A Weekend Never Soon Forgotten Part 1: The Tweet Up

The Throwback Weekend Tweetup memoirs

As the car turned left onto Dundee Rd. and headed toward I94, the inital thought I had was one of uncertainty. How would a group of people, none of whom had ever all been in the same place at the same time, let alone even speak to each other in most cases, coexist in a social setting? What would everyone be like? Better question, who was everyone, since most of us never met and only knew each other by a picture seen on a timeline? These were the thoughts I had as my wife and I left for Throwback Weekend this past Saturday.

Throwback Weekend. Something which started out as just a small acorn of an idea: Colleen wanted a game a few people could go to as a small gathering. Far from a social event, it was going to be a nice get together, kind of like something you would have in your backyard during the summer with a few friends. Have a little food, a few drinks, and just talk to people, only this time we would not be behind the security of a computer monitor. This would be proof we existed as human beings.

That acorn grew up into a full fledged oak in a hurry.

As we drove up, there were a few things I was thinking about. The first thought that came to my mind was how awesome it was going to be to have all of my Cheesehead Radio co-hosts in the same place at the same time. I talk to these individuals at least once a week, and truly never thought we would ever be able to be in the same place at the same time due to where we lived, real life, etc.  It was something I was looking forward to with great anticipation.

On the other hand, I am a very private person, and generally do  not like to put much "out there" for others to see. Twitter is nothing more than a vehicle to express one's self, and something I take full advantage of. Anyone who knows me knows that I am substantially different when I am not on social media. I truly hoped no one was going to be looking for the Twitter John.

As we got closer to Green Bay, my wife got quite ill. At one point, I debated turning around and heading back home. Like a true soldier, she pressed on, knowing that I had been talking about this weekend for several weeks, and it was something we were both looking foward to. I am so thankful that she did that for me. So after arriving at the hotel, she stayed behind to rest up for the big night, while I headed out to get a haircut and kill some time. Hey, don't criticize-if you saw my hair before it was cut you would have recommended I get one too.

Heading over to The Abbey, I began to feel a great sense of anxiety. The moment was almost there, where I would forever cease to be Twitter John  and become real life John. It's something that cannot be conveyed into words, and I wonder if anyone else had the same thoughts.

Nervousness dissipated as soon as we reached the top of the stairs, and entered the official kickoff to a weekend we will not soon forget. Maybe it had something to do with Tom Crabtree standing at the top of the stairs. Probably a little bit.

As I surveyed the room, I began to take in what was happening. This was no longer an acorn. This was the oak tree, fully grown, and every person who walked in was another leaf added to the tree.

There was Brian, working as usual, hanging around by the camera in the corner. Alex was setting up shop in the back corner, getting ready for Tom to sign t shirts and shake the hands of fans. Kyle was hanging back, saying hi to everyone as they walked in. Wally was all over the place, shaking hands, setting up, being Wally. Finally there was Corey, looking dapper in his suit and saying hello to everyone walking in. These gentlemen deserve a huge thanks from anyone who attended the weekend's festivities-they worked more than we can possibly know to ensure a good time was had by all.

As I looked around further, my wonderment began to grow. "Look at everyone here" was my thought. There was CD. And Jayme. And Al. And Robert Greenfield AKA Packer Ranter. And Al and Rich from the Packer Hall of Fame. And Colleen. And Kelly. And the other Kelly. It was beyond description-all these Packer fans in one place at one time. Epic does not begin to describe how awesome it was.

Speaking of awesome, I can still hear Jayme, Sunnie, Annie and KelKel screaming AWESOME! across the bar.

Look over there-it's LambeauJoe. And there's MidwestFan (complete in his James Starks jersey). And Packsmack, who made it a point to tell me he is not really Ray Rhodes. There's Mike, the first person I met as a result of Twitter at a game last year. And there's Lauren, Amanda, and Cara. And Thad, who apparently found a new best friend in jello shots. And MissAnnieLynn, who drove all the way in from South Dakota just to be a part of the festivities. And Tommy-how could I forget Tommy?

You know how you can tell when something is an event? When Jason Wilde, Kareem Copeland, Ty Dunne, Rob Demovsky, and Chris Jenkins show up. Huge props to all of them for stopping by.

Continuing to take in the atmosphere, I saw Chris and Rachel walk in, just after seeing Brad and Alma walk back downstairs. Hey, there's Phil Hanrahan AKA Life After Favre. And all the while, PackerKen watched his Texas Rangers punch a ticket to the World Series. Congrats!

I am no doubt missing countless others, but I hope you can at least get a glimpse into the event which was the Saturday night tweet up for Throwback Weekend. It was a gathering of Packer fans unlike anything we had ever experienced before. Everywhere you turned, you saw someone you "knew" but didn't really know. Friendships were either strengthened or formed that night.

To answer the question whether people who had never met before could coexist socially, I think the answer by all who attended the tweet up would be a resounding HELL YES!

Coming tomorrow: Part 2-the tailgate

 

 

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Comments (9)

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Bruce's picture

October 18, 2011 at 04:22 pm

everyone say "CHEESE"

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JohnRehor's picture

October 19, 2011 at 03:30 pm

CHEESE!!!

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BigSnakeMan's picture

October 18, 2011 at 04:39 pm

Wow, you must really have been moved...this is almost as long as something CD would write. ;)

Let's do it again next year.

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JohnRehor's picture

October 19, 2011 at 03:26 pm

Did you just compare me to CD?

Score!

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foundinidaho's picture

October 18, 2011 at 05:40 pm

Yup. Pretty much sums it up. Well, part 1 anyway.

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Robert Greenfield's picture

October 19, 2011 at 11:26 am

Nice article. I was also a bit nervous driving up alone and not knowing anyone. Could've just stuck to the corner but I put on social hat and made the rounds. Thankfully, there was beer!

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JohnRehor's picture

October 19, 2011 at 03:30 pm

So glad you made it up, even though we barely spoke. If you make it down to Chicago before the next tweet up, beer is on me

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PackersThad's picture

October 19, 2011 at 05:19 pm

It was so awesome meeting everyone! This review was pretty much how I felt! I SWEAR guys, I am really shy in person, but everyone was so cool, so open and so welcoming that I felt really comfortable! I feel like I've made great friends and I am so glad I came!!

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JohnRehor's picture

October 21, 2011 at 08:10 am

Great story about Thad is he saw his first game at Lambeau week 1 against the Saints and I was lucky to have met him then. A few weeks later, he makes it to GB again to meet up with a few hundred people who all answered the call to GB. So glad he was able to make it up not only once, but twice this year

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