Letters to Matt LaFleur

Author: Matthew Mabis

Publisher: heron press (2024)

In 2022, English teacher Matthew Mabis sat behind a 1960s Smith Corona Corsair typewriter and punched out a letter to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. He repeated the ritual after every game, mailing each letter to Green Bay, WI. In the one-sided correspondence, the narrator is warm and hopeful, wise and erudite, encouraging and appreciative, sometimes even veering into unselfconscious stupidity and superstition. Over the course of eighteen weeks, he captures one fan's roller coaster of emotions -- following every win and loss, criticizing the sport he loves and even the country which worships at the altar of football.

LETTERS TO MATT LAFLEUR collects the unabridged typewritten letters from the 2022-23 season with 35mm and medium format film photography to illustrate a decades-long love of the Packers, and offers a lens into extreme fandom and Wisconsin culture -- a state which prides itself in hosting the nation's only fan-owned professional sports team.

Matthew Mabis is an English teacher born and raised in Lodi, Wisconsin and residing in Eau Claire. When he’s not teaching, or cheering for the Green Bay Packers, or typing a letter to Coach LaFleur, you can find him on the curling sheet, watching the Milwaukee Bucks, spinning records, or playing music with friends.