The_Kitchen_Guy
Silver Member
- 12,458
This is hardly the first time these two teams have met in the Championship Game, although in their previous meetings, the game was for the NFL Title and not just the NFC Title.
The Giants and the Packers have met 5 times to settle the NFL Championship question, the Giants won the first time but haven't taken the championship game from the Packers since. I'm not going to retell the entire history here, if you would like to, you can read all about it on http://www.jrmanning.com.
The Green Bay Packers have had an official fight song since 1931. Although I haven't heard it on a broadcast in about twenty years. It's a catchy tune, one that I've always liked. It is up on YouTube along with some of the goofiest lyrics you've ever seen. (No one, thankfully, is singing with this video posting.) The introduction is from Bart Starr, who was a very young player at the time this recording was made. At one time, the Packers had a small band in the stands that played this song when the team took the field or scored.
The lyrics include a line about "...you blue and gold..." because the team's official uniform colors were blue and gold until 1959, when Vince Lombardi redesigned the uniform and changed the blue color to green. The uniform has changed very little since Lombardi designed it in 1959.
The stylized "G" on the helmet was added in 1961. The logo was designed by the Packers' equipment manager, Don Braischer. The University of Georgia and Grambling State use the same G on their helmets, with different colors of course, by special arrangement with The Green Bay Packers.
The "gold" of the uniform is more of a maize, similar to the color used by the University of Michigan. General Manager, Ron Wolf, had proposed a uniform redesign where the yellow would have been changed to a metallic gold color, similar to, but different from, the gold in the uniforms of the Rams and 49'ers. Once the team won Superbowl XXXI, any hope of a uniform change was scrapped.
In 1954, for reasons unknown other than to probably agitate, George Halas refused to dress his Chicago Bears in a white road uniform for the game in Green Bay. The Packers uniforms were still blue in those days, so both teams were wearing dark blue jerseys for that game.
Alright, one last piece of trivia for you.
The coldest chapionship game in Green Bay, and probably in the history of the NFL, was held on December 31, 1967. Known today as "The Ice Bowl," the temperature at kickoff was -13° with wind chills hovering around -48° and it didn't get any warmer as the day went on. Lombardi's state of the art electric field heating system also froze, and the field was more like a hockey rink than a football field.
With 16 seconds left to play, the Dallas Cowboys were nursing a 17-14 lead but the Packers were just inches from the goal line. They had just used their last time out so there was no chance for a tying field goal if they ran a play rather than trying a pass. Starr conferred with Lombardi and they called a wedge play, where Jerry Kramer would thrust Cowboy Jethro Pugh to the side, allowing fullback Chuck Mercein to carry the ball into the end zone. Unknown to everyone in the stadium, except Starr and Lombardi, Starr kept the ball for a quarterback sneak to win the game.
Chuck Mercein can be seen running into the end zone, signaling touchdown, and probably still wondering why he didn't get the handoff!
You can see it here on YouTube.
If you watch that video clip, in the replay towards the end, watch how (64) Jerry Kramer (he comes from the left of your screen) to make the block on (75) Jethro Pugh, springing Starr to make the score. Jethro Pugh had a long, successful career with the Dallas Cowboys, yet, he is mostly remembered for this play, the one he didn't make.
Green Bay would go on to win the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later renamed Superbowl II. In those days, the NFL Championship game was considered to be the more important game, at least, until one year later when Joe Namath and the New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in what would later become Superbowl III.
This has been more trivia provided by TKG, your veritable walking compendium of useless information.
The Giants and the Packers have met 5 times to settle the NFL Championship question, the Giants won the first time but haven't taken the championship game from the Packers since. I'm not going to retell the entire history here, if you would like to, you can read all about it on http://www.jrmanning.com.
The Green Bay Packers have had an official fight song since 1931. Although I haven't heard it on a broadcast in about twenty years. It's a catchy tune, one that I've always liked. It is up on YouTube along with some of the goofiest lyrics you've ever seen. (No one, thankfully, is singing with this video posting.) The introduction is from Bart Starr, who was a very young player at the time this recording was made. At one time, the Packers had a small band in the stands that played this song when the team took the field or scored.
The lyrics include a line about "...you blue and gold..." because the team's official uniform colors were blue and gold until 1959, when Vince Lombardi redesigned the uniform and changed the blue color to green. The uniform has changed very little since Lombardi designed it in 1959.
The stylized "G" on the helmet was added in 1961. The logo was designed by the Packers' equipment manager, Don Braischer. The University of Georgia and Grambling State use the same G on their helmets, with different colors of course, by special arrangement with The Green Bay Packers.
The "gold" of the uniform is more of a maize, similar to the color used by the University of Michigan. General Manager, Ron Wolf, had proposed a uniform redesign where the yellow would have been changed to a metallic gold color, similar to, but different from, the gold in the uniforms of the Rams and 49'ers. Once the team won Superbowl XXXI, any hope of a uniform change was scrapped.
In 1954, for reasons unknown other than to probably agitate, George Halas refused to dress his Chicago Bears in a white road uniform for the game in Green Bay. The Packers uniforms were still blue in those days, so both teams were wearing dark blue jerseys for that game.
Alright, one last piece of trivia for you.
The coldest chapionship game in Green Bay, and probably in the history of the NFL, was held on December 31, 1967. Known today as "The Ice Bowl," the temperature at kickoff was -13° with wind chills hovering around -48° and it didn't get any warmer as the day went on. Lombardi's state of the art electric field heating system also froze, and the field was more like a hockey rink than a football field.
With 16 seconds left to play, the Dallas Cowboys were nursing a 17-14 lead but the Packers were just inches from the goal line. They had just used their last time out so there was no chance for a tying field goal if they ran a play rather than trying a pass. Starr conferred with Lombardi and they called a wedge play, where Jerry Kramer would thrust Cowboy Jethro Pugh to the side, allowing fullback Chuck Mercein to carry the ball into the end zone. Unknown to everyone in the stadium, except Starr and Lombardi, Starr kept the ball for a quarterback sneak to win the game.
Chuck Mercein can be seen running into the end zone, signaling touchdown, and probably still wondering why he didn't get the handoff!
You can see it here on YouTube.
If you watch that video clip, in the replay towards the end, watch how (64) Jerry Kramer (he comes from the left of your screen) to make the block on (75) Jethro Pugh, springing Starr to make the score. Jethro Pugh had a long, successful career with the Dallas Cowboys, yet, he is mostly remembered for this play, the one he didn't make.
Green Bay would go on to win the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later renamed Superbowl II. In those days, the NFL Championship game was considered to be the more important game, at least, until one year later when Joe Namath and the New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in what would later become Superbowl III.
This has been more trivia provided by TKG, your veritable walking compendium of useless information.
