Maybe I’m easily impressed – other than the 2006 Sugar Bowl, every other Notre Dame game I’ve attended was in South Bend – but Lambeau Field was a 1-of-1 to me. What a place and what a scene. My blessed wife, aiming to cushion the blow of my upcoming 40th birthday, gifted me a trip to this weekend’s Shamrock Series game, and we made a two-day trip out of it.

One of many excellent things about Lambeau, and this won’t be news to anyone who has an inkling of just how small a city Green Bay is, is that it’s basically one behemoth structure in the middle of a neighborhood. There are literally houses across the street from their Titletown mixed-use development where fans congregate on game days, and you can walk a quarter mile from another neighborhood to the other side of the stadium. We ourselves parked on the street next to a house for free and it was no more than a 15-minute walk to the stadium; houses merely a couple blocks closer were charging $20 to $50, though most of them also had very enviable tailgate and/or garage setups as carrots. I have to think those homes are very cool places to be on game weekends.

The Packers’ practice facility, next door to the stadium, is across the street from a gas station (heck of a lot cheaper to get drinks there than elsewhere – and they’re cold!) Less than a mile down the road, you’d have no idea anything of note existed in Green Bay at all; it looks more or less like any other city of its size, with the various restaurants, shopping centers, et al. Nothing about Lambeau or Green Bay is anything like the (few) other NFL cities or stadiums I’ve been around, and that’s very much a compliment.

   

Titletown and the other surrounding areas were a factory of happiness all day Sunday. Live music and plenty to do, including a large hill that took you to an overlook to soak in the scene, multiple kids’ playgrounds, and a full-length turf football field right next to a batch of real estate development that must cost about eleventy gajillion dollars. Free drink samples were passed out at company booths. You could take a shot at ‘completing’ passes while registering to win a grill (I converted 1 of 3 attempts). I also got to meet up with a friend from high school who happened to be at the game with his family, and we found a couple of souvenirs at a merch stand.

Wisconsin fans couldn’t have been much more personable. (It probably helped that I’m sure they all had very low expectations for how the game would go.) At one point in line to buy our souvenirs, I jokingly told my wife that maybe I should be a Packer fan given my own affinity for cheese and all cheese-related items, and without missing a beat the Badger fan ahead of me in line grabbed a cheesehead out of the tin next to us, handed it to me and said, “Never too late to start.” (It’s not going to happen, as I made the mistake of tabbing Carolina as my squad many moons ago. Oh well.)

Cheeseheads were plentiful, as well as cheese swords, cheese footballs, cheese baseball caps and, most amusing to us, cheese top hats. I never tire of it all.

 

The stadium itself was absolute first class in every possible way. We had brief issues getting the tickets pulled up on my wife’s phone as she hadn’t fully set up her mobile wallet, and staff quickly stepped in and helped get us taken care of. We were probably in line to get in for 5 minutes (though we did go in a bit earlier than we normally would). We sat in the stadium’s highest section and still had an impeccable view. We couldn’t really tell who was making plays, but that’s on the jerseys more so than on the view.

The only thing resembling a complaint that I would have is that the PA announcer sometimes did not jump in to let you know who made a tackle or caught a pass, so you were kind of at the mercy of the two video boards. (I personally really enjoyed the boards, mostly because I’m generally not a fan of video boards anyway and they were small enough and quiet enough to be unobtrusive but provide what you actually needed.)

Jump Around is as cool as you think it is. Even on the complete opposite side of the stadium, you could feel the vibrations from the Badger fans going crazy. By my unscientific estimation, it felt like it might have been about 53/47 Wisconsin fans there, as they filled in their entire side and had a couple of scattered folks on the Notre Dame side. They were also louder when things went well for them early, which might color my estimate.

 

Easily the best sports-related trip I’ve ever made. If the experience was anything like a template for other Shamrock games, I’d recommend hitting one, but I really couldn’t recommend this stadium enough. If you get the chance to go, you won’t regret it.

Your intrepid author soaking up a wonderful evening.