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Hohol wound up in the Twin Cities working for Price Waterhouse Cooper. He's 35 and lives in Buffalo with his wife Lexi and three children, aged 4 to 9. Wade sent me this e-mail on Oct. 25:

"Some background: I was diagnosed with a sarcoma cancer a couple years ago, and it is back, spreading into my lungs - my long-term prognosis it not good but I am fighting it through chemotherapy Other than that I'm a normal 35-year accountant with a loving wife, three young kids and great friends, living in Buffalo, MN.

"Due to my battle with cancer, one of my buddies, John, was working on a get together with a group of my friends, for my benefit, to put my mind off the issues at hand and to have some fun. He was able to contact another acquaintance, Jeremy, to work on getting an autographed jersey from Brett Favre.

"Jeremy knows a number of Vikings through a business he runs, and was able to contact Pat Williams and ask him for this favor. I grew up in Green Bay therefore am a Packer fan by birthright, but being in Minnesota for 12 years I am slowly becoming a Viking convert.

"Pat Williams not only was able to get Brett Favre to sign two jerseys, a Vikings jersey AND a Packers jersey (thanks Brett!), but Pat also offered to bring the jerseys out to Buffalo and visit.

"This last Tuesday night, around 25 guys, along with my wife and kids, gathered at my friend's home in Buffalo. Pat Williams drove out (a 40 minute drive), and proceeded to spend three hours with my family and friends. He was all smiles, very talkative and was very accommodating regarding pictures, autographs and his time. He did indicate he had to twist Brett's arm a little bit to get the Packers jersey signed.

"The reason for this e-mail is that I am still shocked and impressed by the genuine thoughtfulness of Pat, and wanted to relay this to Vikings fans and the public in general who may think that professional athletes are somehow all different than the rest of the us.

"Here is a guy that has tremendous demands on his time, due to his profile and career. He could have simply facilitated the Brett Favre autographs, tossed them back to our contact, and went on with his life. Instead, Pat took 5 hours out of his day off to come out and meet with myself, my friends and family. His deed means a great deal to myself and family, and Pat Williams is simply is great big man with a great big heart.''

I talked to Wade on Wednesday. He was in Lambeau Field with five friends (and Vikings fans) for last Sunday's game between the Pack and the Purple. Had his experience with Pat Williams changed his loyalties?

"I found out that I'm still a Packers fan,'' he said. "But every time I saw Pat come through the line, I was excited for him. He had that sack ... played a great game. I also was happy to see Brett play well. He got booed pretty badly, but I'm still a fan of Brett.''

Hohol said it was the first time he had been in Lambeau "in about 10 years,'' then added: "I went to a lot of Packers games when I was kid. Of course, that was when Lynn Dickey and those other guys were quarterbacks, and you could walk over to the stadium and by a ticket in the parking lot for five bucks.''

That wasn't the case last Sunday. "We paid a season-ticket holder 250 bucks a piece for our tickets,'' he said.

Wade said his outlook with the cancer remains the same - meaning, not good. "I was in remission for a while, and then came back,'' he said. "I have a check in a few days to find out if this latest round of chemotherapy was effective.''