LONDON – John, Paul, George and Ringo?
Or LeRoy, Marv, Nick and James?
The Green Bay Packers’ invasion of London took over one of the most iconic spots in a city that seems to be nothing but iconic spots when a double-decker Packers-themed bus filled with team representatives stopped at Abbey Road on Friday. Shouts of “Go Pack Go” from the roof of the bus announced its arrival.
The Abbey Road crossing made famous by The Beatles album cover of the same name could have been Oneida Street in Green Bay, so populated was it by Packers fans. And, in due course, actual Packers, including team President and CEO Mark Murphy, Pro Football Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler, and Packers Hall of Famers James Jones, Nick Collins and Marv Fleming.
The Packers are in London to play the New York Giants at 8:30 a.m. (Central Time) Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They are the last NFL team to play in the International Series and the team and its fans are embracing the opportunity with gusto.
Dennise and Don Lavrenz of Waukesha made the pilgrimage to the white-striped crosswalk, wearing their Packers gear, including Don’s Ray Nitschke jersey, quite unaware the Packers bus was headed their way. Fair to say, they weren’t disappointed by the surprise as their “trip of a lifetime” got bigger.
Thirty-year season-ticket holders, they got more pictures than they planned, assured Murphy they’d attend the Packers pep rally on Saturday, and renewed acquaintance with Fleming, who Don golfed with during a charity fundraiser a few years back. Dennise even offered Murphy her Packers scarf for a picture with them because she deemed him short of adequate amounts of green and gold.
“We put our son on the season ticket list when he was born 31 years ago,” Dennise said. “We signed up for every list we could.”
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Abbey Road was the last stop of the day for the bus, which visited Millennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Westminster Bridge.
The Packers hall of famers mingled with Abbey Road pilgrims, some of whom were not Packers fans, hard as that may be to believe. They also did their best to recreate the photo of the four Beatles crossing the street while London drivers, more or less, patiently bore what is clearly a daily annoyance on a still-active street.
James Jones even offered to take off his shoes, à la Paul McCartney.
Current Packers players are in town as well, having arrived overnight, but are keeping a low profile ahead of Sunday’s game. For the players, this trip is all business. They’ll leave immediately after the game Sunday to return to Green Bay to prepare to host New York City’s other team, the Jets, on Oct. 16 at Lambeau Field.
Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay Packers in London give Beatles Abbey Road photo own spin