A newspaper ad tribute by two sons to their father ignites the passion of Packer Nation

Two sons who penned a heartfelt open letter to honor their father, a classic Green Bay Packers fan, ignited members of the Packer Nation who responded with tributes of their own.

Steve and Jeff Snyder placed an ad in the Feb. 19 Journal Sentinel to honor their father, Bill Snyder of Hartland, who died suddenly of a heart attack Feb. 7 one day after his 65th birthday. That ad, combined with a Facebook page, Twitter account and blog, The Greatest Packers Fan, attracted international attention.

"I came up with the cockamamie idea" while sitting at the airport in New York, wait for the flight home for his father's funeral preparations, Steve Snyder said. "I didn't know how it would be received."

The family's "Dear Packer Nation" letter celebrated their father's love of the Green and Gold, and in doing so, created a platform for others to do the same thing for their loved ones.

"He was our dad. And since the '50s, he was as loyal, hopeful and euphoric a Packer fan as Wisconsin could have hoped for," the brothers said in their letter.

Steve Snyder said he had one Packer in mind when he listed eight players who made memorable plays throughout the years.

"Thank you Brett Favre for giving dad the single happiest moment of his life: 1997 Super Bowl, 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison, touchdown," they wrote. "Our dad vaulted from his chair, fell to his knees, screamed to the heavens. In an instant, 30 years of belief were paid back in full."

Favre responded with a tweet on Monday, expressing condolences to the family and saying he was "honored to have played a role in such a joyful memory of his life."

That tweet and others from quarterback AaronRodgers, and the Packers official account attracted attention from Deadspin and The Daily Mail. And that led to an avalanche of tweets, messages and posts on the Greatest Packers Fan blog, which invites writers to pen tributes to their own loved ones who bleed green and gold.

"We wanted to make it a living testimony to Packers fans," Snyder said.