The Packers And Dad Time

I had a breakthrough the other day in my understanding of my relationship with the Packers vs. my kids' lack of interest in, bordering on resentment of, the Packers.

When I was a kid, my dad worked 6 days a week at a paper mill. Plus, we had a full scale dairy farm. He and the boys mostly ran that. His paper mill vacations were spent baling hay. Sunday afternoons was one of the few times I had to spend with my dad. I learned to love football because he did.

(I also learned to love the Brewers, but, since I don't have access to any of their broadcasts now, that interest has dwindled. I mastered sheephead during the off seasons.)

For my kids, it's the opposite. Dave is available to them most evenings and weekends, as well in the summers. They aren't that motivated to learn about football, because they don't feel the need to spend those 3 hours with him each week.

Ugh!

Last night was a tough one. Here's my analogy:

Stephanie Plum = Packers
Joe Morelli = Brett Favre
Ranger = Aaron Rodgers
Joyce Barnhardt = Vikings

Imagine Morelli threatening to break up with Stephanie for years. Finally, tearfully, he does. She asks him several times if he wants to get back together and he says, 'No'. So, she decides to commit to Ranger.*

Last night was like a double date between Stephanie/Ranger and Morelli/Joyce. Everyone in the restaurant kept saying how nice Morelli & Joyce looked together. And Joyce punched Stephanie in the gut.

It hurt. It really hurt.

*For the sake of my analogy, I'm ignoring the fact that Ranger isn't in to commitment.

What Brett Doesn't Get

Brett Favre recently made a comment along the lines of "A true Packer fan would understand why I have to play for the Vikings."

Whatever.

The thing is, a true Packer fan never loved the Packers because they brought Brett Favre to greatness. We loved Brett Favre because he helped return the Packers to greatness.

In sports, love is always conditional.

Brett, Brett, Brett

You have to understand that I love the Packers. I have no memory of the good years in the 60's, and there were many, many lean years during my impressionable youth. But I watched them. If there was one place where I fit in with the rest of my family, it was as a Packer fan. There were even a few years where my career goal was to be a statistician for the Packers, so I could be on the sidelines. Yes, I'm a dork.

When the Packers got Reggie White and Brett Favre and actually started winning some games, it was huge. And fun. Watching Brett Favre was like watching a little kid who was really, really good (but when he was bad, he was horrid). And he was ours!

And then there was the debacle with his unretirement last year. I struggled, but I decided that the reason he was being such a jerk was because he wanted the fans to support Aaron Rodgers. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it) It would be so much easier for the fans to forget about Brett if he was being a nincompoop. (Sorry, schmuck or stinker were my next best thesaurus choices) And it worked. Fans and TV announcers were bending over backwards to champion Rodgers.

But, alas, my erstwhile sports hero must have decided that there were a few remaining fans he needed to alienate. He wants to be a Viking. Yeah, that should turn any remaining Favre fans into Rodgers fans.

I just read a column that postulated that Favre is mainly looking forward to the Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau and the great reception he'll receive from his fans. Well, I guess that's a possibility, too.

Good luck with that one, Brett.