Through the years Riley received irate telephone calls at all hours of the “day and night.” He changed his home telephone numerous times. And someone once put glue in his typewriter.
Even the Packers got in on giving Riley a hard time. He often didn’t attend games in person but one year went to Green Bay late in the season. He expected to be assigned to the warm press box but instead was given a ticket to sit in the stands where his companion was a patch of snow apparently left deliberately for the “Bushers” basher.
Down in Florida Riley once met a Wisconsinite while playing golf. The stranger asked if he was the Riley who inflamed Packers fans for years. Riley confirmed his identity and so did the stranger, a prominent Wisconsin politician. The guy admitted to hating Riley’s guts.
Riley picked on other Wisconsin targets besides the “Bushers.” He referred to Wisconsin-River Falls as “Moo-U.” That stirred up folks in western Wisconsin and someone once sent him a can of manure.
Riley has no dislike for Wisconsin and its teams, including the Packers. He admires Wisconsin fans for not only their support of Wisconsin teams, but also their knowledge about Minnesota teams. “I still say those fans over there are great fans,” he said. “They’re a little crazy.”
Riley might argue that the Packers-Vikings rivalry is the greatest of pro sports rivalries not only because of the competitive games but also the large number of fans who travel to each other’s cities for games. He is pleased about the rivalry he helped fuel.
“It goes on and the young people have carried it over,” he said. “It’s as fierce, ferocious as ever. I know a fellow that never had a fight, argument or anything in his life and he went over there and got in a fight with a Green Bay fan in the stands. …He says, ‘Nobody did I ever want to fight, but a Green Bay fan.’ I think that sums it up.”