Davon House hails 'faithful' Packers fans after hitching ride from Minneapolis
Richard Ryman
GREEN BAY - Davon House doesn't need Uber. He's a Green Bay Packers player and has Twitter.
House, like A.J. Hawk eight years ago, found himself stranded in Minneapolis on Monday night on the way to Tuesday's organized team activities session. Hawk paid $1,000 for a taxi ride to Green Bay in 2009, but a quick-thinking House tweeted about his plight and ultimately found himself in a Chevy Silverado 2500 pickup truck with two Packers-fan brothers who were more than happy to skip a night's sleep to assist him.
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Brothers Chad and Mike Johnson both had to work Tuesday, but that didn't stop them from signing up for the adventure, Chad Johnson said on the "Wilde & Tausch show" on ESPN Wisconsin (540-AM).
Mike, who lives in Hudson, picked House up at the airport. Chad, who lives in Eau Claire, left his wife a note near the coffee pot explaining that he was taking House to Green Bay and rushed off to meet the other two on State 29.
He brought a Green Bay Packers pillow and a blanket and suggested House get some sleep on the more than four-hour trip. House said it was only right to stay awake and talk for a while.
"Sleep wouldn't be right," House said. "That would be like me riding in a car picking up Ken Griffey Jr."
They talked about football, of course, and family and work and other things.
"He was so laid back and cool. He really was a class act," Chad Johnson told the radio show
It got cooler. They took House to Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport to get his car. He offered to pay. They refused.
"They said this is going to be the greatest ride ever," House said. "That's how faithful our fans are. They are both (Packers) owners."
Johnson said they would have been satisfied with a handshake and "good luck," but House insisted they follow him back to Lambeau Field, despite it being after 3 a.m.
They got to go in the locker room, take pictures, see the Super Bowl trophies and walk away with some signed swag as well.
"They walked by Aaron's locker. They touched his shoulder pads, but I didn't let them put them on, though," House said.
Meanwhile, back in Eau Claire, Chad's wife, Jessica, upheld the honor of spouses everywhere, reacting with a combination of disbelief and, well, more disbelief.
"She wakes up and calls me and says 'Who the hell is Davon House?'" Johnson said.
Followed by, he can't rent a car in Minneapolis? And can't he just buy a car?
Packers coach Mike McCarthy thought it was a good story, too. And more.
"It tells you about (House's) commitment ... He knows the importance of (OTAs). It’s so limited this time of year, and, really, outside of Aaron (Rodgers) and maybe a couple other guys, you don’t have veteran players that are pre-CBA that clearly understand the importance of nine weeks as opposed to when you had 15 weeks," McCarthy said.
House said he wanted badly to be back in Green Bay while playing — and not playing — in Jacksonville last year.
"I said to myself, I can just pull the vet card and say my flight was delayed," he said. "The situation I was in last year, I would die to be here. Now that I'm here, I'm not taking any days for granted. I don't want to be that guy."
House said about 15 people responded to his Twitter request and three or four were serious. He checked out the Johnsons with a couple of common Twitter friends and decided they were good guys.
The whole experience gave House some ideas.
"How sweet is that to be a Packer? I don't think I need Uber. From now on, 'who wants to take me to the mall?'" he joked. "I should do that. 'Who wants to take me home every day?'"
Johnson has pictures of the adventure on his Facebook page.
