Our newest pal is the guy who is working on our house, Jim Richards of “Tile by Jim.” I would love him to be my “Eldin” (remember Murphy Brown’s housepainter), if we had that kind of money.

Jim was painting our bedroom this morning and zipped out at his 12:30 PM deadline. A native of Wisconsin, Jim ran to meet up with every Green Bay Packer fan within a 400 mile radius at the Broke Spoke(see block quote below) in Kiln, MS.. He told us all about the place and how the owner really puts on a big spread during the game as everyone cheers on the Packers. We actually found ourselves cheering them to victory today. I just thought this was a neat story to shar with y’all!

Mable and Stevie Haas’s Broke Spoke was heavily damaged by fire as a result of faulty electrical wiring. The 60-year-old building became a national landmark in 1997, when the Kiln’s home-boy, Green Bay quarter-back, Brett Favre, led the Packers to Super Bowl XXXI. The local bar drew hundreds of Wisconsin fans to watch the New England Patriots’ defeat.

The bar made national news once more when the fire broke out on April 21, 1999. Originally opened in 1985, as the Broke Spoke, even the fire didn’t prevent local patrons as they continued to gather at an outside bar to watch and participate in the rebuilding process.

However, much of the Packer memorabilia that had been donated by fans from all over the United States, in addition to hundreds of personally autographed ladies lingerie had been fried to a crisp.

Following two months of mostly volunteer repairs, the Haases had a grand re-opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting, and exclaimed, “Our friends stood by us and now we’re back, and we’re happy again.”

Well at least our Patriots won today too! Now where is the closest Patriots bar?