In Green Bay, Fans Have a Place All Their Own

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Feb 1, 1999 | by Stephen Goode, | Eli Lehrer

Green Bay, Wis., a town so football crazy that residents call its metropolitan region "Packerland," has taken the next obvious step in America's worship of sports by creating a Hall of Fame to honor its most outstanding ... fans.

As almost everybody knows, Green Bay, with a population of about 100,000, is the only small city in America that boasts a big-league sports franchise. In what may be the most popular and uncontroversial example of socialism in America, the city itself bought a percentage of the Packers franchise to prevent it from leaving town.

Green Bay's two newspapers have sports sections -- devoted mostly to the Packers -- almost as large as their news sections. Downtown office workers often take long lunch breaks to participate in citywide Packers pep rallies prior to big games. During games, the entire town shuts down and it is possible to walk down the center of major arteries without seeing a single car.

In keeping with all this, Melvin Konke, who was honored as the first inductee into the newly formed Hall of Fame for fans, told Associated Press: "Well, I guess I put my lord No. 1, my wife No. 2 and the Packers No. 3." Konke has missed only about 15 Packers' games in the life span of the team. "I'm feeling wonderful," he told the wire service, and described the induction as the best day of his life.