GREEN BAY -- They booed last year. Ceaselessly. Ruthlessly.
"Had to," said Cherie Rossing of Superior, who was here at Lambeau Field when the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings renewed their border battle, the 2009 chapter featuring ol' No. 4, back in the stadium, on the field and in the city where he assured his legacy, built his legend and became a superstar.
Only ol' No. 4, Brett Favre, wasn't wearing his familiar green and gold, but the purple of the Packers' hated rivals to the west, the Vikings. And he was wearing the purple by choice.
That stung those who bleed green and gold. So they let Favre have it.
Had to.
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"He could have gone to any other team. It was fine when he was with the (New York) Jets. But when he joined the Vikings, that was a slap in the face," said Rossing, an accountant at Essentia Health who attends one Packers game a year with tickets from a third cousin in Green Bay.
"I'm just mad at him. He's with the wrong team."
For Dr. Mike Johnson, a dentist from Superior, it wasn't so much anger at Favre that prompted his response last year. He had just lost respect for the quarterback who once was the face of the franchise Johnson loves.
He greeted Favre with "silence, dead silence," which is unusual for Johnson, an attendee of two games a year at Lambeau, where he wanders the parking lot before the kickoff, playing his bagpipes in exchange for cookies, beers and other goodies.
"I was one of the few who didn't boo," Johnson said. "It was just poor PR the way Favre left Green Bay. And then he went to the Vikings specifically to stick it to the Packers system. I have no respect."
Favre stuck it to the Packers twice last season, much to the chagrin of Rossing, Johnson and others in Packers Nation. He threw three touchdowns and for 271 yards in prime time on Monday Night Football on Oct. 5, leading the Vikes to a 30-23 win. Then, less than a month later, at that game at Lambeau, Favre tossed another four TDs and for 244 yards. And another Vikings win, 38-26.
The rivalry that plays out as fiercely in the Twin Ports as anywhere, with the community sharing not only fans but a border, resumed last night. This time with fresh intensity. Not only was Favre back, but the Vikings added Randy Moss -- the same Randy Moss who repeatedly scorched the Packers as a young receiver and who in a 2005 playoff game pretended to pull down his pants and moon the Lambeau Field crowd. When Moss was fined $10,000 by the NFL for the stunt, he just scoffed. "What's 10 grand to me?" Moss retorted.
In addition to a new weapon in Moss, Favre entered last night's action with unexpected baggage after being accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a New York Jets game hostess when he played there.
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So how would the Lambeau Field crowd react this time? A bit more subdued, considering Favre's sexting scandal and his team's struggle this year? Or as ramped up as ever in opposition to Favre and the mooning Moss?
"I'll boo again," said Rossing, who was able to return for the same game as last year. "It's going to be really loud in there." She did. And it was.
"Silence again," said Dr. Johnson, another Twin Ports returnee. "Absolutely." With the exception of his bagpipes.
"But it's fun. Whether we're for the Vikings or the Packers, it's just for fun. I tell all the Vikings fans, 'Have a good game -- but don't have a great game.' We have a lot of fun."
For the fans, that's what the border battle is all about -- no matter who wins and no matter who's playing for which team from year to year.
Chuck Frederick is editorial page editor of the News Tribune. He can be reached at cfrederick@duluthnews.com .
