Packers Bar in Phoenix Misses Super Bowl
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The opportunity lost with the loss to the Giants wasn't just felt by Packers players, but by the proprietors of Mabel Murphy's, the biggest Packers bar in Phoenix, the host of Super Bowl XLII.
Ryan Dietrich's the general manager there.
"We had everything ready," said Dietrich. "We were ready to go."
Ready for an influx of Packers fans. They were also ready for lots of them that showed up before the bar opened.
"We had a line out the door at 9:00 this morning."
The bar was packed Sunday.
"We were at full capacity, about 250 people," stated Dietrich.
Those people went nuts when Lawrence Tynes gave the Packers a new life at the end of regulation, missing a 37 yard field goal.
"It was pandemonium when they missed the field goal, and they'd go into overtime," said Dietrich. "Had 250 screaming Packer fans going crazy."
But a few minutes later, when Tynes made the game-winner...
"I dropped to my knees, and then the crowd started crying."
Had the result been the opposite, Mabel Murphy's would have been Packers central in Phoenix.
"We would have been packed for two weeks."
How much money would they have made from Packers fans descending on the valley of the sun?
"A lot!" Dietrich says.
"I don't even want to venture a guess. It would have been amazing for us this year."
All gone, but Ryan's not totally depressed about it.
"If you'd have told me the Packers would be 14-4 at the beginning of the season, I would have told you you were crazy, I mean, along with everybody here at the bar." Dietrich joked.
"Hey, we got two extra games out of 'em this year. It was fun!"
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