This guy was from downstate (way downstate), and I haven’t heard that moniker since. Besides wondering what kind of tractor my co-worker drove as a kid, it made me wonder what the average Joe thinks about neighboring sports fans.
Why not ask?
So, a few days ago I asked a life-long born and bred Chicago Bears fan what he thought about Packers fans, our cheese headed friends up the lake. It could have been taken as a loaded question. After all, the Bears season is long over after a dull, dismal run.
After a soft pause, this mouthy Chicago Irishman said, “Actually I kind of like them”.
They’re friendly. They know their sport. Lambeau Field is a comforting, top quality sports venue. Lambeau has a great beer selection, which you would only expect if you have ever been to Wisconsin. When the Packers win, they aren’t obnoxious about it.
These were a few of the reasons that a Bears fan or any fan could like Packers fans and the Frozen Tundra. And it seems that Americans in general like the Packers too.
We’ve heard time and time again, to annoying degree, about how the Dallas Cowboys are supposedly “America’s Team”. This was thought up by a Dallas Cowboys marketer, I am convinced. If anything, it is more likely that America’s team, if you had to pick one from pro Football, would be the Green Bay Packers.
For one, they are the only small town team in a league with big city teams. Green Bay’s population is around 100,000, which is less than a third that of Cincinnati and one twelfth the size of San Diego.
The fact that Green Bay has had a major pro sports team for 80 years is a major anomaly. Sure, in the UK and Italy provincial cities have grown major sports teams, mostly in Soccer. But, this doesn’t usually happen in America. To top it off, Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls and holds 12 World championships, the NFL’s highest number.
The small town becoming the champ rings a bit like the film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. The film, starring an aw-shucks Jimmy Stewart, reminds us that what we like best is the underdog –the little guy—who takes on adversity and a challenge, only to triumph enormously with a little effort and a good attitude. If a sports team could audition for that role, the Packers have already nailed it
And only a week ago, I walked into a business office, like many across America, with a framed picture of Vince Lombardi and a notable quote. I don’t see SkyMall or QVC selling any inspirational frames of Tom Landry or Bill Parcels.
But for all the motivational accolades that Lombardi may have inspired in many a business seminar, I think we’re seeing something equally inspiring in the Packers’ other marvel, Brett Favre. At age 40, the year old Packer legend, now with the Vikings, is knocking on the Super Bowl’s door again.
The last time the Vikings made it to the big one was in 1977, the last of four Super Bowls the club lost in a decade. Plus it hasn’t been since the 1970’s since we saw a forty-something --George Blanda, who was mostly a kicker then at age 48-- compete in the NFL semi-final round.
Favre has prepared to retire once or twice. No one is exactly sure of the details. Some of us joke year after year that this year he will retire, hopefully. But the fact that Favre has transformed the Vikings into a potent force this year says something.
This is a club with only one post-season in the last several years, despite having a good quarterback before his arrival. Yet after years of barely getting through the season, Favre’s Vikings had twelve wins before the post-season.
But stats and achievement aside, there is a lot to like about Favre in the context of today’s pro sports. His durability in the game over the years is especially inspiring, while being only one of five NFL quarterbacks to start 100 consecutive games. Favre has long been a committed top level team player and has never taken his stature as an opportunity to brag. Maybe that’s how is should be.
Consider what other pro Football players have been up to over the years:
-Michael Vick (Dog fighting felonies)
-Randy Moss (Bumping an old lady with his car, being generally obnoxious)
-Rae Carruth (Conspiracy to Murder)
-Billy Cannon(Counterfeiting $50 Million)
True, no player should be given special praise for not being a criminal.
But it is refreshing once again to see an apt player and true professional make it so long, and so successfully in NFL Football, a game not kind to or built for old men.
Certainly there are better quarterbacks than Favre and better teams than the Vikings. But none of the others playing this weekend have the experience and the staying power to draw on, one step from the Super Bowl. And its fair to say that along the way Favre may very well have the whole chilly Midwest behind him.
Frye writes weekly about sports and life. Updates can be found here at MySports/Complex, from Twitter and on the Facebook page of the same name. With a Leinenkugel in one hand and cheese in the other, he’s taking a crack at his first book.
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