Peter King » Posts Packers Camp: The loveliness of Lambeau «

8:45 a.m.; Traveling on I-57 South, outside of Chicago I am traveling through the NFC North (Detroit Monday, Green Bay yesterday, Chicago today, Minnesota Thursday) with Neil Hornsby, the founder and owner of ProFootballFocus.com, which, in excruciating detail, analyzes the play of every NFL player on every play. Neil is a 47-year business <a href="http://www.splendidgucci.com/mulberry-handbags-c-13.html"><strong>mulberry bag</strong></a> consultant from Luton, England, who loves football as much as Jon Gruden does. He got into football as a British kid in 1983 (it's a loooong story) and is here seeing training camps and meeting the people whose work he has analyzed in an office in his home for years. Neil and my brother Ken, who lives in England, are friends from my brother's job, and Ken has told me for years about this nutjob (and I use that word as affectionately as possible) who dissects every play of every game. So I invited him over for a few days to join me on my trip. I was curious to know his reaction to Green Bay, Wisconsin as we prepared to leave there this morning. We spent the day at the Packer offices, locker room and training center yesterday. Neil saw the media scrum around Aaron Rodgers, admired the locker room shaped <a href="http://www.splendidgucci.com/gucci-handbags-c-6.html"><strong>gucci bags</strong></a> like a football with the overhead light imitating the laces on top of the football, ate at Curly's Pub (as in Curly Lambeau) in the Lambeau Field atrium, saw a family tailgating six hours before practice in the stadium parking lot, sat in on (and contributed to) my interview with Packer guard Josh Sitton, watched two hours of practice on a surprisingly chilly night, and had a Guinness and turkey burger in the Stadium View. "How can you not love a place that is entirely devoted to football?'' Neil said. "Fin-tastic.'' He likes that word, "fantastic,'' and pronounces it the way I spelled it. Last night, walking back to our hotel from the Stadium View, he used it a few times after a strange incident with a comely 22-year-old girl on her birthday. We were 20 steps out the door at the Stadium View when this girl, from behind us, said loudly: "Peter King?'' I turned around and we walked toward her and a man she was with. "Peter King?!!!! Peter King!!! Oh my God! It's you! Can <a href="http://www.splendidgucci.com/chloe-handbags-c-5.html"><strong>chloe bag</strong></a> I take a picture with you? MygodI'msosorrytobotheryoubutit'smybirthdayseelook atmydriverslicenseit'sreallymybirthdayandmygod thisisthebestbirthdayeverrrr!!!!!!'' Why yes. Of course you can take a photo with me. That will be 1,000, please. So we took the photo and chatted with her and the boyfriend for a few minutes and then we headed back to our hotel. That one really hit Neil — and, in fact, it stunned me. Traveling around the country, some people seem to know me. Recognized, yes. Frothed over, no. "It is the only place in the world where a 22-year-old girl thinks Peter King is more important than a rock star. I will never, ever forget that. I thought I was walking around with Matthew McConaughey,'' Neil said. Other Neil observations: "There doesn't seem to be quite as much Brett Favre memorabilia as I thought.'' "I saw a family walking along, a father and mother and two kids, one very young and one girl who was older. The mother had a yellow top, the father and older girl green <a href="http://436100.info/view.php?id=26292"><strong>thebahamasweekly.com - Wind Jammers now available on DVD</strong></a> tops, and the little girl a number 12 Aaron Rodgers jersey. I just wonder if I went to their house and looked at their wardrobe, would it all be green and gold?” "The volume of people touring the facility, around the stadium, wearing Packer stuff … the town is just … there is nothing else. Pure football. Fabulous. Fin-tastic.'' “The level of friendliness is off the charts. Everyone — everyone! — is so nice here.”