Happy 60th, Lambeau Field!

Sixty years ago today, on Sunday, September 29, 1957, the Packers opened their new home, then known as "City Stadium" or "New City Stadium" to distinguish from its immediate predecessor.

packershistory.net

The stadium has changed so much since that day, but the basic layout is still recognizable in this photo, taken at the very first game:

We are so lucky to have our team playing in the Gridiron Cathedral.

MEARS Online Auctions

In that first game, the Packers beat the Chicago Bears 21-17 before a standing room-only crowd of 32,132.

I can't think of a better birthday present for the old Stadium than another win over the Bears. Especially sweet that the Pack has now taken the overall series for the first time since 1932, when the Packers were still relatively new tenants at the old City Stadium.

The Strategery Behind Whitewashing

Tonight, the Packers will step on to the Lambeau Field turf wearing white jerseys for the first time since 1989. In that season, they wore their road jerseys for the first two games, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 10 and the following weekend against the New Orleans Saints.

This was the subject of a question posed to "Ask Vic" back in 2014 by "Mark from Fairfax, VA":

Vic, a few days ago while surfing YouTube for Packers videos, I came upon highlights of the 1989 Packers season when they were QB’d by Don Majkowski, went 10-6 but didn't make the playoffs. In one of their home games against the New Orleans Saints played at Lambeau Field, the Packers wore their white road jerseys. Might you know why that was done? And why did Green Bay play Dallas, an NFC East team, in that regular season twice? I’ve posed these questions on a couple of Packers sites but no one has answered.

(Packers.com senior writer Mike Spofford): Your question intrigued me, so team historian Cliff Christl and I put our heads together and did a little research. Turns out the Packers wore their white jerseys at Lambeau for each of the first two games in ’89, against the Buccaneers and Saints, and haven’t since. Cliff found a Press-Gazette article in which head coach Lindy Infante said it was planned in advance to beat the potential early-season heat by keeping the Packers out of their dark green jerseys. There was also talk of Tampa Bay QB Vinny Testaverde’s color-blindness, and his difficulty distinguishing reddish colors against green grass. The Bucs had switched before the ’89 season from wearing their orange jerseys at home to wearing white, but they were forced to wear the orange at Lambeau. The following week, the Saints wore their supposedly heat-absorbing black.

As it happened, the game-time temps were only 66 and 71 degrees, respectively, for those two games. Testaverde had a solid day, going 22-of-27 for 205 yards with one TD and no interceptions in beating the Packers, 23-21. The black-clad Saints may indeed have worn down, though, as the Packers rallied from a 21-0 deficit for a 35-34 victory, one of the biggest comebacks in team history.

So the results were mixed. Let's start with the first game, against the Bucs.

PewterReport.com

If the Packers were hoping to confuse Testaverde in that first game, it didn't work. But how awesome is it today to see those Creamsicle uniforms?

As Spofford mentioned, the Pack had more luck in the second game. Here's a view of the teams at midfield:

What's up with that gold "G" on the 50-yard line?

I always like seeing the classic single-gray-bar helmet graphic. The Packers continued to use it for years after the facemasks were changed to green. Here we see the graphic in the endzone:

Some things are constant, though; the gold railings at Lambeau Field are iconic.

Again, if the Packers had intended to place the Saints at a competitive disadvantage by making them wear black jerseys, they were unsuccessful. Mother Nature apparently didn't get the playbook, and the temperature at kickoff was very mild and clement. The Packers clawed back from that early deficit to win, but the white jerseys didn't help them.

And with those mixed results, the grand experiment was over and the Packers went back to wearing their dark jerseys at Lambeau Field. Until tonight.

Pink at Lambeau

Yesterday saw the first Packers home game in October, which means our first opportunity to see how the league's pinkwashing scam would be promoted at Lambeau Field.

The answer: not as bad as I feared.

We had the now-standard assortment of pink towels, gloves, wristbands and even cleats:

Green Bay Packers' Quinten Rollins (24) runs back an interception for a touchdown during the first half an NFL football game against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Pink accessories aside, is there any color combination that looks so good under a bright autumnal sun?

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers reacts during the first half an NFL football game against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Never mind. Rhetorical question.

While we're at it, here's a closer look at the back of Aaron's helmet.

We have, from left to right, the two-events-in-one pink and gold NFL ribbon, the player identifier, the green "radio equipped helmet" dot and a big honkin' American flag. Too much.

On the field itself, the small black-and-gold NFL logo on the 25-yard line was embellished with a pink ribbon.

I'll be glad when this scheme finally gets stale and the NFL drops it. If they haven't already gone past the point of no return.

A Great-Looking Game

Last night's matchup between the Packers and Kansas City Chiefs was a great-looking affair. And I don't just mean the 38-28 final score, or the fact that it doesn't at all reflect the game action. It was a beautiful night for football, with two classic uniforms playing in a heavy Wisconsin rain.

Clouds encroach Lambeau Field Prior to the NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers on Monday, September 28, 2015 in Green Bay, Wis. (Todd Rosenberg/NFL)

Check out what they're playing on the scoreboard: an historical look at the club, going all the way back to 1919.

Nice to see they remember.

The Chiefs have one of the nicer uniforms in the NFL. I'm not a huge fan of red pants themselves, but the overall effect is a good one.

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers runs for a first down past Kansas City Chiefs' Marcus Cooper (31) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Excellent. A great look, all around.

Green Bay Packers running back James Starks (44) heads down field during the first quarter of a NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers Monday, September 28, 2015 in Green Bay, Wi. (Todd Rosenberg/NFL)

Green Bay Packers' Randall Cobb runs during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

These are two teams that have managed to keep their classic looks more or less unchanged since the 1960s, when they met in the first Super Bowl.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Andrew Rice (58) takes on Green Bay Packers’ tackle Forrest Gregg (75) and fullback Jim Taylor (31) during Super Bowl I. (Photo: WireImage)

The Chiefs have made one significant change to their uniform since then, although it's traditional in its own way.

Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce gets past Green Bay Packers' Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (21) after a catch during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Check out the patch on Kelce's chest; that's a memorial for Lamar Hunt, founder of the Chiefs. It was added to their jerseys following his death in 2006 and made permanent before the 2008 season. I'm not a fan of permanent uniform tributes in general—the Packers would run out of room—but I do like the design of this patch. It's based on the logo of the American Football Legaue, which Hunt co-founded when he was denied an NFL expansion franchise.


It's a nice tribute to the defunct league. Always good when teams honor their history.

Photo Gallery: Packers Locker Room

Packers.com has a great photo gallery of the Packers' locker room at Lambeau Field, ready for tonight's Monday Night Football matchup against the Chiefs.

The lockers are all laid out neatly; shoulder pads in the cubby above, jersey front and center, pants to the side. Everybody gets a copy of the game program.

The lockers aren't entirely uniform, though; there are minor differences between them. Some of the players also have their socks laid out on the shelf, white sanitary and green uniform sock.

Others have gloves hanging up, apparently still in their Nike packaging.

And of course, at the end of the row, we find the locker belonging to Aaron Rodgers.

You can see the "Holstein Heisman" logo on the jock tag of what looks like his laundry bag. They've been using it more and more since re-introducing it five seasons ago.

The locker room just doesn't look right when empty. It's an eerily calm scene in a room that will become bursting with activity in a few short hours.

Check out the whole gallery at the link.

(Photo credit: Ryan Hartwig, Packers.com)

The Worst Seat in the House

American astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted out a picture of Lambeau Field taken from an unusual vantage point: the International Space Station.

.@LambeauField Home of @packers' @AaronRodgers12 who beat my brother @ShuttleCDRKelly on #CelebrityJeopardy #Rematch! pic.twitter.com/OVZXuYIA1I

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) May 22, 2015

Wow. A fantastic look at the stadium, nestled right in the middle of its neighborhood:

It's also an unusual view because we're used to looking at photos that correspond with our "North=Up" map orientation. Downtown Green Bay has an unusual layout in which the streets are aligned not north-south but angled to run parallel with and perpendicular to the Fox River.

Here's the photo rotated to comport with our customary map view:

I guess I hadn't really thought it was possible to give us a unique perspective on a place so widely-photographed as Lambeau Field, but Commander Kelly has gone to great lengths to do just that.

Goodbye Curly, Hello 1919.

Rest in Peace, Curly's Pub.

The Packers have unveiled renderings for Lambeau Field's new atrium restaurant, the 1919 Kitchen & Tap. Located on the main level of the atrium, it replaces Curly's Pub, opened in 2003 as part of the extensive stadium renovations.

The interior of the restaurant looks amazing, to be sure.

A contemporary feel and massive improvement over the general TGI Friday's vibe of the old place. I love the clever touch of play diagrams burned into the wood tables.

But if the decor itself is an upgrade, what about the name?

On the one hand, I can't really argue with having an ever-present reminder that the Packers were founded in 1919, no matter what the NFL wants to believe. But on the other, I think it's a shame to lose the really unique "Curly's Pub" branding. "1919" is sterile and gerenic, while "Curly's" was welcoming and had some personality. And when choosing a place to hang out, I'll pick a "pub" over "kitchen & tap" any day.

The logo for 1919 is even worse than the name. It's bland and corporate, lacking all character. It has that sort of general inoffensiveness ad agencies love. This logo would be more at home in a corporate commissary, or a stadium with multiple-tier overhangs and plastic seats.

They couldn't even be bothered to use a font with any relevance to the Packers' own brand: no stencils? No jersey block numbers? Weak sauce.

Not only did Curly's Pub have a better name, it had a fantastic logo:

Flickr/warmheartcold

There's the man himself. Squinting in the sun, master of all he surveys.

It looks even better in monochrome green:

Yelp/Jana H.

Given the general æsthetics of Lambeau Field, that would have been much more appropriate than the regular two-tone version.

So raise a glass to Curly's Pub: you may be gone, but you won't be forgotten.

Yelp/Ricky J.

Now *That's* a Trophy

Press-Gazette Media

Yesterday, the Packers unveiled a new monument at Lambeau Field; a 50-foot replica of the Lombardi Trophy in the lobby just inside the new American Family Insurance Gate.

H.M. Larson/Press-Gazette Media

Whoa. This thing is absolutely massive. Designed and built by a company in Florida, it was shipped in ten pieces to Miron Construction in Neenah, where it chromed by a team of 16 craftsmen over ten weeks. The pieces were then brought to Lambeau Field, where Miron assembled it in place.

H.M. Larson/Press-Gazette Media

It completely dominates the lobby, and will be visible from the new Packers Hall of Fame and the new atrium restaurant replacing Curly's Pub.

The new gate was added to ease traffic flow, but I wonder what this massive installation will do to hamper the movement of thousands of fans trying to enter the stadium at once. How many will want to stop and take photos, and will that create long lines?

H.M. Larson/Press-Gazette Media

Stunning. But where are the five-foot tall fingerprints?

H.M. Larson/Press-Gazette Media

The Packers also released this infographic:

Packers.com

Green Bay's very own Colossus of Rhodes.

---

UPDATE 11/20/2015:  The Press Gazette has this video with fan reactions to the new sculpture:

Press-Gazette Media

Awesome. In the true sense of the word.