• Thursday-What'sUP January 19 - 04:23 pm

Looking at today's first shot, I bet you're thinking Winter Carnival at Michigan Tech, right? If so, you're close... the students have begun working on their statues, but that event won't be held until February.

This top photo is a statue put together by Dean Seppala and friends in his Lake Linden front yard. In case you can't tell, Dean is a big Packer fan and has really gotten into the spirit of the playoffs this year. I hear a picture of his statue was featured in the Green Bay Press Gazette, but it was one taken before the color was added to enhance it! Nice job, Dean and crew.

The other two photos are examples of the workmanship you'll have the opportunity to see the week of February 6th - 10th, when the Michigan Tech statue builders finish up for Winter Carnival. Thanks to Rick Anderson in the Guest Gallery for these photos from a few years back.

Go Packers has my vote.

Snow much talent!!

Very nice Dean! I am a Lions fan at heart, but I would love to see G.B. beat UP N.E. in the Superbowl.

Nice pictures. I too am a Lions fan, but also a Tom Brady fan since he played for the Wolverines. So, NE has my vote.

Tom Brady all the way... go BLUE!!

Gotta love the first one!! Nice :)

Hey, I have a cousin named Dean Seppala but he lives in Arizona...or maybe not. Nice sculpture!

Good morning from "chilli" Craig, CO (at -18!); beautiful snow work, and great pictures! I remember spending the all-nighters in the cold, eating chili out of a paper cup while working in the slush, putting those finishing touches on the statues at MTU. Now that the Bronco's have been eliminated, I'm all for the team I backed in the 60's, during the Lombardi years. Would be nice to see Favre win a Superbowl before hanging it all up. Go Pack! Have a great day...or should I say, "Have a U P day, eh!"

room for 2 more on the Packer bandwagon?
Arizona says: GO PACKERS!

I love them all! Go Packers!

Does anyone know how they color the snow?

Mary says: I talked to Dean about coloring the statue and he said they actually had trouble getting the color right. They tried spray paint, food coloring, etc., and finally ended up going with acrylic paint with some water added. He said he wasn't happy with the color job, but I think it looks GREAT!

back in the day when I was in upstate ny, we used food coloring mixed with water, and put into spray bottles, then sprayed onto sculptures.

Ahhh, that makes sense!

I wonder what the outcome of a vote would be for residents of the western U.P. if they could elect to be part of Wisconsin as opposed to Michigan. The geography is obviously more rooted in Wisconsin.

Or how about the UP being a separate state alltogether. I know that when I cross the Big Mac from the lower, I feel like I am in another state.

Go New England

State of mind changes when crossing the bridge too.

Those are awesome! Packers have my vote.. Go Farve!!

Mary, you didn't mention how they did the yellow color for the Packer statue, but I'll bet some of the Lions fans might know!

Nice to read all those Go Packers comments as I sit here in Green Bay. A lot of snow is forecast and very cold temps. Wind chill will be in the neighborhood of -10 or colder. Much like the Ice Bowl game.
Years ago there was a lot of talk that the UP should become a state. It was mostly fun talk since there isn't much industry to support a budget to care for the infrastructure, etc.

Perhaps the State of Superior will rise again!

I vote for the 51st "State of Superior"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior

Theresa R. Brunk (Trb0013):

Great minds think alike, eh?

Good Morning from a -2 in Montrose Colorado. I am a Colts Fan since A Hubbell girlfriend"s Husbands cousin plays for the Colts. But I am hoping The Packs do win but also would like to see Eli win as he is the brother To Peyton Manning. Oh Dear maybe I shoudn't watch this game. May the best team win!

Theresa R. Brunk, you weren't old enough to vote when Dominic Jacobetti pushed for the 51st state! Were you?
Not only that, what are all you unretired people doing at this site at this time of day???? Ha!!

Darn...unretired person caught again.

Go Pack Go

I voted in the first election I could... 1972 Presidential. So I missed it by a couple of years. Plus I have computer access at work and they allow me to 'monitor' at my own discretion. As long as I don't become Obsessive....heehee

I absolutely,positively love the first photo. How awesome! Go Packers!!!!!

I remember mom talking about the UP joining Wisconsin when she was young, in the teens/20"s. Myself I think "Superior" would be perfect all around.

I used to be a Lions fan but my Doctor made me give them up. They kept breaking my heart. Now it's the Packers, Pistons, Red Wings, and Tigers.

I love the student work on the sculptures. Amazing what they can do.

"51st State of Superior" at one time sounded like a good idea until someone started doing some math and figured out that we are just to sparsely populated and so we don't have the tax base to support ourselves as a separate state. [PS: Maybe we should think about becoming a separate country and then get foreign-aid from the U.S. Government like everyone else does] LOL

after moving to oshkosh about two years ago, the packers have really taken a hold on me. before that, i honestly didn't care about one football team to another. but this season, i went to a game (when they played the raiders), and i've been OBSESSED ever since!

GO PACK GO!

and since it was brought up:

GO STATE OF SUPERIOR!!!!

daveofmohawk is a genius! They should have thought of that before, see what we get for politicians being in charge!

I am cheering Brett Favre so he can win and retire at the top of his game. Then, and only then, the LIONS might be able to win at Lambeau Field. Go Pack.

That Ice Statue is AWESOME! It needs to be the WOW really soon so I can use it on my laptop.

Mary says: Kim and anyone else who'd like this picture as a WOW ~ I wasn't planning on making it the WOW of the week, but if you'd like it for your own computer, I'd be happy to make up whatever size you need and send it to you through email.
The available sizes are: 1600 X 1200; 1280 X 800; 1024 X 768; 800 X 600; 640 X 480.

Just email me at: mdrew@pasty.com and let me know what size you'd like and send it to you in your email then.

I live on the Menominee River which separates Michigan from Wisconsin. If given a choice, I would still rather be a Yooper than a Cheesehead - although both are wonderful groups of people!

There's an old saying, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand." (Think I saw that on a Harley rider's jacket.) As it concerns the Packers, here's an email recently received that does a pretty good job of explaining the "why". I don't know the origin of this, and it's rather lengthy for this forum (Sorry, Mary. Delete if you must), but here goes:
------------------------------------------------------

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It's easy to hate the New York Yankees if you're a Boston Red Sox fan, and vice versa. The same goes for the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, Michigan and Ohio State and those originators of the shotgun formation, the Hatfields and McCoys.

But who hates the Green Bay Packers?

Steeped in tradition and often viewed through a prism of sepia-tone nostalgia, the Packers have succeeded against all odds in a tiny and remote market, in a 50-year-old (albeit renovated) stadium with aluminum bench seats, in an era of unfettered free agency and corporate greed.

OK, if you're a Seahawks fan, you're not feeling all warm and fuzzy about Brett Favre and Al Harris right about now. "We want the ball and we're going to score!" might be old news, but the sting lingers.

Really, though, do you hate the Packers?

Not if you know anything about the history of the National Football League. Not if you've seen those grainy images of the 1967 "Ice Bowl" and Bart Starr's fateful quarterback sneak on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Not if you admire the principles on which Vince Lombardi built a dynasty.

Not if you pull for the underdog.

In Wisconsin, there is no other option. You are born into Packerdom here. Your great-grandfather cheered for Curly Lambeau and Don Hutson, your grandpa for Paul Hornung and Willie Wood, your dad for James Lofton and Lynn Dickey. Every kid on your block owns a No. 4 jersey.

What makes the Packers special? Start with the fact that there are 112,015 owners, the vast majority of whom hold one share of stock. Formed in the NFL's primordial mist in 1919, the Packers became a non-profit entity four years later and remain the only publicly owned team among the major professional sports.

The most recent stock sale, in 1998, netted 106,000 new "owners" who paid $200 per share (and sent $24 million straight to the team's bottom line) for certificates that are basically worthless. The stock never pays dividends or appreciates in value. But the emotional investment is priceless. When general manager Ted Thompson signs a free agent, the fans can thump their chests and say, "I helped bring that guy to Green Bay." And it's true.

Of course, Bob Harlan, who has run the Packers for 19 years, first as president and CEO and more recently as chairman of the board, has a stake in the team. He, too, owns exactly one share of stock.

"I paid $25 for my share when I became president," said Harlan, who is retiring after the postseason. "When fans call me, they start out by saying, 'Bob, I'm a fan and a shareholder.' They always point out that they're shareholders. I say, 'Well, I am, too, so let's talk.' "

Did we mention that Harlan answers his own telephone? There is no administrative assistant to run interference, no automated maze to negotiate. You've got a beef with the injured cornerback or the price of tickets, you go straight to the top dog.

The fact that the Packers can even exist in a city of 100,000 is a minor miracle, due in equal parts to fan loyalty throughout the state and revenue sharing in the NFL. Los Angeles can't support a team but this little frozen outpost can? It's one of the mysteries of the universe.

It helps that not much ever happens in Green Bay, other than what occurs at 1265 Lombardi Ave. Lambeau Field -- notice, no naming rights -- is the city's corporate and social epicenter, its source of civic pride, its very heart and soul.

The nearest NCAA Division I football team is 2 1/2 hours away at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Milwaukee is 115 miles to the south, so the Packers are the only game in town.

Their reach extends north into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, south into Chicago Bears turf and west clear to the Dakotas (the team had a 40-year head start on the Minnesota Vikings). And that doesn't count the fans who have relocated or the ones Harlan likens to the "Notre Dame subway alumni."

"People call me and say, 'I'm a lifelong Packers fan and someday I'd love to see Lambeau Field,' " Harlan said. "They've never even been here."

On game days, the far-flung Cheeseheads converge on Green Bay and fill the Lambeau parking lot hours before kickoff. First-time visitors are blown away by the passion, creativity and dedication of the tailgaters. There's nothing quite like the smell of 10,000 bratwursts sizzling on 1,000 grills and the sight of footballs spiraling through 10-degree air.

The Packers-Seahawks game will mark the 268th consecutive sellout at Lambeau, including playoffs. That's every single game since 1960. The waiting list for season tickets is at 76,800. With an average of 70 fans per year giving up their seats, the guy at the end of the list will have to wait 1,000 years, give or take a few decades, for his name to come up.

Season-ticket holders live in all 50 states and several foreign countries, including Japan. Domo arrigato.

The obsession with the team is such that the 10 p.m. TV newscasts in Milwaukee and Green Bay are dominated by Packers developments. The long snapper has an ingrown toenail? That leads the sports report. The price of beer is going up at Lambeau? That's the top story.

Brett Favre retires? We don't even want to think about that one.

The Packers have won 12 championships, more than any other NFL franchise, and three Super Bowl titles. The team has sent 21 players to the Hall of Fame. Green Bay city streets are named after former players and coaches, including Mike Holmgren.

But it's not about all that.

It's about a unique relationship between a professional sports franchise and its fans.

It's about people feeling they're a part of something special, something unique, something good.

The Packers don't need throwback jerseys to evoke their glorious past.

In all the ways that count, it's still 1965 here. And always will be.

Thanks; Heikki

In recent years, a large share of visitors to Pasty Central have found us by way of Google...

Did you know Google.com was created a year and a half after Pasty.com ? And we've been doing the daily Pasty Cam for almost as long as Google has been doing their search engine.

As you may know, the Pasty Cam is coming down the home stretch to complete ten years of continuous updates. We'll be having some online festivities in the days ahead, and didn't want to leave Google out. So, you will notice at the end of this discussion page some interesting links to various related websites.

The first link that appeared when I turned on the new feature moments ago was to younew a futures marketplace for football tickets, giving quotes on the going rates for the Super Bowl. Right now the asking prices range from $1,957.36 to $4,855.75 !

I heard on the radio this morning that a guy in Wisconsin is being charged with a couple of things (can't recall exactly) for forcing his 7 year old son to wear a Packers jersey last Saturday. Apparently, he held the child down and duct taped the jersey to him. The mother called the police. What a happy family. Sigh....

Cindy, the rest of the story: the jersey was supposedly duct taped to the boy. He was not simple made to wear it, but since he did not want to, his dad taped it to his body. The charge that I heard about was child cruelty.

My skin would rip off if someone tried to duct tape something to me, so I would concur with that charge of child cruelty. That, and I have a sensitivities to a number of adhesives. It's one thing if the boy shares the enthusiasm... It's kind of like you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink... Sometimes, if you go too far overboard on something like that, you can give the child a life-long aversion to whatever it is you were trying to force him to do.

Was it Brett's boy?

hey is that Dean Seppala that works at Tech ???
HI DEAN !!!!
that is some great work!!!

Go Pack ... the folks down here just south of Green Bay are really getting into it :)

Should be a great game...windchill in the minus degrees...awesome :)

WOW!!.....for all 3 of the sculptures!

Maybe a deal could be made with the Native American tribes in the U.P. to provide the budget money for it to become the 51st state, and the name of the state could be Chippewa, or Ojibwa (or a similar name). Based on what I read on this site and in lower Michigan newspapers, it seems like most U.P. residents are hardy enough to live under conditions imposed by a limited state budget. (OK, I'm not serious, I'm just daydreaming!)

As in the years gone by I heard that the Police in Detroit once again were handing out Lion tickets to those caught speeding. And if they caught you a second time, they would make sure you used them.

Go Packers!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh I've got to find a friend with a printer and computer knowledge to make me a copy of that article about the Packers!!! Thanks a million Heikki........

Awesome article Heikki. And awesome Packers statue.

I've been a Packers fan since the 4th grade and I am now close to finishing my 6th year of college lol I am pulling for them this year more then ever!! They are so close and yet they need to get there. Maybe this could be a repeat of the icebowl hehe. And who can't hate the Packers?? They're always underestimated and their season has been going so well it can't stop now!! GO PACK GO!!!

I live in Detroit (area) I root for the Lions (ok shoot me), But I can name almost the whole Packers team of the 60's and I rooted for them as a kid. I want them to win it all now, and Favre is a Hall of Famer no doubt, Mr. Ford, Im begging you, please sell the team to someone else who would really care about winning and not just the dollar, we hunger for a good team, and so does the UP, let's create the rivalry again and let it mean something!

GO packers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HEARD MY BROTHER HELPED ON THIS PACKER STATUE WAY TO GO DAVE.