*All athletes have that one game, that one contest, that ranks as the most unforgettable of their lives. It can be memorable because of a personal or team achievement, a dramatic finish, a sentimental moment, or a number of any other factors.
Continuing a series begun last summer, Packers.com caught up with the members of the 2008 draft class to ask them about the game they'll never forget. It could be a game at any level of competition that took place at any time. They're all hoping their new NFL careers will give them new memories and new games to cherish, but for now, these rank at the top.*
It's the second-oldest continuous high school football rivalry in the country, and Breno Giacomini almost missed his chance to be part of it.
Giacomini, a fifth-round draft pick by the Packers this past April, attended Malden High School in Massachusetts but didn't play football his junior year in order to concentrate on basketball. That year, he didn't attend any football games except for the one everybody goes to - on Thanksgiving Day against nearby arch-rival Medford High.
The rivalry dates back to 1889, and after seeing the tradition from the outside and listening to the urgings of his friends, Giacomini returned to the football team as a senior, and he turned in what he calls the most memorable game of his career in the annual Malden-Medford clash in 2003.
"They make a huge deal out of that up in Malden," Giacomini said. "That's big-time right there. If you go and lose all your games and win that game against Medford, it's like you won the championship."
Now an offensive lineman, Giacomini played defensive end and outside linebacker in high school, and he recalls having "four or five" sacks in a defensive tussle with Medford five Thanksgivings ago.
With Malden clinging to a 7-0 lead late in the fourth quarter, Giacomini rushed hard off the edge for his final sack of the day on a crucial third-and-long, immortalizing his contribution in the process.
"When I was getting up, the quarterback was just laying there," Giacomini recalled. "I knocked him out, and to do it in that game was a big deal for me.
"The next day in the sports pages was the picture of me backing away from the guy and him on the ground."
So, was he OK?
"Yeah, he was fine," Giacomini said. "A little smelling salt, and he got up."
Giacomini had that newspaper photo framed and it's now a permanent part of his family's archives. The memories go beyond that moment, though, and include all the traditions that are a part of the rivalry, which has featured a near-split of the 120-plus meetings.
First, the school has a different theme each day of the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Alumni are brought in for the pep rally at the end of the day on Wednesday, and then after the final practice, the seniors take one final lap around the school track and commence the "burning of the shoe," during which an old football cleat is symbolically burned.
{sportsad300}"It's basically to say forget about the season and all that, this is the game we have to win and concentrate on," Giacomini said. "It's forget about the past, it's all about tomorrow."
The players than have a banquet and select team captains for the following year, and they re-convene for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning before the 10 a.m. kickoff.
That Malden-Medford game was Giacomini's last as a prep before embarking on a four-year career at Louisville, where he played tight end and offensive tackle and was asked to prevent sacks rather than record them.
When he thinks about the fact that he almost didn't do either in college, he's grateful for the rivalry and what it meant to his classmates, who didn't like seeing him as a spectator when he could be helping establish the all-important bragging rights.
"All those months until the next season, my friends convinced me to come back," Giacomini said. "I'm glad they did because I don't think basketball would have worked out as good as football right now."
