{"id":40889,"date":"2016-04-29T21:53:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-30T02:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=40889"},"modified":"2016-04-29T22:34:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T03:34:37","slug":"in-nfl-draft-town-the-cheeseheads-stand-alone-or-at-least-act-that-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/in-nfl-draft-town-the-cheeseheads-stand-alone-or-at-least-act-that-way\/","title":{"rendered":"In NFL Draft Town, the Cheeseheads stand alone \u2026 or at least act that way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Erin Barney<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Living in Chicago as Packers fans conditioned the Banaszak family to defend itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe grew up riding past Soldier Field and giving the finger as a salute,\u201d said Dave Banaszak, 27, the youngest of three siblings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI trained my kids good,\u201d said Larry Banaszak, 58, the family patriarch.<\/p>\n<p>But all fingers remained down and in pockets Friday in Draft Town \u2014 partly because of 45-degree temperatues \u2026 mostly because the Banaszaks weren\u2019t under attack.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>These Packer backers roamed Grant Park in downtown Chicago on Day 2 of the NFL Draft acting as though they were in the majority. Any minor heckling they did get from a few bold Bears fans was quickly dismissed.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 200px;float: right;padding-left: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/nfl-draft2016-medill-coverage-logo-190-black.jpg\" alt=\"NFL Draft 2016 Medill Reports\" width=\"190\" height=\"244\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40573\" \/><br \/>\n<ul class=\"post-list\"><li class=\"listed-post\"><a class=\"pcs-post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/from-nazareth-to-nfl-cj-west-looks-to-make-impact-with-san-francisco-49ers\/\" title=\"From Nazareth to NFL: CJ West looks to make impact with San Francisco 49ers\">From Nazareth to NFL: CJ West looks to make impact with San Francisco 49ers<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listed-post\"><a class=\"pcs-post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/undrafted-rookies-fight-to-make-chicago-bears-roster\/\" title=\"Undrafted rookies fight to make Bears roster\">Undrafted rookies fight to make Bears roster<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listed-post\"><a class=\"pcs-post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-bucky-irving-tragedies-nfl\/\" title=\"Chicago native Bucky Irving overcomes tragedies on path to NFL\">Chicago native Bucky Irving overcomes tragedies on path to NFL<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listed-post\"><a class=\"pcs-post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-nfls-first-all-remote-draft-made-for-a-lot-of-entertainment\/\" title=\"The NFL\u2019s first all-remote draft made for a lot of entertainment\">The NFL\u2019s first all-remote draft made for a lot of entertainment<\/a><\/li><li class=\"listed-post\"><a class=\"pcs-post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/overcoming-obstacles-northwestern-safety-jared-mcgee-looks-to-take-the-league-by-storm\/\" title=\"Overcoming obstacles, Northwestern safety Jared McGee looks to take the league by storm\">Overcoming obstacles, Northwestern safety Jared McGee looks to take the league by storm<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"listed-post\" style=\"margin-top: -20px;vertical-align: baseline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/category\/nfl-draft\/\">All NFL Draft stories<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll let them make their case when they\u2019re good,\u201d Larry said. \u201cBut how often does that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Larry grew up in suburban Cicero, but as a kid latched onto the franchise of Vince Lombardi and the first two Super Bowl titles. He raised his three children to root for \u201cthe good guys\u201d even when the Bears infiltrated his family by marriage to his two<br \/>\ndaughters.<\/p>\n<p>Every Sunday and holiday is like a mini-civil war, said Rachel Banaszak, 30.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the one thing that would lead to divorce,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n<p>The family felt no need to retreat to Packers-centric zones in Draft Town, such as the giant Green Bay helmet. They strutted while showing off their team-friendly garb \u2014Larry decked out in striped overalls and a yellow hardhat \u2014 chanting, \u201cGo Pack, go\u201d<br \/>\nevery few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Best friends Sandra Maholick, 34, and Mia Hahn, 32, knew they could find a Cheesehead Haven during the draft at Wills Northwoods Inn on Racine Avenue, if necessary. The Chicagoans were there Friday when the Wisconsin-dedicated bar hosted a first-round watch party with such former Packers as Mark Chmura and Frank Winters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWills is the best,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually where we met.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Friday they were prepared for enemy country. Even before they walked through the gates at Draft Town, Hahn came armed for Bear, with green-and-gold clawlike nails.<\/p>\n<p>In line, the duo took a couple of selfies. Hahn formed a Wisconsin W with her fingers, and both showed off their cheesehead-beaded necklaces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry you\u2019re a Packers fan,\u201d someone shouted from the back of the line. \u201cYou guys have no hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeriously? We\u2019re the Packers,\u201d Maholick said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, when\u2019s the last time you won the North?\u201d Hahn added.<\/p>\n<p>It was back in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Before the Packers won the next four. <\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: The Banaszak family displayed their Packers&#8217; pride in NFL Draft Town Friday afternoon. (Erin Barney\/Medill) <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Erin Barney Living in Chicago as Packers fans conditioned the Banaszak family to defend itself. \u201cWe grew up riding past Soldier Field and giving the finger as a salute,\u201d said Dave Banaszak, 27, the youngest of three siblings. \u201cI trained my kids good,\u201d said Larry Banaszak, 58, the family patriarch. But all fingers remained [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":40891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2677,492,31,2582],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-nfl-draft","category-nfl-draft","category-sports","category-spring-2016"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In NFL Draft Town, the Cheeseheads stand alone \u2026 or at least act that way - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/in-nfl-draft-town-the-cheeseheads-stand-alone-or-at-least-act-that-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In NFL Draft Town, the Cheeseheads stand alone \u2026 or at least act that way - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Erin Barney Living in Chicago as Packers fans conditioned the Banaszak family to defend itself. \u201cWe grew up riding past Soldier Field and giving the finger as a salute,\u201d said Dave Banaszak, 27, the youngest of three siblings. \u201cI trained my kids good,\u201d said Larry Banaszak, 58, the family patriarch. 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