Thursday, January 17, 2008
RANDOM PACKER POST
packer nun.Double blessing for one of Lambeau's faithful
Posted: Jan. 15, 2008
Jim Stingl
The Cowboys' loss is Sister Sean Marie Tobin's gain.
The nun won an essay contest that put her at midfield for the coin toss before last Saturday's Packer game at Lambeau Field.
Here's what the fine print says: "The winner will be asked to repeat his or her duties for a second home playoff game, if applicable."
Well, it's applicable, baby. While the top-seeded Cowboys clean out their lockers, the Packers are hosting the New York Giants this Sunday for the NFC crown and a trip to the Super Bowl.
And Tobin is returning to the tundra to do it all over again. The Packers on Tuesday FedEx'd two more free game tickets to the Holy Family Convent in Manitowoc.
Tobin, 68, belongs to the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, and she's led them on field trips to watch the Packers practice. Former head coach Mike Sherman once visited the convent and personally bought the sisters a bigger TV after he saw the small set they used to watch the games.
Tobin's driver and companion for Sunday's game will again be Sister Anne Turba, also from Holy Family.
As Honorary G-Force Captain, Tobin was Lambeau royalty Saturday. And she wasn't shy about using her bully pulpit as she joined Brett Favre, Donald Driver, Aaron Kampman and Nick Barnett on the field to face Matt Hasselbeck and the other Seattle Seahawks.
"I just said today the ball is ours. You're not going to get it, Matt," she said. "That tickled Favre, and he got this big grin."
Tobin explained in the essay that her love for Packers football was instilled in childhood by her father, Bernie Tobin. She was born in Milwaukee and went to Mount Mary College before joining the convent in 1960.
The last game she attended with her father was the Ice Bowl. I know, everyone claims they were at that game, but she's a nun so I believe her.
"This game was a challenge. I was stuffed, long habit and full garb, into a sleeping bag up to my nose, and almost bunny-hopped over the bleachers on the last play," she says in her entertaining entry that beat out some 5,000 other hopefuls. It helps that she used to teach English in school.
"If the game had lasted any longer, my fingers would have been permanently stuck to my rosary beads."
Their seats that day were at the 50 yard line, coincidentally very near where she and Turba sat last Saturday. Their seats this Sunday are indoors because of the expected cold temperatures.
Turba said Tobin got a rock star welcome from the crowd. The sisters had packed sandwiches for the game, but tailgaters freely offered whatever they were eating. Fans posed with her for photographs, cheered as she made her way to her seat, and wiped their car clear of snow after the game.
"They started chanting MVP for her. She said this is getting a little embarrassing," Turba said.
Tobin didn't like that the crowd booed Mike Holmgren when he was introduced, and she wasn't crazy about the two early Packer fumbles. But mostly it was a magical snowy postcard of a day. The G-Force Captain pulled a plastic trash bag over herself to stay dry, and she huddled under the Packers blanket she sleeps with each night.
She prays for the players' safety in this violent game, but never for a win. "I think the Lord has bigger things to do," she said.
Not to diminish the surging Giants, but Tobin is predicting a Packer win Sunday. "I really think the Packers are going to the Super Bowl," she said.
From her lips to God's ear.
