Welcome to Cheesehead Origins, an offseason series geared toward showcasing Packer fans with interesting fandom origin stories! CheeseheadTV is devoted to Packer fans worldwide, and we want to hear (and share) your stories. 

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I was very eager to learn more about this week’s guest, because when I asked for unique fan stories a couple months back, hers absolutely qualified!

Today I’m featuring Marina Lambrinou, a 37-year-old immigrant from Cyprus (an island in the Mediterranean near Turkey) and native Greek speaker. 

Marina currently works at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she teachers undergraduate classes in the Social Foundations of Education and is working on her doctoral dissertation on the effects of immigration policies on migrant youth in North Carolina. She lives in North Carolina with her wife, Brook, and their dog, Bailey.

Marina came to the United States in 2009 (more on that later), and when I asked her about her exposure to American football growing up, she said her exposure was “zero, nil, nada.”

“Our national obsession was the other football, or futbol,” she said. “But my first love (and an enduring love it is) was tennis. My dad played at the amateur level and he introduced me to all the greats at the time: Sampras, Agassi, Steffi Graf.” 

Marina fell in love with the sport, partially due to her father’s influence and partially due to, as she says, it being the only sport she was “halfway decent” at.

Marina did spend several years in southern California as a very young child, but her family never got into football.

“My dad watched soccer and followed the Lakers, but I was always under the impression that football was a violent game,” she said. “I do remember when I was studying in the UK, the pub on campus was hosting a Super Bowl viewing party which, I think at the time, featured the Pats and the Panthers and I couldn’t care less to go watch. I just remember thinking the Pats’ logo looked kind of cool.”

But when Marina moved to Washington, D.C. in 2009 to work at the Press Office of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, she suddenly found herself with a much closer exposure to the game than she’d had in the past.

“We were a small staff and we bonded pretty quickly and I remember one of the officers who had attended UW-Madison mention that he was cheering for the Packers,” she said. “That and the fact that football was always on on Sundays got me curious, so I started following the games, mostly of the Redskins. When I realized they sucked, I stopped tuning in. But when the playoffs came around that year, I finally decided to check the Packers out. I watched the Arizona wildcard game (thankfully the Redskins’ games had taught met he rules) and I fell in love.”

Marina loved watching Aaron Rodgers and his command of the game, and described herself as being “mesmerized.” After the heartbreaking loss, she looked up more information about the team and learned all about its rich history. After watching a documentary about Vince Lombardi, she was hooked. 

Her passion has only increased since then.

“Honestly I think what kept me invested in the team was its uniqueness,” she said. “The fact that it’s owned by its supporters and not some wealthy billionaire was really appealing and, of course, the team’s perpetual success didn’t hurt, either.”

Though Marina was new to the sport when the Packers won Super Bowl XLV, she remembers it being “exciting and invigorating.” 

“I honestly believed we were heading for a dynastic type of dominance, but I also can’t take for granted making the playoffs each year and knowing that we have a shot to win it all,” she said, noting that her experience of being so close to Washington’s franchise gave her some early perspective.

Marina has managed to make it out to Green Bay once: for the game at Lambeau Field against the Vikings on Christmas Eve 2016 (a game I also happened to be at). She loved the pro shop, the stadium tour and being around so many other Packer fans. She did also attend a game in Carolina, but says the experience just did not compare.

“The people in Wisconsin were so nice, and the cheese curds and beer were a bonus, of course!” she said. “The only drawback is that there was so little to do in Green Bay around Christmas (this was also before the new Titletown project) so when we do make it back I want to combine it with Madison or Chicago or something I think.”

Game day from home can be a difficult experience living out of market, and the last couple years of the pandemic limited opportunities to go out and watch from bars or restaurants. 

“My wife and I watch together, but it would be nice to have more people around,” she said. 

Marina does have a couple gameday superstitions. For one, she always wears her Aaron Rodgers jersey and a turtleneck underneath. Two, she always brings the cheesehead she bought in Wisconsin to the couch with her and squeezes it while the game is on. These are just a couple examples of her superstitious tendencies. 

When I asked Marina what she’s most looking forward to about this coming year, she specifically mentioned a new attitude on both sides of the ball.

“I’m really looking forward to our defense being dominant, relying more on our run game and just being more LaFleur centric than Rodgers-McCarthy centric, if you know what I mean,” she said. “I’ve undergone this transformation the last few years where I just want our defense to kind of lead the way. Maybe it’s the PTSD from all the playoff losses.”

When asked for any final shoutouts or quotes, she left off with this:

“Shoutout to Aaron and Corey for making game days a little better, and to CheeseheadTV for all the coverage!  Andy Herman is an amazing source for Packers fans who I watch pretty religiously for updates and highlights. Also, I follow Locked On Packers and Peter Bukowski so I just wanted to give him a shoutout too.”

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A huge thank you to Marina for being so eager to take part in this series!

Next week is the final edition of Cheesehead Origins, and its subject is someone you will all be quite familiar with. See you then!