The 2008 season may not have given the Green Bay Packers a ticket to the Super Bowl, but the team played with class and spirit during the entire season. There was no lack of fan support in evidence, because after the opening game any available Green Bay Packers tickets were next to impossible to find.

The team has had some offsetting moments lately over quarterback woes, but managed to smooth enough ruffled feathers to at least appear cohesive to casual observers. This year there does not seem to be the same type of unsettling undercurrents to worry about so the team can get down to the business of fielding a winning line-up.

A Look Back in Time

This pro football group had some humble beginnings that date back to August 11, 1919. This was when a small group of young men met in a small, dusty room inside the Green Bay-Press Gazette building and decided to form a team to play the sport of football. One of the men got his employer to pay for the jerseys and the company agreed to let the squad use the company field to hold practice. The name of this long ago company was the Indian Packing Company which led to the team adopting the name of "Packers".

After the first two highly successful years, the team drew the interest of some private sponsors from within the company. In 1921, the Packers were granted a franchise by the national football league organization. During these early years, the team had numerous financial setbacks as they tried to shore up support with Green Bay Packers tickets sales. In the 30s, there were still loyal fans, but money for sporting events was just more than most people had.

Hall of Fame Memories

Fans are proud of the titles won by their Packers, but they are equally proud of the 21 Pro Football Hall of Fame members that have come from Green Bay's ranks. Only the Chicago Bears can claim more players that have been selected for this honor. Some of the top names of players and coaches from the Green Bay Packers organization include Coach Vincent Lombardi, Bart Starr, Willie Davis, and Ray Nitschke. Another standout for the squad of more recent times has been their former quarterback legend, Brett Favre.

Green Bay Packer Highlights

With a dozen championships to their credit, the Green Bay Packers team leads the league in titles. 3 of their championships were earned from 1929-1931. The Packers then added 9 additional titles over the following years, when the NFL playoffs were enacted. Not only has Green Bay been the only pro football squad to win 3 titles in 3 years, they accomplished this feat twice, the last time being 1965-1966 and 1967.

The Packers have 3 Super Bowl championships in their team record books. They played in and won the first 2 Super Bowl games in 1966 and 1967, and then they beat New England in 1996 with a score of 35 to 21. The Chicago Bears currently have only 9 titles, the Colts have 4, the New York Giants can lay claim to a total of 7, and Dallas holds 5 titles of their own.

Eager, Enthusiastic Fans

Cheese Heads are the term for Packers' supporters, and their enthusiastic loyalty for their team is deep. The popularity of the football club is legendary, and whenever they play at home, the entire town takes on a festive, celebratory air. When the stadium doors open for home games it is almost impossible to find any available parking space for miles. For almost 50 years, football fans have made sure that Green Bay Packers tickets are always in limited supply. Given the fact that the team has already posted almost a half century of sold out season tickets makes it obvious how devoted the team support really is.

Packers are planning to Fire Up the Defense as They Chase 13th Title

The Green Bay Packers are expecting to put their freshly signed free agent, Anthony Smith to work as quickly as possible. Smith has been with the Pittsburgh team for 3 years, and played an instrumental part in their 2008 championship run. Darren Perry, who is now the new secondary coach for the Green Bay Packers, expects Smith to be a key player since the team is changing from a 4-3 defensive plan to the 3-4 alignment that was used by Smith's former squad. The next few months will be the time to see how this new strategy is shaking out, but you can believe that those fans who don't have Green Bay Packers tickets in hand are going to be plotting how to get their hands on some.