Green Bay Packers fans aren't allowed to wear antlers to games [View All]

[matcom]

<snip>

Packers fans beware: Seat cushions and blankets are all good; booze bottles and beer cans, not so good. Fanny packs, good. Backpacks, bad.

Antlers — authentic or synthetic — are bad, too … much to Larry Primeau’s chagrin.

Primeau, known better as the Packalope, will be barred from wearing his trademark headgear into the stadium. Antlers were included in the annual reminder issued Wednesday for prohibited items for Lambeau Field. The horns are included under the “anything that can be used as a weapon” category.

“I can’t believe it,” said Primeau, who in 1999 was enshrined as a fan member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “I can’t believe they singled out antlers. Man, they’re going after everybody.”

Primeau, who lost his wife, Sue to cancer last fall, wasn’t at many games last season. However, after some encouraging from family and neighbors, he has fired up the customized Packalope van and plans to return to Lambeau this year.

The fact that he’ll have to keep his 6-point ’60s-era helmet in the van is not the end of the world. The headgear usually only made it in to a few games a year anyway.

“I can’t wear the thing for three hours straight because my neck isn’t strong enough,” Primeau said. “And plus I block people’s vision behind me.”

For the record, foam or flexible antlers are fine. The rule was not aimed specifically at Primeau, as there are other fans who have attached antlers to everything from hardhats to the obligatory Cheeseheads.

Green Bay Police Cmdr. Ken Brodhagen, who oversees the Lambeau Field security efforts, said this year’s ban also includes umbrellas, even if the fan is sitting in the club seats or skybox seats.

It’s a “hard and fast rule for all fans,” he said.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_22149902.shtml