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Coming into work this past
Monday, I had a certain spring to my step and a cheeriness in my voice.
"What are YOU so happy about on a Monday morning?" I turned and smiled my
Jack Nicholson joker style grin and replied "Why the Packers lost in
overtime on their home field in the NFC Championship game after their hero
blew the game last night". The look of horror on the face of my
coworker sort of underscored the glee with which I uttered those words.
Unbeknownst to me, my coworker was originally from Wisconsin and is a
Packer fan. I have only worked with her for about a year and since the
Packers stunk it up last year, I didn't hear a peep out of her. Of course,
now it's out that she's a Packer fan. Oh well.
Later that day, she forwarded
me an article about how the whole country was rooting for the Packers
Sunday night. A real David and Goliath type angle (which you'll see is not
something new for me) to the story. The little town in Northern Wisconsin
versus the big bad, ugly city with it's arrogant fans, press, players and
coaches. Las Vegas casinos were seeing gobs of money being bet on the
Packers. Everybody loves the little guy against the big guy.
So why am I so gleeful that it
all blew up so gloriously?
Well for one, I admire Brett
Favre and all that he's gone through and accomplished. He's not only a
great quarterback, but he's an admirable sort. With that being said, after
more than 15 years of tormenting the Bears, I just wish the guy would hang
it up already. And, after 15 years of playing, I've heard just about every
Brett Favre story that's ever been told. I don't need to hear them along
with the "gunslinger" versus the "perfect team" ad nauseum for the next 2
weeks hyping up the game. That's one reason. The other has to do with
envy. Pure unadulterated envy.
Caveman Joe once told me a
story about Green Bay Packers fans that stuck with me and sort of lets me
justify what I'm about to say about the little town to the north of us
here in Chicago. It was a cold, blustery night in Northern Wisconsin. Joe
had visited a customer up there and then stayed the night in this town. It
was 1994 and the Vikings were playing the Bears on Thursday night football
in early December. The Packers that year were a very average team and were
seeing their playoff hopes fade. After 12 weeks, the Packers were 6-6. I
think the Bears at the time were leading the division, but at the time,
the best hope for the Packers was that the Bears would beat the Vikings
who were the next team up in the standings from the Packers.
Joe thought he'd be in a bar
where everyone was rooting for the Bears. Boy was he wrong. This bar was
packed and everyone was pulling for the Vikings to beat the Bears. Joe
asked the guy wearing a snot nosed green and pus yellow hat next to his
elbow why that was. "I hate the Bears" the dentally challenged stranger
croaked at Joe. "I love the Packers and any team that's playin' the
Bears".
Joe asked him why the hatred
toward the beloved. "I hate Ditka" he spat out with a sense of fury.
Joe could sense the guy was
getting hot under the collar. He also sensed the smell of a cheddar nut
log on the guy's breath. "But Ditka's not the coach anymore" Joe replied.
"So what, I hate the Bears" was the response. "But if the Bears beat the
Vikings and Packers win this Sunday, the Packers tie the Vikings for a
playoff spot" Joe reasoned. "You should be rooting for the Bears to beat
the Vikings tonight. "I don't give a rat's ass 'bout none o that. I hate
the Bears. I hate Chicago. I hate you FIBers comin down here thinking like
you own the place."
When Joe relayed this story to
me, I told him that I understood completely. Our neighbors to the north of
us really don't care for us all that much. They despise us because we
think we're better than they are. Their little team is their way of
getting back at the Fucking Illinois Bastards who invade their state
during the summer and treat it as a personal playground and then leave them
to freeze during the winter. (Never mind that we come up for winter sports
when it suits us).
For the most part, the
Bears-Packers rivalry, much like the Chicago Cub-St Louis Cardinal rivalry
has nothing to do with excellence. For whatever reason, it's rare that
when either of these teams meet for a regular season game, the game rarely
has any consequence about it. One team is playing really well while the
other invariably is picking up daisies. During the '80s the Bears were a
dominant team while the Packers were doormats. In the 90s (The Favre Era)
the fortunes were reversed. So either one team was playing well,
or both teams were incredibly bad. It's rare that both are going good and
the game means something.
No, the rivalry is actually a
personal one. One that starts with envy. You see Chicago really is a jewel
of a city. It's clean, it's vibrant. It has deep cultural roots and has a
pizzazz about it that quite frankly Green Bay and St. Louis really don't
have. Chicagoans brag about their city and our neighbors don't really care
for it too much.
Chicagoans return the favor by
lamenting the fact that we live in this wealthy city with rabid sports
fans who support their teams,. Yet, our little neighbors always seem to one
up us when we talk about championships and such. We don't want to see that
disparity get any bigger by seeing either of these teams doing well. Our
team sucks, so should theirs.
Heck of a rivalry huh?
Anyway, it was with great
pleasure that I sat in front of my big screen TV with my Cracker Barrell
nut log and a left over Celebration Ale watching Lawrence Tynes kick that
game winning field goal on the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field. I also
relished watching Brett Favre debunk the myth that playing in frigid
conditions suits him and his team best.
Of course, the whole
concept of the Packers being a "cold weather" team got blown out of the
water just a few weeks prior after the Bears made Favre look like a guy
desperately looking for a side line heater.
Good old Cheesus Christ (as Joe calls him) heaved up a real wobbling brick
that got picked off to set up the game winning field goal. I was cackling
with glee. The nut log tasted so much better. The cheddar flavor blending
with the nut covering formed a perfect taste template for that refreshing
ale to wash over it. Oh, where was Wayne Fontes with that cigar?
Who cares if the Bears coughed
up a real dud this season?? The Packers got beat in overtime on their home
field in the NFC Championship game, thanks to their hero blowing the game
big time. How sweet is that? The pictures of those stunned looks on the
frost bitten faces of those dentally challenged, nut log breathed fans at
Lambeau Field will be warming my heart all through this long cold winter.
It was a great Monday morning
to say the least!
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