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Just how big is this little game on Monday night?
As we struggle through the weekend without any pro football that we care about, we do need to come up with an answer to the question: Just How Big Is The Game Monday night?
That is the night, of course that the Packers, led by Aaron Rodgers, will play the Minnesota Vikings, led by Brett Favre.
Lord knows, the media is treating this like a huge deal. And, on many levels, I suspect the players and coaches are treating this like a big deal.
But what about us, the average fans? The people who went to the Ice Bowl, who claim to have gone to the Ice Bowl, who wanted to go to the Ice Bowl. How big a game is this for all of us?
Lawyers say that you should never ask a question to which you don't know the answer. Well, this is one of those. I don't know how big a game it is.
On one hand, of course, I want the Packers to win. I always want the Packers to win, especially when they are playing the Vikings or the Bears. The days of fall and winter are always much brighter when my favorite football team is playing well and winning games.
On the other hand (there is always an other hand), I love Brett Favre. He may be my favorite Packers player of all time. James Lofton, Jim Carter and Greg Koch have been my favorites for years, but Favre eclipses even them. I rooted for him last year with the Jets. I loved it last week, when he threw that last second dart to win the game for Minnesota.
To say I'm conflicted puts me in the boat with, I suspect, lots of other people. The Packers could win and Favre could be outplayed. Favre could be brilliant and the Vikings could win. Favre could play great and Green Bay could still win. The permutations seem endless.
And what's worst of all is I don't know how to decide what I'm rooting for. I don't have a process for this. I can't make up my mind.
The only thing I do know is that it's a big game. A big, big game. This is important, for a lot of reasons. It's not a Super Bowl, but it's close. I just hope I'm not the only one who can't decide who to cheer for. I'd hate to think there were lots of other people who are just as miserable as I am.
Talkbacks
lamplan | Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:49 p.m. (report)
I'm sorry, the vikings are led by Adrian Peterson, not Favre!
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Broner | Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:31 p.m. (report)
"I always want the Packers to win, especially when they are playing the Vikings or the Bears." There you go again Dave. You really should refrain from using the words "always" and "never" because whenever you use them, you follow up with statements that directly contradict what you claim to always or never do. Some examples: You never respond to criticism...yet you go on the radio and write entire columns responding to criticism. You always want the Packers to win, except when your man-crush BF is QBing the other team.
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wiscoleeds | Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:16 p.m. (report)
Regardless of where you fall on the Favre/Thompson issue Id like to point out that when you select to betray the Packers and cheer for the Vikings and Favre to defeat the local gridiron boys this is what youre choosing. Youre picking another state. Youre picking Astroturf over real grass and the frozen tundra. Youre picking indoor football over outdoor football. Youre picking a baseball stadium over football mecca. Youre picking privately owned over publicly owned. Youre picking big city over small town. Youre picking no Super Bowl wins over three Super Bowl victories. Youre picking individual comfy seats over metal bleachers. Youre picking the Viking horn over the St. Norbert cheerleaders Youre picking climate controlled stadium over community members shoveling snow out of the seating areas. Youre picking a team with 7 Hall of Famers over a team with 21 Hall of Famers. Youre picking strangers over your neighbors. Youre picking the state that elected Al Franken Youre also spitting in the face of 90 years of tradition. Youre cheering against the legend and lore of Lambeau, Lombardi, Harlan, Wolf, Starr, Nitcschke, Hutson, Davis, Horung, Taylor, Wood, Dickey, Anderson, Coffman, McCarren, Lofton, White, Dotson, Bennett, Butler, Brown, etc not to mention all those players today who proudly pull on the Green and Gold. Do you really believe ANY of these ex Packer legends really want the Minnesota Vikings to defeat the Green Bay Packers!? The legend of the Packers will go on long after Favre and Thompson move on and most of us will be able to say weve ALWAYS cheered for the local boys and the mighty Green and Gold. We wont require an asterisk to explain our lack of team loyalty. But you go ahead and cheer for the Minnesota Vikings to beat the Green Bay Packers
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ejamenda5 | Oct. 4, 2009 at 8:32 p.m. (report)
You shouldn't be conflicted when watching this game. If you are truly a Packer fan, as you say you are, you should root for only the Packers. If you find yourself rooting for Brett Favre, then you are not a true Packer fan. Favre gave the Packers 16 wonderful years but now he is gone. A distant memory. I loved him as much as the next Packer fan but whenever the Packers play, I root for them. And only them. Lets be real here.
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Hainer | Oct. 4, 2009 at 8:12 p.m. (report)
Nah...as Bob Walkenhorst, the most Twain inspired songwriter of the last quarter century once wrote/sang, "I just said all this to be working my mouth." Those conflicted over this game -- dunces notwithstanding -- have short circuited over their insistence on maintaining a semblence of sophistication, even as such motivations do battle against idiosyncratic bias and hazy memory. If you championed Jim Carter over Nitscke back in the day, perhaps there's a clue in that. You make a call and that's that. You're either all in, or...only for awhile. A recoil, of sorts, where so many sides have been taken over the years you no longer recall what was truly heartfelt vs. what enters the heart once certain stances were taken for the sake of touting the size of your balls. A guy has to write something, right? Better to be remembered as a stick in the eye reporter than a forgotten shill -- or as, God forbid, a true fan. It's okay, it sometimes happens late in the game...so ya keep swinging; a time burnished agent provacateuer of the elder set, however it spills into print. And why not -- I mean, it's kind of romantic...and, really, what else is there? Enjoy.
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