs arrived just in the nick o' time...
Remember at one point I was getting roster moves by way of a 1-900 number the team set up.
NumberThree posted:Not only that, younger fans should take a minute to stop and think about how lucky we are that--in the last 25 years--we've had 2...two...TWO...first ballot HOF quarterbacks. That's a quarter-century (FYI... the Montana/Young dynasty was only 17 years).
The Bears had close to 15 and the Vikings are over 20. Perhaps 1 of those 35 quarterbacks will be in the HOF, but I have zero idea who, if any.
In addition, the Packers are the only team to have more than two HOF QBs. Herber, Starr, and Favre are the three, AR will be the 4th.
If you are counting starting QBs for the Bears & Vikings, in just the time that Favre was the starter in GB, the Bears had 24 different starting QBs - that I last counted. I didn't keep track of the Vikings.
I worked in Green Bay in the late 70's. The wife of one of my co-workers was a nurse at the clinic where the Packers sent players for their exit physicals.
She passed the names on to her husband. That's how I got my roster moves info.
NumberThree posted:Not only that, younger fans should take a minute to stop and think about how lucky we are that--in the last 25 years--we've had 2...two...TWO...first ballot HOF quarterbacks. That's a quarter-century (FYI... the Montana/Young dynasty was only 17 years).
The Bears had close to 15 and the Vikings are over 20. Perhaps 1 of those 35 quarterbacks will be in the HOF, but I have zero idea who, if any.
Yes we should take a second and think of how lucky we have been as fans. Since 1992 our team has started what 4-5 QB's over that span? I don't know the exact number but it isn't that high. Before 1992? or man stop and think for a second about THAT. In my lifetime Starr (later years), Campbell, Taggee, Hunter, Wright, Zorn, Majik, Dickey, Tomzak, Whitehurst, and some others I prefer not to remember.
It is important to remember that there was ****ty Packer football at one time. We should never forget Brent Fullwood, Mossy Cade or Charles Martin. Those years give us perspective and humility.
But **** the living hell out of accepting 2 superbowls out of Favre and Rodgers. **** that **** with a spatula. Just because I am pissed that we don't have more Lombardi's doesn't mean I don't love the Pack or enjoy watching Packer football, it just means I am a better fan than Keil.
"....**** that **** with a spatula."
I have never heard that phrase before. Too funny.
antooo posted:I worked in Green Bay in the late 70's.
How was the disco scene?
PackerPatrick posted:He cant take it when its a joke about him trying to be all "clever", snarky yet way too predictable in his bias.
I can't tell who this is directed at. I'll just assume it's me. You got me Thorpe.
I thought it was about the guy from Sandy Eggo.
We are protected by the enormity of your stupidity, for a time.
El-Belichick-Landry posted:Just because I am pissed that we don't have more Lombardi's doesn't mean I don't love the Pack or enjoy watching Packer football, it just means I am a better fan than Keil.
It's "Keel".
Fedya posted:I thought it was about the guy from Sandy Eggo.
Could be, Fed. I don't know. After all, Hanky did say I was stupid - so I wouldn't know it was about me even if it was about me. 
Henry posted:PackerPatrick posted:He cant take it when its a joke about him trying to be all "clever", snarky yet way too predictable in his bias.
I can't tell who this is directed at. I'll just assume it's me. You got me Thorpe.
ASS - U - ME!
Memories from the good 'ol days.
1) In the 60s I remember making bets with people about if the Wisconsin Badgers football team would win a game or not.
2) In the 80s, I walked into work one Tuesday morning and the first thing I heard was "What happened to the Packers?" For some reason I missed MNF that week, and replied "what do you mean?" The the guy started telling me about the "track meet" at Lambeau field. Of course that was the 48-47 Packer win over the Redskins in October of 1983. I have seen the game since.
3) Before the 1967 playoff game vs the LA Rams, all any of the reporters talked about was how "old" the Packers were and how they might not win. The Packers finished the season 9-4-1. Jerry Kramer would later say how the team was tired of listening to that and how it provided motivation to shut those guys up. But I was worried at the time. We all know GB won 28-7 after a rocky start and I was relieved that GB won. Little did I know at the time that another nail biter was just ahead.
There were others but those things stuck out to me.