JT the Brick

I just returned from arguably the best sports trip of my entire career. I had the pleasure of planning a trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin for a friend of mine who is currently fighting a courageous battle with cancer. I wanted to make sure that my friend had the opportunity to go to his favorite place on earth with as many of his friends that could possibly join him to celebrate his life and take his mind off an upcoming surgery.

To every Green Bay Packer fan, Lambeau Field is home. It's a place not only to go to watch professional football but to also gather with the best fans in all of sports. I came away from this trip with the opinion that the best sports fans in country are Green Bay Packer fans.

I'm fortunate to get many chances to travel to sporting events and I believe that I have my hand on the pulse of what makes a certain sports fan base better than another does. I grew up going with my father to Yankee Stadium to see the most successful franchise in baseball history. I’ve been to Philadelphia and have sat next to some of the most bitter fans in the entire NFL. I've been fortunate to sit on top of a motor home in the infield at the Daytona 500 and was honored to have my name hang in the end zone at the "Black Hole" in Oakland. I like to soak in the atmosphere at each event that I attend with the die-hard fans that help their franchise compete in what is called a “home field advantage”.

Looking into the eyes of a fan while on a road trip can be an uplifting experience or a nightmare that stays with you for years to come. I generally believe that the most loyal fans tend to live on the east coast and get softer as you move west. Fans that live in cold weather environments tend to watch more sporting events inside during the winter months while fans in warm weather cities look forward to going to the beach or riding their bikes instead of sitting on the couch for their entire Sunday.

Of course, there is no exact science when describing fans from a particular city or region of the country, but I have seen or interacted with just about every type of sports fan that this country has produced in the last 30 years and I have concluded that the Green Bay Packers fans are the best.

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Even though they may be called “Cheeseheads”, they are knowledgeable and gracious. They don't have a mean streak in them and they all seem to want to get to know you when you travel to their city.

I didn't rent a car while in Green Bay last weekend and didn't have to worry about getting around town. The owner of a restaurant that I had lunch at offered to drive a few friends and me around town and give us a tour of the city instead of looking out the window from the back of a taxi. It was refreshing to walk around an NFL city in which you didn't feel like someone was going to talk down to you or start a fight because your were wearing the colors of the visiting team. Green Bay fans actually own their team and want to make sure that opposing fans continue to return to Wisconsin and pump money into the local economy for years to come.

My friends and I hosted a party for our dear friend on Saturday night at a local restaurant in Green Bay and Packer's head coach Mike McCarthy came by to offer support to our guest of honor who had been battling cancer for the past seven months. It is rare to see an NFL coach agree to take time out of his busy schedule the night before a game that started at noon on Sunday to make an appearance to lift another man spirits when he needed it the most.

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