Updated: July 1, 2009, 11:34 AM ET
Ultimate Standings 2009: No. 13
Green Bay Packers
By Jason Catania
ESPN The Magazine
Archive
Last Year's Rank: 4
Title Track: 21
Ownership: 29
Coaching: 56
Players: 25
Fan Relations: 18
Affordability: 22
Stadium Experience: 1
Bang for the Buck: 20
Lambeau is a juggernaut. The Pack's home has been the top NFL venue each year of the Standings, and this year it landed in the top overall spot for the fourth time. Attribute that to the G-Force campaign, a team-sponsored directive launched in 2007 to rally fans. At kickoff, Lambeau's TundraVision salutes the 79,928 G-Forcers on-screen while giveaway towels are waved from the stands and a Packers anthem ("G-Force Roar") blares over the speakers. Not all the fun is reserved for game time, though. The Tundra Tailgate Zone, a climate-controlled area in the parking lot, opens four hours before game time, and fans can mingle with former Pack players ("Dude, is that Elijah Pitts?"), catch the action on the plasma-screen TVs and consume vast quantities of vitamin B (burgers, brats, beer). "Nothing is quite like being inside Lambeau," a team rep says of the TTZ, "but it's almost as good." Not so good, though? Ownership and Coaching ranks dropped 27 and 37 places, respectively. That's what 6 W's and a 1–5 finish will get you. "If you're okay following up an NFC title game appearance with a losing season," one Packers faithful chided on packerchatters.com, "be a Bears fan." G, that's harsh.
|
