Tuesday, November 9, 2010

False Alarm Creates Chaos at Lambeau

A little reported incident during Sunday night’s game at Lambeau Field occurred when fourth-string tight end Tom Crabtree came onto the field with 6:09 remaining in the first quarter.  Acting on a report from a confused fan, Brown County Sheriff’s deputies issued an Amber Alert when nobody could identify Crabtree as being a member of the Green Bay Packers.

The crowd of 70,913 went into mild panic as the jumbotron and PA system lit up with the news accompanied by Crabtree’s press photo, which was mistakenly assumed to be a mug shot.  Sheriff’s officials surrounded the Packers’ bench with weapons drawn and had to verify with tight end coach Ben McAdoo that Crabtree was, in fact, on the roster before the game could continue.

It was later confirmed that the fan who reported his child missing was so inebriated that he forgot he didn’t actually have children – at least none that had been verified though DNA testing.  When reminded by his friends that his child was not only not missing but non-existent, the unidentified man was quoted as saying, “Oh, yeah… my bad.”  At which point he was promptly placed under arrest, one of fifteen people arrested Sunday night.

Asked if his squad over-reacted to the situation, Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken stated, “You can never be too careful with that kind of incident.  There are a lot of kids at these games, and we try to keep it a family-friendly environment by only allowing 15 beers per person per quarter."  Of the arrested man, Gehring stated, "It's an easy mistake to make after you've had a few.  I feel bad for the guy.  I forgot my kids myself at a tailgate last weekend.  Lucky it wasn't December!"

The Packer personnel department reported that it’s not the first time Crabtree has been involved in such an incident.  During the traditional “ride a kid’s bike to practice” day at training camp, Crabtree was thrown off a Schwinn and pinned to the ground by security guards.  Fortunately fellow tight end Jermichael Finley was able to verify Crabtree’s identity just before the K-9 unit was released.  After the free publicity Sunday and a four-yard catch, not to mention his status as the Packers' only healthy tight end, Crabtree is about to get a lot more recognition in Green Bay.

No comments:

Post a Comment