An Australian man has quit his job, sold his house and moved his wife and two toddlers to Wisconsin so he can follow American football NFL team the Green Bay Packers.
Wayne Scullino, 30, quit his job with a telecommunications company in Sydney, Australia.
He, his wife and two boys are going to every Packers game this season and paying for it with the proceeds from the sale of their home. They plan to return to Australia when the season ends.
"One person said to me, 'Man, you're crazy! That's the craziest thing I ever heard. You're following the Packers? They're not even any good,"' Scullino said in an interview with local television station WISN-TV.
He responded: "Yeah, but things mean more to some people."
Scullino's dream to move to Green Bay started when he was 15 years old.
A friend gave him a videotape of a year-old game between the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings.
"There was just something about the game and the atmosphere and the strategy that got me immediately," Scullino said.
He said most Australians do not care about the National Football League.
"In fact, if I said `NFL,' most of them would probably think I said `NRL,' which is our National Rugby League," Scullino said.
He has started a Web site, chronicling his journey by blog, video and photos.
"The thing with dreams, though, in most cases at least, is that if you don't do something to make them happen yourself, they never will," he wrote. "So with that, and a whole lot of understanding from the very best, non-sport-loving wife in the world, we made an executive decision. A decision that flies in the face of all rational thinking but one that we should all do at least once in our lives."
It took some convincing to bring his wife, Kelly Scullino, on board. But now she says she sees the trip as an adventure.
"We're just people that are taking a risk and taking a chance, and doing it together as a family," she said.
The couple has two sons; one is two years old and the other is under a year old, Scullino wrote on his Web site.
The family will return to Australia after the Super Bowl in February and stay with Kelly Scullino's parents while Wayne looks for a new job and home.
Green Bay Packers' spokesman Aaron Popke said he has not heard of anyone else like the Scullinos.
The closest was several years ago when a fan from Rome, Italy, visited Green Bay for a week, Popke said.
The family does not have tickets lined up for every game, but they have been finding some online, and some through their new Packer-fan friends.
"We went to the Washington game with a couple we'd never met," Wayne Scullino said. "But they e-mailed us, saying, `We've got four tickets. We normally take people from work, but you must come with us.'"
Another fan set them up with a furnished apartment at a bargain price, while another gave them a truck to use while they are there.
Kelly Scullino said she cannot get over the generosity.
"Who gives someone a car? And my entire kitchen is stocked from a friend's sister, because she had a basement full of things and she wasn't using them," she said.
Wayne Scullino said he hopes to turn the experience into a book. He does not expect to have any regrets.
"At some point, you've got to stop living the life you've fallen into, and start living the life you want to," Scullino said.
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