For impressionistic version of this photo, see my final game tweet on left
Went down with my wife. She deserves it for the monster hours I've been putting in over past several months, plus the long trip to Beijing.
We left about 0830 Saturday and got to Chattanooga around 3pm to check in hotel. We're in downtown Atlanta by 5:15 and get parking in same informal lot where we parked last summer with kids when we went to World of Coca Cola!. Then walk for half hour to Georgia Dome and enter with several hundred other Packer fans at Gate C.
We were on the goal line, about 25 rows up, on the Packer side (far left corner as you watched on TV).
Scary loud as game began, and all the waving black-and-red fans made this German nervous!
Game started badly (fumble on first drive, then after tying at 7-7, we give up TD return on Kickoff). I told Vonne, "This is how bad games start."
But I held onto one thought (and my Henieken): first drive fumble, second went length of field, so no stops by Falcon defense.
Turned out to be story of night. We never punted.
Rodgers was unreal, as was Tramon.
GA Dome beats Lambeau in one key regard: much better food.
Below is excerpt from Milwaukee paper of note on Packers, the main story on the game. Couldn't be truer. We met people from all over and I high fived several dozen over course of game. See my Tweets for pix.
Worth the trip
This was a game a lot of Packers fans had to see live.
For them, a spot on the couch in front of a television wasn't good enough.
And in many ways, the large turnout of Packers fans showed how Green Bay has remained a truly national franchise with a national following.
Mike Hager of North Carolina came to visit his son Daniel of Atlanta. They've never lived within 500 miles of Green Bay, but they apparently have green and gold running through their veins.
They wore matching cheesehead hats to the stadium.
"When I was 5 or 6 years old, my next-door neighbor was a huge Johnny Unitas fan," Mike Hager said, adding that instead of joining his friend in rooting for the Baltimore Colts, "I became a fan of green and gold."
Bryttani Cauble and Andrew Stebich, college kids from North Carolina, traveled five hours to see their first Packers game.
And it won't be their last.
"I don't know how it happened that I became a Packer fan," Stebich said. "I just love them."
Laurie Leaf of Rice Lake flew in on the day of the game. Her first flight was canceled. She was bumped from another one and only nabbed a seat on a final flight out because she cried.
"I had to be here," she said, tailgating in a parking lot with her friend Sarah Barlow, a native of Rhinelander who lives in Georgia.
Tom Bartz and Beth Mulvaney of Milwaukee had to be here, too. They drove 12 hours south, enjoyed the sights and relished mixing with the Falcons fans.
"These people are very cordial," Mulvaney said. "They're not like Philadelphia fans."
Lynnda Frederick and Sandy Nietz, northern Wisconsin natives who live in Minnesota, decided to take a chance to come to the game.
"Our playoff record on the road is horrible, 0 and 3," Frederick said of their travels following the Packers.
"This is the time we win and move on," Nietz said.
And it was.
This was a special night that began with noise and ended with the most beautiful sound of all: Silence.
Yes, we are going to the NFC Championship at Soldier Field--the wife and I. No matter the outcome--an epic game for the rivalry.
Can't go to Dallas, though. Too busy in early Feb, unfortunately. Plus, waiting for Pack to come to Indy for SB next year.