An interesting phenomena has reached the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. Life long Minnesota Viking fans are suddenly becoming fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers as they head to Super Bowl XLV on Sunday.
But for all my talk about bandwagon Packer fans and all that stuff, I could see why some of you Packer fans out there might call myself and others hypocrites for stocking up on Troy Polamalu jerseys and Terrible Towels. But, we're still going to do it.
Here's what's up. I know the Packers are a very talented football team. They have a young, elite quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. They have a young, great, up-and-coming defense with guys like Clay Matthews, B.J. Raji, and Tramon Williams. Plus their coaching staff is actually competent, something the Vikings have lacked for the past 20 years. So yeah, there's a bit of jealousy involved.
However, this isn't about the team. It's about the John Deere Cult itself.
Packer fans blow my mind. Actually, their quite entertaining. Just like any fan base, you have some who are pretty cool. (Like my roomate who will probably unleash the fury upon reading this.) But then you have some who are just...for lack of a better term, dumb.
Think of Packer fans for a second. What's the one thing they shout uncontrollably? Three Super Bowls. It's a good fact, but when you're sitting down at a bar and having a good ol' chat about football, they tend to use it as a white flag to say you won the argument. It's like a person screaming "@#$% you."
Examples?
Person 1: Well Adrian Peterson is the better statistical running back than Ryan Grant.
Person 2: Well, the Packers have three Super Bowls.
Person 1: Mike McCarthy is the same coach as Brad Childress but the players like him.
Person 2: But we have three Super Bowls.
Person 1: The Vikings have won 12 division championships, which is more than the Packers have.
Person 2: But we have three Super Bowls.
OK, maybe the third one was legit, but really? The pain of hearing FOUR Super Bowls being screamed at us non-stop would be too much to take. Consider that reason #1.
Reason #2? Packer fans are just as big of hypocrites as Viking fans. Yeah, most Viking fans turned to Brett Favre fans when he played for us...BUT THAT'S BECAUSE WE WERE WINNING.
Packer fans don't understand this. When your team has zero Super Bowls, you'll do a lot of things you won't be proud of to get one. Cheering for Favre, slaying a goat, and taking Visthante Shiancoes [excerpt deleted] to the back of your throat all count in that category if it means the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
The point I'm getting at is the so-called loyalty Wisconsin has in their sports. Let's go to scenario A. Cindy, a teacher from Appleton, is a life long Packer fan, then she goes to Minneapolis for a teaching job. When she's there, she becomes a Viking fan because the they're closer and easier to watch than the Packers.
Scenario B. Cindy grows up a life long Brewers fan and gets the same job in Minnesota. She becomes a Twins fan for the same reason.
Why do I bring this up? Because in scenario A, when Cindy comes home for Christmas wearing a Percy Harvin jersey, she gets beat, tied up to a stake, and the entire city of Green Bay performs an exorcism. Yet, in scenario B, it's ok because the Brewers suck.
That's some great loyalty in Wisconsin. I actually have respect for Brewers fans because their team has been so God awful. I imagine that a good chunk of kids who grew up in Milwaukee and watched the Brewers during their childhood became Twins fans because they could win, or became...even worse...Cubs fans. Yuck.
This doesn't stop at baseball though. Ted Thompson is great isn't he? So is B.J. "The Freezer" Raji. Two vital cogs in the Packers Super Bowl run who got blasted on a daily basis. As Charles Barkley once put it, winning is the deodorant that covers the stench of losing. Simple as that.
And don't give me the "We were there when they sucked in the 80's argument." I have two questions to shut that down. 1) If the Packers didn't win the first two Super Bowls and multiple NFL Championships, would Wisconsinites still flock to Lambeau Field? 2) WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO IN GREEN BAY??? Don't get me wrong, St. Norbert hockey is really good and probably really fun to follow, but really? REALLY?
Finally, reason #3...and perhaps the biggest one. YOU DON'T NEED US!!! It seems like if I choose to cheer against the Packers, I upset God. How dare I cheer against the legendary Green Bay Packers? Do I not like football? Do I have a problem with tradition? I'm going straight to hell in this one, where I shall swim in a river of fire for all eternity, and every time I try to come up, some guy with a fire fist punches me and screams "GET BACK IN THE FIREY WATER!"
But seriously, why would you want fans of a team, who God truly hates, cheering for your team? You wanna talk four Super Bowls? The Vikings have LOST four Super Bowls. Do you really want that bad luck on your side?
With all of this, I will cheer against the Packers. If the Packers win, hats off to them. They're a very talented football team with most of their pieces locked up for several years to come. They could be a dynasty in the making. However, I do not believe that the fans of the Green Bay Packers, just like fans of the Vikings last year, deserve a championship.
This has been Crishad's 1,000 words of anger. Good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment