A Packer Addict Speaks

Sunday December 16th, 2007 - Lake Villa, IL

My Green Bay Packer addiction got another fix today as they stomped on the St. Louis Rams by a score of 33-14. I wish I didn’t enjoy it so much but I can’t lie. I do. I love it. It touches some inner tweak that needs to be satisfied and if I could unplug it I surely would. But I can’t. I don’t play fantasy football. I don’t bet. I just love it when the Packers win.

The NFL loves idiots like me and there are MILLIONS of us that are blindly addicted to any one of their teams. Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors of ice cream but the NFL has it beat by one. There are 32 teams in the league and every one of them has a core group of mopes who not only plan their lives around watching the games but also buy tons of merchandise. They don’t care which team people choose. They just care that one of them gets chosen.

As I look around my room I have a Packer mug I keep my pens in and a sippy cup I got at Lambeau Field when I was there a few weeks ago and a whole bunch of green and gold clothing with the infamous giant ‘G’ logo on it. I think the only other logo that had a blind brand loyalty like that was the swastika. I hate myself but I can’t help it. I love the Pack.

Today’s game was meaningless in the standings too. They already won their division and have made the playoffs and now it’s a matter of getting home field advantage. Humans are a strange animal because that’s what everyone was talking about on the radio afterwards. I listened to other addicts call in one after the other excited about how good life would be if only Dallas would lose a couple of games and ’we’ could sneak right in and go all the way.

I’m sure there were some ugly deaths in Iraq today and I’m sure there were some people in nursing homes who died alone and orphanages where nobody visited the kids and I wish I didn’t care so much about how the Packers are doing but I was right there hoping Dallas would lose and sure enough they did. I don’t think anyone in Iraq gave it a second notice.

I know I’m a control freak. I never drank alcohol or did drugs because I didn’t want that feeling of not being in control. That’s probably why I’m not married either. I never trusted my emotions to be in the hands of anyone else. Childhood pain hurt so much that I didn’t trust anyone intimately and in some ways I still can’t. I’ve been scorched way too much.

The Packers did it too. Growing up in the 70s they hurt all of us Packer-holics and it’s a permanent scar to this day. That’s part of why it feels so great to see them do so well right now. They’ve never had this good of a record in my lifetime and I’m enjoying every week. I know at some point either they will win the Super Bowl or lose a heartbreaker and I will be right back to ground zero again and thinking about next year. Will Favre finally retire?

Whether he does or doesn’t there will be millions of us who will gather around our radio or TV on Sunday hoping to get another fix of a Packer win. Or a Bears loss. Both are very sweet and next week the Packers play the Bears in Chicago. The Bears are reeling and it’s a good bet that there will be a double dose of a holiday treat in store next Sunday. I will be watching and cheering but until then I need to get my head back in the real game - LIFE.