My father and uncle began attending Green Bay Packers games at the Wisconsin State Fair Milwaukee Mile racetrack in the early 1950s. The Pack wasn't doing very well financially and split their home games between Green Bay and Milwaukee. Watching the game on Sunday afternoon was a family tradition. My little sister's first words were, "Go Packer!" Since 1995, homes games exclusively at Green Bay.
It must have been 1999 when my father asked me if I wanted his tickets. I don't know how long the wait is for season tickets. It's common for a father to register his newborn son hoping that by the time the kid is fifty, he'll have tickets to the game. Somewhere I read it was estimated at three hundred years. Most people inherit theirs.
I told him no. If I wasn't going to the game with my dad, I wasn't going. Sell them to Uncle Ken. That way they'll still be in the family.
As an aside note: My wife and I were visiting a friend's family. He asked if I'd like to go to the football game. "Sure, do you have tickets?" "No, we can pick some up at the box office."
Whaaaaa ....
I asked my dad why was he no longer interested. Partly because he could not justify the ticket prices and player salaries. He grew up during the Great Depression. When he started going to games, tickets were a couple of bucks. Players had jobs during the off season and worked after their NFL careers. Bart Starr owned a Lincoln Mercury dealership. Fuzzy Thurston and Max McGee owned a string of supper clubs.
Dad said he was getting too old for winter games at Lambeau. At a December game at the old Milwaukee County Stadium, he asked me if I wanted to go "inside" for a hot chocolate. This was a guy who spent two years camping out during the Korean War.
Then there was Brett Crybaby Favre. A prima donna. On the sidelines either he was constantly talking a stream of crap or clammed up and sulking. I remember him walking on the field for Super Bowl XXXII and the camera zoomed in. He had that petulant look about him. My dad said, "Damn it to hell. The Packers are going to lose." Only time I heard him swear. Turned off the TV and left the room. Only Super Bowl / AFL–NFL World Championship Game we didn't watch. Denver Broncos 31, Packers 24.
Then Brett started that off season retirement or leaving for another team trashtalk.
Sayonara, pal. Don't let the door hit you.
My father passed away. Been to a few games with my uncle or cousins. I am getting to the point where I cannot justify spending as much on a football game as on a Rolling Stones concert.