Cooler but still well above normal this week

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      GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Thousands of exhausted but euphoric
Packers fans cheered the team Monday on its return to Green Bay as
Super Bowl champions after their victory over the Pittsburgh
Steelers.


      Schools dismissed early Monday and people took off work so they
could see the team as it traveled from Austin Straubel
International Airport to Lambeau Field along a route that included
Lombardi Avenue, named in honor of the legendary packers coach
Vince Lombardi.


      Ashley Ellis, 17, and Erica Christensen, 18, of Oak Creek, went
to bed at midnight after celebrating the Packers' victory. They
were up at 4 a.m. to drive to Green Bay and stake out a spot for
the parade. They said the Packers gave them "anxiety attacks" as
the Steelers made their second-half comeback, but on Monday all was
right with the world in Green Bay. Asked why anyone would get up at
4 a.m. to visit a football stadium, Christensen replied simply.


      Area schools released students after a half-day to allow them to
attend the parade. By 11 a.m. throngs of fans milled around the
stadium's atrium. People lined up for tours of the stadium, asked
about tickets to Tuesday's rally and grabbed lunch at Curly's Pub,
a restaurant at the stadium named for the Packers' founder, Curly
Lambeau.


      Some fans just stood in the parking lot and screamed to the sky.
Others paraded around with a giant cardboard replica of the
Lombardi trophy. The stadium's pro shop was so packed with
customers snatching up Super Bowl gear team that officials made
shoppers stand in line to get in. Fans across the atrium shouted
"Go Pack Go!"


      Brett Elliot, 50, of Abrams, beat the rush. Dressed in a leather
Packers jacket, he emerged from the pro shop with seven Super Bowl
champion T-shirts and $140 lighter. He said a couple shirts were
for him and the rest were for his co-workers.


      He said he was hoarse from watching the game and partying in
downtown Green Bay the night before.


      "Has it sunk in?" he said. "I don't know. Maybe after the
parade and the celebration."


      Dozens of fans helped clear ice and snow from the stadium bowl's
bleachers for a rally Tuesday. From the field level, they looked
like ants as they shuffled back and forth, dutifully chipping away
at ice dams and dumping snow onto a conveyer belt, which carried it
to the field where bulldozers pushed it aside. All for free.


      The Packers have traditionally asked fans to clear snow from the
bleachers during the season, but this time was different.


      Adam Shirek, 23, of Milladore, drove two hours Monday to Lambeau
for the parade. He said he's an unemployed college student with
nothing better to do.


      He saw the line of snow volunteers at the stadium and decided to
join them. Decked out in Clay Matthews' No. 52 jersey, he attacked
the ice with a furor.


      "Could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience helping shovel snow
at Lambeau Field . . . after the Super Bowl," he said as he
worked. "It will be memorable. Hopefully it'll bring me up on the
season ticket waiting list."
      
      

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Sports

Thousands of exhausted but euphoric
Packers fans cheered the team Monday on its return to Green Bay as
Super Bowl champions after their victory over the Pittsburgh
Steelers.

Cheeseheads descend on Lambeau to welcome Packers

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