This topic contains 365 replies, has 32 voices, and was last updated by 
gotta run 11 years, 11 months ago.
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@sandlanders wrote:
This is a photo of one classy Packers fan.
He always was and always will be.
(Photo courtesy of the Green Bay Press Gazette.)Class act all the way Rick! We’re very proud of you!
Well, that was fun. I really am at a loss as to how someone from out of state gets 7309 paper ballots. Just the lack of support I was getting from Green Bay whenever I called, had me feeling that this contest was bought and paid for by the time it was half over. I was hoping for a realization that the votes should speak for themselves if we were able to get past all his rule bending and the “we know there are discrepancies in the rules” that I heard from them.
Anyway, the results are in, and our hard earned 3408 paper ballots weren’t enough to get past whatever method he used for the 7309 votes by paper that he mustered. It was interesting to note that Steele talked to no one other than the people from the Packers office, while we other finalists talked together and had a good time.
Hope at least that one of my voters wins the packers Road trip for two!
I don’t feel bad for myself, but I do for all the effort that was put into this contest by others. I also don’t feel right about the integrity of the contest as a whole. My god, St Vince isn’t even in the FAN Hall of Fame yet!! (he’s been a finalist 3 times already, and is a Super FAN!!)
Anyway, these are my thoughts, and not meant for sharing outside of this forum. In the end, I am still a FAN of the Green Bay Packers, even if I might be suspect of the politics involved in whatever just transpired!
Thanks to everyone for your wonderful support, which kept me going even when we were behind in the voting!
@RickBlick and Chick wrote:
…while we other finalists talked together and had a good time.
This is something you can take away from this experience, Rick. You, St. Vince, and a whole host of others may not have the official recognition of the HOF, but all of you sure know how to put “fun” into all that you do on Game Day and at events. All of you are really real. You folks are the ones fans will always remember, not some guy with a collection of memorabilia. You’re in the trenches every game, home and away, and while some of us have loyalties to other teams (Bears), the Packers are lucky to have you cheering for and as a part of their team!
I’m really angry about this whole thing! I’m never going to cheer for the Packers again!!! 😆
All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.
@RickBlick and Chick wrote:
It was interesting to note that Steele talked to no one other than the people from the Packers office, while we other finalists talked together and had a good
Really???? 😕
That says a lot. I would think that he would have gone out of his way to talk to the other people and be magnanimous, particularly given some of the accusations being made. It would have been the perfect time to say, “Rick, you ran a good race and I just want you to know there really wasn’t anything fishy going on.”
Interesting indeed. Who would have thunk he could muster over 7,000 individually mailed ballots…
On the Left Side of the Road...@gotta run wrote:
Interesting indeed. Who would have thunk he could muster over 7,000 individually mailed ballots…
Family member in Wisconsin picks up a bunch of ballots, and if not used in WI, mails them in a box to PA, where they are used. The other Rick gathers the voted ballots into another box, mails them back to family in WI, that person dumps them in Goodwill boxes.
It can be done. Doesn’t mean we have to like it. 🙄
While we are on the subject of being Packer fans and Bears fans 😛, let me tell you something a bit about myself as a Packers fan.
I’ve been a fan since 1978 when I was 12 years old. After years of losing, the Packers started that season 6-1. My dad, who is a die hard Packer fan himself, got super excited and his excitement was contagious as I got excited too. While Green Bay went on to post a 2-6-1 record the rest of the season and continued their losing after that, I was hooked anyways.
I faithfully stood by the Packers through years of mediocrity in the 80’s. Dad and I would often go to Lambeau Field without tickets in hand and still be able to grab a couple tickets at face value from disgruntled Packer fans in the parking lot.
One such game was on a Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend in 1984. The Packers played Tampa Bay and it was freezing rain all day long. We brought my best buddy with. We could not get 3 tickets together but we lucked out getting 3 in the same section. Dad and I sat together while my buddy was a few rows up. We all were in the nosebleeds on the north side of the field.
But so many fans no showed in the crappy weather that we moved down together and sat maybe 15 rows up from the field.
The Packers slopped and slogged their way to something like a 27-17 victory over the Bucs. Both teams’ uniforms were so muddy, it was hard to tell who was on whose teams, was not for the helmets – lol. We stayed right til the final buzzer.
I attended a few more games after that then real life got in the way as I worked most Sundays and still do. So I have not been to a game since the late 80’s.
But I still faithfully watch the games on TV, especially at my favorite local bar with fellow Packer fans. Watching it at a bar with other Packer fans is the next best thing to being there.
What sets me apart from many other Packer fans is that I don’t actually own any Packer memorabilia. I just have a few hats, a couple jackets, some jerseys and t-shirts and a blanket. That’s it. I felt I didn’t need to have stuff to show my love for the Packers when my family and friends know that anyways.
But if you want some insight on how much of a Packer fan I am, let’s say I was willing to put my love for the Packers over my marriage at times. When the ex-wife, who hated football, and I were together, I often would stay home and watch the game when she wanted to go out and do something.
A great example of this was when Green Bay had a Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit sometimes in the 90’s. The ex-wife wanted us to go to her parents for Thanksgiving Day dinner. But they don’t watch football and I knew I’d miss the Packer game if I went. We had two little kids at the time. I elected to stay home and watch the game. She was pissed – and rightfully so. She didn’t talk to me for days.
But it was not the only time I choose to watch the Packers rather then go out and do something with the ex-wife. While it was not the only reason we got divorced, it was a contributing factor. I would not recommend this to anyone and if I was to find another girlfriend someday, she would have to be a fan herself or accept that me and the Packers come as a package.
To this day, I watch the games right down to the wire even when the outcome of the game is decided early. In the playoff game that the Packers lost to the Giants last month, I was at a bar watching the game. When they had that 4th quarter turnover and it was obvious the Giants had the game in the bag, save for a miracle, a few of my friends threw on their jackets and left the bar. I stayed there til the final gun.
The Packers have a unique fan base that is probably only rivaled by those of the Steelers and the Raiders, no disrespect meant to fans of other teams and I’m proud to be a Packer fan myself.
@todd300 wrote:
The Packers have a unique fan base that is probably only rivaled by those of the Steelers and the Raiders, no disrespect meant to fans of other teams and I’m proud to be a Packer fan myself.
You obviously have never been to a Bears game at Soldier Field.
All opinions, comments, and useless drivel I post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the WGA BOD.
Nope. Despite the fact that I live in Packer and Lion country, we actually have a few Steeler, Raiders, and Cowboy fans here. The Lions fans in my area though are somewhat fair weather fans. 2 years ago, hardly a single fan was wearing Lion colors. Now they are out of the woodwork.
I work with two Bears fans actually, but both are from Chicago.
Mystery solved:
He also got support from fellow members of the Packers Partners Club of Champions, the team’s fan club. Three members who live in Wisconsin agreed to help Steele with paper ballots in the contest. He had never even met two of them.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_781642.html#ixzz1mSLaj9Wq
So I’m guessing he got local people to send him paper ballots or he just made copies, distributed them (maybe it was a class assignment), then ship them back to the WI folks who dropped them in a box, just like T&B indicated.
On the Left Side of the Road...How does someone that was only a “casual football fan until 2001” get this great honor?? OMG, the fix was in.
From what I saw and experienced, I no longer consider the FAN HOF an honor, because something you can buy, is not an honor. Think I will hunt down the phone number for John O’Neill (St. Vince) and see what he has to say about the HOF
@goirish75 wrote:
How does someone that was only a “casual football fan until 2001” get this great honor?? OMG, the fix was in.
Agreed. A Packer fan by marriage is not a true Packer fan.
I’m welling to bet if Penn St.’s wife decided to divorce him for some reason, he’ll burn all the 5 roomfuls of Packer stuff he has and go back to being a casual fan.
I still say he’s a “fan” to get into his wife’s pants.
@RickBlick and Chick wrote:
From what I saw and experienced, I no longer consider the FAN HOF an honor, because something you can buy, is not an honor. Think I will hunt down the phone number for John O’Neill (St. Vince) and see what he has to say about the HOF
Well obviously this guy has $$$ to amass the collection of memorabilia (on a teacher’s salary I might add).
But on the other hand that is chump change to the Packers’ org.
Maybe you have some inside intel that isn’t clear from the outside though…
What is clear is that there were MANY other compelling fan stories among the finalists this year, yours included. Simply deciding you like a team and buying a bunch of memorabilia does not make a Packers Fan…as we all know.
On the Left Side of the Road...Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if Penn St. was full of $hit saying he had that much memorabilia. When voting first started, I thought he had 3 rooms full, then as time went on, it was 4. Then that article from the Pittsburgh newspaper says it was FIVE rooms full of the stuff. Please.
I agree the other candidates on the page were far more deserving.
I think the next time the HoF is up again, organizers should set the voting page so the candidates are always in random order each time one visits the page. Penn State might have had the advantage of being at the top of the page while the Mayor was at the bottom.
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