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Tundra Isn't The Only Thing That Is Frozen

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Frozen tundra? Try frozen everything.

Frozen pipes. Frozen windows. Frozen fingers. Frozen noses. Frozen toes.

Welcome to Titletown, USA, home of the Green Bay Packers and about 108,000 hearty souls who stay, we presume, because they landed here by accident once and were frozen in place. A lot of them will come to Lambeau Field tonight disguised as ice statues to witness a high-stakes football game between the Packers and New York Giants for the NFC championship.

Winner gets to leave town for the sun of Glendale, Ariz., site of the Super Bowl. That alone should be sufficient motivation, because did we mention it might be chilly tonight?

It was 9 below zero Saturday afternoon - 33 below if you count wind chill, which you certainly should. It might rise all the way to 1 degree above for kickoff, but that's most likely wishful thinking. Expect it to be below zero, with a heaping helping of Canadian breezes.

"I think it's a test of wills, because I always look at it as a mind game. When you go into this game, you know in conditions you can't control them, so you basically have to just go play regardless of the situation," Packers receiver Donald Driver said.

"If you let your mind tell you it's cold, it's going to be cold. But if you let your mind tell you it's warm, that you're in Hawaii somewhere, then that's where you're going to feel like you're at. That's why I always say I'm somewhere warm, maybe down in Texas."

We're not in Texas.

This is Green Bay, where the only consolation is that it's supposed to be cccccold. Global warming? Never heard of it. Mama Nature is copping an attitude. They were warning people all day Saturday to STAY INDOORS! SERIOUSLY! WE'RE NOT KIDDING!

Now, if it's too cold for these folks ...

Open The Store

The voice on the other end of the telephone was asking for Fritz Graf.

"You found him," Graf said.

He was told the call was coming from Green Bay. And without a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Oh, God bless you."

The man knows. He was on the officiating crew here for the Dec. 31, 1967, game between the Packers and Dallas Cowboys that decided the NFL championship. They call it the Ice Bowl.

"I remember getting my wakeup call at the hotel that morning," he said. "The lady says, 'Good morning ... it's 7 o'clock ... the temperature is minus 9 degrees.' I thought she was kidding."

She wasn't kidding.

It was 13 below at kickoff. Wind chill was minus 46. The halftime marching band performance was canceled because some band members' faces were bleeding from the cold.

These days, the NFL makes sure officials have the right kind of thermal clothing for games like this, but that wasn't the case back then. Because he always packed light, Graf didn't have enough warm-weather gear - only the top to his long underwear. He didn't pack the bottoms.

"We were eating breakfast at the hotel, and Willie Davis of the Packers recognized us," he said. "He asked, 'What are you guys gonna wear today?' Well, I told him we didn't have much. Fortunately, a guy with him owned a sporting goods store in Green Bay and he offered to open up the store so we could get long johns, earmuffs, gloves, all that stuff. He was a life-saver.

"But," Fritz went on, "we didn't take the whistle into account."

The whistles in those days were made of metal. Every time they blew the whistle, it would freeze to their lips.

"One of the standby officials would throw us a new one after every play," he said.

One man died of exposure. Several fans needed medical help after warming up because all the alcohol they drank to fend off the cold came roaring back on them.

And here we are: Son Of Ice Bowl.

Make that Grandson. It has been nearly 40 years.

Joined In History

The Giants and Packers have been partners to much history in the NFL.

Vince Lombardi came to Green Bay from the Giants, where he was an assistant. Lombardi's Packers beat the Giants in consecutive years for his first two NFL championships. Those wins catapulted the Packers to the top of professional football and the Ice Bowl - a 21-17 win against Dallas to secure Lombardi's fifth and final championship - gave Green Bay a permanent place in folklore.

This game, this evening, could be the latest link in that historic chain.

"This is one of those games that you do watch on TV when you're home, and you think, 'Man, I wish I was out there. I know it's cold, but I wish I were out there.' Now we have the opportunity to be out there," Giants defensive tackle Michael Strahan said.

To call this an "opportunity" might be a stretch, but there's no denying they're going one-on-one with history again. That's a thought to warm the heart on a cold, cold night. If that thought comes with gloves, earmuffs, two sweatshirts and a heavy coat, so much the better.

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