Last night at dinner, the conversation turned to the tonight's Monday Night Football matchup between the Packers and Bears in Chicago.
Game-time temperatures are projected to be 11 or 12 degrees, with winds out of the south at about 10 to 15 mph, making it feel like around zero. That's cold. But, there have been colder games at Lambeau, even Solider Field. The Bears-Packers game on Dec. 18, 1983, was the coldest ever at Soldier Field, with the game-time temperature near 5 degrees. Yet, if you've been to Soldier Field you'll agree that the place is cold to begin with. It's dark and just stone cold.
No matter what the temperature is, you couldn't pay me enough to sit outside and watch this game. At our dinner conversation, I stated that my price to attend the game and watch it from the stands was a minimum of $100,000. There's a bit of sarcasm here, friendly reader, but you get my point. Honestly, though, any thing less than this sum just isn't worth the cold and misery, much less the drive to and from Chicago.
I'll watch the game, though, from the warmth of my home, no problem -- after the Marquette-NC State game is over, of course.
To be fair, I asked die-hard Packers fan and OnMilwaukee.com senior sales guy, John Hyland, how to stay warm during a game like tonight. For the record, he's been to his share of frigid Lambeau games including last season's NFC Championship game where at kick-off the temperature was 1 below zero with a wind chill of 23 below. The temperature dropped during the night making it the second coldest home game in Packers' history behind the Ice Bowl.
"I've been to numerous cold-weather Packers games in the last few years. Playoff games in '01, '02, '04 and '07, including the Giant(s) debacle last January. All bearable -- long johns, pants, windsuit, pride, Pack attack, etc. However, the coldest three hours of my life were on Dec. 23, 2007, the last time our beloved Pack traveled to Chicago. There is something about the wind coming off the lake that may prevent me from ever again, setting foot, in a windy, December, Soldier Field. Simply put ... not fun," said Hyland.
Anyway, would you go to tonight's game? If so, how do you keep your extremities from going totally numb? Booze, layers, frequent restroom warm ups?
Call me a wimp, call me not a true fan ... but honestly you couldn't pay me to bear tonight's Packers game live.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
