I love football. I have loved football from my in-the-womb days.  I live, breathe and dream football.

Football is different here in Wisconsin. While the NFL has dedicated fans for each of their 32 teams, I like to think the Packer fans love their team just a tiny bit more. (I’m sure I’m wrong, but I like to think it.)  Here, it’s cold for 6 months out of the year, so all we have is football.  When we lose, it hurts our hearts like the death of a family member. When we win, we look forward to Monday mornings so we can chat up the game with our co-workers. We start counting the weeks until the first pre-season game minutes after the last play is made in the Super Bowl.  We fill up Lambeau Field just to watch our guys have a scrimmage. It’s different here.

I suppose you could say I was a natural fit for my position as Metaverse’s Project Manager on the NFL Rush Zone project.  If I had known what benefits were headed my way, I would have said yes even faster, if that had been possible.  Last February, I was given the once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch my beloved Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl, in person.  I have no words to describe how this felt. And this week I was invited to be a part of the NFLRZ Booth at the NFL Kickoff Party.  Wow!  Fifty thousand people were packed in our tiny home town yesterday. We saw thousands of football fans, from every team of the NFL, who were all there for the same reason. “Week 1 starts our road to the Super Bowl.”

We spent the day talking with kids about football, the NFLRush Zone, and the Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core cartoon that airs on NickToons. We saw many wide eyes, happy faces and heard more “Wows!” then we could have imagined.  And we heard a few “Go Pack Go!” or “Go Saints!” in-between. It was fascinating to see how many children love the game as much as I did.

For you parents, NFLRush Zone is the official virtual world from the NFL where children can create an avatar, play games and chat about the live football games. As a football fan, with little football fans in my home, I can’t think of a better site for kids. You can check it out here: http://nflrz.nflrush.com/

Go Cheese!

–Michelle Ramage

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