Why I'm a Packers fan

Growing up in South Dakota and living in Wyoming for over half of my adult life, I'm often asked why I'm a Green Bay Packers fan.

Most sports fans follow a team for a specific reason. I have a specific reason. I follow the Packers because of my dad.

My father, who passed away in 2002, was not a huge football fan. He loved to hunt and fish. He was more of  a doer than a watcher. When he watched sports on TV, it was mostly boxing. Actually, he watched a lot of boxing on TV.

The problem with watching football on Sunday for my dad was that it interfered with deer hunting. That might have been my problem with deer hunting ... it interfered with football.

There was one game, in particular, that I do remember my dad watching. It was on Dec. 31, 1967.

If you're a real football fan or just a real Packers fan, you know what game I'm talking about - the "Ice Bowl" between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL Championship. The game proved to be one of the most famous games in NFL history.

What I remember the most about the game was not the minus 15 degree weather the game was played in, hence the name, the "Ice Bowl," or Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr's famous touchdown sneak off the block of Jerry Kramer to beat the Cowboys 21-17.

I watched the game, along with my family and others at a New Year's Eve (day) party at a neighbors cabin in the Black Hills. Many of the party-goers mentioned that they were rooting for the Cowboys. Someone asked my father who he was rooting for.

"I'm from Wisconsin, of course I'm rooting for the Packers," my dad responded.

That's all an 8-year-old needed to know. If the Packers were good enough for my dad, they were good enough for me.

I also remember that many of the party-goers went snowmobiling at halftime. What? Snowmobiling? The game's not over. Are you nuts?

When Green Bay beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday for its fourth Super Bowl title and 13th championship as a franchise, I naturally thought of all of the years of being a Packers fan.

 I remember crying the night Vince Lombardi died, even though my then 11-year-old mind thought he was a traitor for leaving Green Bay for Washington. I remember some very bad Green Bay teams after that. Yet, I always believed the Packers would win no matter what.

I remember wearing out a green sweatshirt with the number 86 on it. It wasn't really that close to looking like a Packers jersey, but I pretended it was and I was wide receiver Boyd Dowler, who wore number 86 for the Packers in the Lombardi years. Dowler caught a lot of  touchdown passes in my back yard from Bart Starr. I remember liking running back Donny Anderson because ... his last name was Anderson.

I remember being excited when a young quarterback by the name of Brett Favre started throwing touchdown passes to Sterling Sharpe in the early 90s. The Packers were finally winners again, culminating with bringing the Lombardi Trophy back home in 1997 by beating New England 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI.

The Lombardi Trophy is back where it belongs and I'm reminded, 43 years later, why I'm a Packers fan.

My dad is from Wisconsin, of course I'm rooting for the Packers.