| 1-4-04: Wow. Wow, wow WOW! Well, my ticket for this 
            afternoon's game could not really have been much better. I really 
            was just about on the 50-yard line: 
            
             2nd and 5 from the 50 (Packers 0 - Seahawks 3; first play of the 
            second quarter).
 I was nervous as time ticked down toward kickoff, 
            not only because this was the Playoffs, but because I was waiting in 
            the Will Call line (along with 10,000 of my closest friends) in the 
            freezing cold for two hours, S L O W L Y crawling toward the ticket 
            windows (of which there were THREE!). I was within several 
            yards of the front of the line by the time the Apache helicopters 
            did their flyover at the end of The Star-Spangled Banner. I 
            missed the first score -- just as well, as it was a Seahawks field 
            goal -- but did get to my seat having missed only about nine minutes 
            of the game. I figure I got my money's worth, though, what with 
            the extra five minutes of overtime added in at the end. And what an overtime. A nail-biter. The "Cardiac 
            Pack" was indeed back. Coolest of all? Al Harris intercepted that 
            ball right in front of me. Just about where you see the down 
            marker with the "2" on it in the picture above. See the big guy 
            standing at the 40 on the left? That's Holmgren. The fans in my 
            section loved seeing him doubled over in pain on the sideline after 
            that play. He managed to have several little sweet-talk sessions 
            with the officials throughout the game, all without having a timeout 
            called against his team. Next Sunday, it's on to Philly! I honestly believe 
            we can win that game. If Ahman can run through their "defense" the 
            way he did back in the Monday night game, and our secondary can win 
            their man coverage battles, we should have it made.  In the 
            meantime, we'll hope for the Panthers to beat the Rams on Saturday 
            so that -- if we do win -- we'll get to play outdoors on grass, the 
            way football was meant to be played. Hm... Philly isn't that far from NYC. Maybe I can 
            talk Mom and Dad into dropping me off! |