2393 Packed and Shipped

When the Green Bay Packers were sent packing I thought it might be interesting to explore their name.  Obviously, it's a risk when you have a name that can be twisted when you lose into statements like "the Packers were packed and shipped back to Wisconsin by the Seahawks."

So why the name? 

One would think from their paraphernalia regalia that it has something to do with cheese.  Like the great WSU Cougar Cheese we get around here.  But no, they packed other stuff. 

Earl "Curly" Lambeau, of Lambeau Field fame, was a shipping clerk for the Indian Packing company of Delaware, a branch of which was in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  They packed meat.  Their specialty line was "Council Meats."  Earl asked them for money for jerseys in return for sponsorship.  The Packer name was born.

I looked up Council Meats.  Because, you know, canned meats have always fascinated me since my Gerber baby food and Spam days.

I found an old Council Meats ad on the internet picturing a housewife upending a catfood-shaped can and leaving behind a perfectly formed cake of meat product.  The ad offered these options: Corned Beef Hash;  Vienna Style Sausage (people were cringing in Vienna);  Lunch Tongue (I believe I had that once after a peanut butter and banana sandwich);  Sausage Meat (not sausage mind you, just the meat, in a can);  Veal Loaf (because everything's more appetizing in a loaf);  Tripe (no body part goes wasted in Green Bay);  Ox Tongue (even tongue-ier than lunch tongue):  and finally, Ol' Mammy Hash (racistly straight from Porgy and Bess. Or possibly Sambo's). 

But we shouldn't condemn them for their packer heritage.  In all fairness, actual Seahawks feed their young by regurgitating into their mouths. 

Does seem to help develop a stronger defense...  

America, ya gotta love it.