SHARON DEUTSCHENDORF SUSSEX, WI
Like many kids growing up in Wisconsin, I learned to love football at a young age. Like many kids, I thought I was one of those Packer greats in the backyard. However, what separated me from the others was I learned to love football because of my mother, the greatest Packer fan I have ever met. My mother owns countless numbers of Packers memorabilia from her six thousand Brett Favre trading cards to her Lynn Dickey jersey from the 1980s. Our basement is a Packers shrine. When my parents eventually decide to install the "G" carpet that you can find in the Packers Pro Shop, I was thinking of calling the Green Bay Packers to ask if we could become partners and open our own "Packers Pro Shop" right in our basement, my mom could probably retire if we sold it all. However, selling it all is not an option because my mom would not trade her prized Packer possessions for any monetary value. Besides her family, the Packers are her world. When the Packers lose, her sky turns gray for a week until they play again. She is not just a Packer fan; she is a true Green Bay Packer by heart and soul. She feels the heartache when they lose, and she soaks in the joy when they win. When she tattoos her face and puts on her Packer earrings, necklaces, socks, shoes, underwear, jersey, and pants, it is a mere expression of her passion for the team. I am sure she would wear Packer hair if they made it. She is the only woman I know who takes calls from co-workers around the country for her opinion on Sunday's game. Sharon Deutschendorf attended games in Milwaukee as a concessions stands order just to be in the same atmosphere as the prestigious franchise. She is a gold-package member who has been on the season ticket waiting list for several years. She is in the top 10,000 and she wishes she will be able to see every home game before she dies. Her father taught her to love the Packers and she has passed it down to her three children. Before he died, he used to call her up after a big play and say, "Quiet down! I can hear you all the way over here." The players in the Packers Hall of Fame are in there because they were phenomenal players, one of a kind in their time. Well then, no one but my mother should be in the Packers Fan Hall of Fame, because she certainly is "one of a kind."
