"It was
really cool that he and Coach Serman took time
out before the game to stop by and talk with
me. I thought I might be in their way, but they
seemed happy to spend the time with me. I was
really surprised."
But the surprises didn't stop there.
Just before kickoff, Sherman told Wittling that
if the Packers won the game against the Chargers,
he would invite him into the Green Bay locker
room afterward. Green Bay won 38-21 and Wittling
and his older brother, Jim, were the only two
non-Green Bay players or coaches initially allowed
into the team's locker room.
Once inside, Sherman gathered his players around
the Camp Pendleton Marine and, according to Jim
Wittling, told his team: "There are a lot
of football heroes in this room, but there is
only one real hero -- and he's sitting right
here."
With that, Sherman handed Wittling the game
ball and had the Packers players stop by and
sign it. "That right there overwhelmed me," said
Wittling.
"Pretty
soon the players were coming up to me and signing
my hats and then autographing their gloves and
giving them to me.
"I told them they were doing too much --
I never expected to even get to meet Brett Favre,
much less go on the Packers sideline. Then to
get to go into their locker room after the game
-- I'm still amazed that it all happened and
that they were all so genuinely nice to me."
But the outpouring of gifts and thanks from
the Packers still hadn't run its course.
On his way out of the Packers locker room,
Sherman summoned Wittling into his office. There,
the two men shared a beer and the head coach
offered to have Wittling attend Green Bay's next
game against the Raiders in Oakland.
"I'm not sure that he could stand that
long of a drive just yet," Jim Wittling
said of his brother. "I know he'd love to
go, but I think that might be just a bit too
much for him right now, but we'll see."
Wittling's mother, Betty, who accompanied Jason
and his three brothers to the Packers-Chargers
game, says this past weekend was the happiest
she has seen her son in a long time. "This
whole weekend was such a blast for him. It was
just great," Betty Wittling said.
"Things have been pretty rough for him
lately and he really needed something to boost
his spirits. Meeting his hero, Brett Favre and
spending that time with Coach Sherman -- that
really cheered him up. It was really good for
him to be able to do that."
Jim Wittling said he has never seen his brother
Jason so happy. "You should have seen him
when the coach gave him the game ball," recalled
Jim. "His eyes were as big as silver dollars
and he was in shock by all the attention. I've
never seen him so happy."
Monday morning, Jason said he couldn't remember
all the things the Packers players and coaches
had given him, but he said he'd always remember
this past weekend.
"Just think -- I've talked with my favorite
Busch Series driver, Bobby Hamilton. I met my
favorite football player, Brett Favre. And we
caught Saddam Hussein.
"What an incredible weekend this has been." |