Tuesday August 7th, 2012 – Green Bay, WI/West Allis, WI
I’m angry with myself. I should have stayed home and got some much needed work done, but I had to take time off to go see the Packers practice. Was it fun? Well, kind of I guess - but at what cost? My friend Mark and I decided to stay overnight in Green Bay and take a tour of the Packer Hall of Fame because he’d never seen it before. I’ve seen it several times, but I like going back.
It’s one of the nicest tourist attractions I can think of anywhere of any kind, and I’ve seen a lot of them all over the country. We each got a room at the Econolodge, which was very reasonably priced and made a vacation of it. We had a continental breakfast and hit the Jacuzzi before going to see the Hall of Fame. For $10, it’s a total bargain. There was a line to get in, but we waited.
I liked seeing the memorabilia from all the eras, and it brought back memories of seeing games with my grandfather as a kid. I looked up the years of my childhood and the teams we saw, and it really hit home how long ago it all was. Childhood is over, and adulthood is fading fast as well.
I don’t know why it hit me so hard, but I suddenly felt like I’ve wasted my entire life and won’t ever be able to salvage anything useful. Why should the Packers mean so much to me? If I could manage to have the passion for anything in life like I’ve had for cheering for a football team, I’d be a lot farther than I am. What is it about sports allegiance that’s so powerful and long lasting?
I’ve had that question for years, but I still don’t have an answer. Does it matter even one teensy weensy little bit in the grand scheme of life if the Green Bay Packers win a game? I know that it shouldn’t, but in my world and the world of millions of other cheese heads it absolutely does. It’s to the point now I don’t even like to watch games anymore, because if they lose it really irks me.
Mark and I sat in the stands and watched part of another practice, and again it was a full house. Most of them were dressed in Packer regalia, and it occurred to me how shallow and stupid all of this is. It’s ok to like sports and cheer for a team, but there’s something wrong with us that we’ve let it mean this much to so many. I’m still trying to figure out why people fall so hard for all this.
I want to do something in my own life that makes me celebrate as if the Packers had triumphed in yet another Super Bowl. Would I feel good about it if they did? Yes I would, but why? I didn’t have even one thing to do with it, even if I bought a jersey, t-shirt or cap. I contributed nothing to the cause other than watching it unfold on television, so why should that make me feel so good?
I have no clue, but it would. It disturbs me that I let it have so much power over me, but I can’t help it. Mark and I drove back through Milwaukee, and decided we were going to see Styx at the Wisconsin State Fair. I enjoy concerts, and it sounded like fun until we got to the ticket booth.
We ended up walking through the whole fairgrounds looking to buy a ticket, and weren’t told it was an extra $25 or $35 depending on where we wanted to sit. I wasn’t about to pay that, and we walked all the way back through the grounds and back to the car and drove home. I wasted a full two days I could have spent working on my projects. Vacation over. Now I’m behind even more.
No comments:
Post a Comment