i have been a green bay packers fan sense i was a little kid. i distinctly remember building legos while watching the first time they were in the superbowl, and after being asked "hey son, who do you want to win the big game" like 1,000's of other little kids before me. my response, after mulling it over for a few moments, "the green bay packers!"
and sense then, it's been one of the few consistency in my life. the green bay packers play football at a high level, i watch, i cheer. so here we are, the first time in my adult life that a team i have routed for for years is in a championship game of this caliber (minus the buffalo bandits, but the scale is nowhere near as great). and i am admittedly excited. it's a milestone. no, the entire city isn't caught up in it like they would be if it were the bills or the sabres, instead there are nothing but band-wagoners. people always watch the superbowl, and therefore they need people to cheer for. that's fine.
here's why you need to cheer for the green bay packers.
they are one of the classiest organizations in professional sports. they are blue collar, they are america's team, not the dallas cowboys and their 1.3 billion dollar stadium. the green bay packers are community owned, the only sports organization of it's kind. the fans own the team, not some rich slick jerry jones-type. they are upstanding players. take brett favre as the perfect example. he was a role-model athlete the entire time he was in green bay, there were books and documentaries made praising his greatness as a green bay packer. he goes to two other teams at the tale end of his career and what happens? his legacy is forever tarnished by both his on the field and off the field antics.
aaron rodgers has never been suspended from football for allegedly raping anyone. ben roethlisburger has. in fact, aaron rodgers has had one of the toughest obstacles any quarterback could ever have in his career and he handled it better than anyone could have hoped for. he was in the shadow of the greatest of all time, #4. and he waited patiently until it was his time and now he's shocked the world, calm and collectively. greg jennings and donald driver are the two most professional stand-out wide receivers in football. name two other receivers as high profile who let their playing do their talking, and not their mouth. there's no vh1 reality show for these guys, there's no controversial press conferences or trash talking. they go out and let their playing do the talking.
they are a defensive football team first and foremost. aj hawk, clay matthews, bj raji, and of course charles woodson....all guys who let their playing do the talking, and they save their mouths for what's important. there's no head and shoulders endorsements for hawk or woodson like there is polamalu. in fact, what do you see from matthews in commercials? charity work. this team is all about class.
what was the big controversy for the packers this week going into the superbowl? that the players on IR weren't going to be in the team picture. that was it. that was all. and what happened? the team moved the date of the picture so they could be in it.
these guys shut their mouth and let their playing do the talking. they are modest, they are professional, and they are the classiest organization in football. with the threat of a looming lock-out and possible no football for a while, no team deserves to leave cowboys stadium tonight with the trophy (for however long that might be), than the green bay packers.
