A Super Bowl super fan

Every team needs its fans, and every Super Bowl needs its super fans. The fans dressed head-to-toe in team gear, with faces painted in team colors and heads filled with enough obscure team stats to stump the Schwab, add the perfect amount of fanaticism to the Super Bowl recipe.

Although the Steelers–Green Bay matchup provides few local ties to Super Bowl XLV, it only took a short time scouring the Portland State campus in search of a super fan worthy of highlighting to find our pick. Prepare to meet senior Teri Wood, a communication studies major that has a deep affection for the Green Bay Packers.

Obviously, you’re a Packers fan, but how big of a Packers fan would you say you are?

Teri Wood:Well, I have a 400-square-foot room in my house that is a Packers room devoted to all-Packers paraphernalia, including a pool table.

How long have you been a Packers fan?

TW:I have been a Packers fan for about 24 years.

Why are you a Packers fan?

TW:My husband grew up watching Bart Starr. He remembers, vaguely, the first two Super Bowls, which Green Bay won, of course. And I married that 28 years ago, and it was an option to either be frustrated because he loved football or to learn something about the game, which I did. And after I learned about the game I came to really appreciate the Packers.

So, is your whole family a Packers family?

TW:They grew up that way! I have a son that is a San Francisco 49ers fan, and then all my other kids are Packers fans.

What is your plan for Sunday?  Do you have a routine set up already?

TW:We do. We go to this little place in east county called the Refectory, and it’s where the Packers Club goes to watch the games. It’s a bar, and there will be probably about 400 people. The game starts at 3:30 p.m. and the bar opens

at 11 a.m. We’re going to get in line at 10!

Is that where you were going throughout the season for the games?

TW:That’s where we go if it’s a regular season game…I have this whole set of rules, which are ridiculous. If it’s a regular season game that’s one of the early games—so on the West coast that starts at 10 a.m.— then I go to church.

For the NFC Championship, we didn’t go to church that week because we had to get a place to sit and watch the game. So that’s a pretty big game, the championship, and for the Super Bowl we’re also going to miss church.

Do you have any memorable moments as a fan that stand out in your mind that you’d like to share?

TW:I do. As a family, we used to make it out to Green Bay every once in a while, every couple of years, thinking “Well this might be Brett Favre’s last year; this might be Brett’s last year.” So we went in 2007, thinking it could be Brett’s last year, and we went to the final home game of the season and took our son, who turned 17 on the day of the game and it was Brett’s 17th year. And not too long after Brett retired—for the first time—the NFL Network did a video for him, and out of four fans that made it into the video from that game, I’m one of them. So, I’m practically famous [laughs].

Do you think Favre is coming back next year?

TW:No way. I think when he retired he should have just stayed retired. Personally, I think that when he retired from the Pack, I think Ted Thompson, the manager, should have let him come back when he said he wanted to come back. But after that, what Brett did was his own thing. I love Brett Favre, but I’m green and gold, and if he’s not wearing it then I can’t root for him.

Lastly, do you have any predictions for the score  on Sunday?

TW:I think it’ll be a low score. Both defenses are pretty good, but we’re better. I would love to see it 50-0, but I’m going to guess 13-10, Packers. I would loveto see it much higher, but we’ll see.