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Day trip to Packers training camp

Photo at left: First-round draft pick Brian Bulaga from Crystal Lake, Ill., signs autographs after practice in Green Bay. GALLERY

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GREEN BAY -- At age, 21, first-round draft pick Brian Bulaga from Crystal Lake, Ill., looks much larger in real life than he does on TV.

On the other hand, rookie Sam Shields may not stand out in a crowd, but he's lightning quick on the practice field.

Bulaga and Shields are just two of the rookies that Packers fans can get a first look at during training camp.

Packer camp info I Bear camp info

Sure, it requires that you get off you couch, but NFL training camps give fans an opportunity to see players up close better than any other time during the season.

I made my annual pilgrimage a week ago to Green Bay to get a first-hand look at what the cheese-wedge-wearing faithful are hoping will be a Super Bowl team.

One of my top three free things to do in Wisconsin, (riding the Merrimac Ferry and walking the Geneva lakeshore path are the other two) Packers training camp is unlike any other in the NFL.

The team opened the new, Ray Nitschke practice field a year ago, and watching a practice is an intimate affair.

The practice field, on the opposite side of the Don Hutson Center, across from Lambeau, has free seating for 1,500 fans.

Training camp is open to the public and continues through Aug. 31, when the team closes practice prior to their season opener at Sept. 12 at the New York jets.

For those interested in attending a practice, the Packers have all the details at www.packerstrainingcamp.com.

There are many ways to enjoy training camp, but here's how the day went for my family:

The day we attended, practice began at 2 p.m. The gates open 90 minutes before practice, and already there was a big crowd in town for the Family Night Scrimmage the following night.

Rather than camping out in the bleachers for an hour and a half, we took advantage of free parking at Lambeau and made our way to the locker room entrance to see the players head to practice.

If you're coming in from U.S. Highway 41, take the Lombardi Avenue exit, and enter Lambeau Field from the north. If you come in on Oneida Street, you'll get hung up in traffic waiting for players and fans to cross over to the training field.

In one of the NFL's most unique traditions, players will grab a bicycle from youngsters waiting outside the locker room and bike to practice while the bike's owner runs alongside.

By the time practice had begun, the bleachers were filled and fans were standing three-deep along the fence.

"It's the biggest crowd we've had so far this year," one usher told me.

But he also let us in on a valuable secret. After about an hour, the crowd thins out and there's plenty of seating alongside the field.

So, we went back up to the Lambeau Field Atrium, browsed the pro-shop, got ice cream and killed some time.

When we returned to Nitschke Field an hour later, there was plenty of seating with a great view of the action.

After practice, fans line up to hawk for autographs and watch the bike ride back to the stadium.

Bring a Sharpie and something for players to sign.

Many long-time veterans sneak out the back way, but the rookies and plenty of well-known players will stop to sign an autograph.

Of course the festive and casual atmosphere masks the pressure that comes with an NFL training camp.

Many of the players we saw Friday won't be on the opening day roster, so mistakes made on the practice field can have major financial implications.

But that's for the players to worry about, for the fans, it's a unique opportunity to get close to your team.