Behind 'Enemy' Lines.....

     The silly things we do for love....spend loads of money on jewelry, write bad poems, sing out of key on bended knee, marry a Packer fan.......(needle sound dragging across a record)  What??!!  Yes......I did the unthinkable for a Chicago Bears fan; I fell in love with and married a Packers fan!  It was the red hair, I'm a sucker for the 'Colleens' !!  She is not a rabid Packers fan per se, not one that takes her teams losses personally as I do when the Bears lose, but a Packers fan none the less. My wife was not a huge football fan when we met. She would watch the games with some interest but if she missed one it wasn't a big deal. Over the years her enjoyment of the game grew as Wisconsin Badgers football improved dramatically, developed a winning program under Barry Alvarez, and won 3 Rose bowl games in the 1990's. The games were pretty exciting and as we watched them with her parents, her Dad especially, her curiousity was piqued.

      Then "He" came along in 1992. The now (in)famous number 4 for the Packers. A young exciting gunslinger quarterback from Kiln, Mississippi who helped reverse the misfortunes of the once woeful Packers. The "Michael Jordan (maybe  Wilt Chamberlein) of the Northwoods",  Brett Favre, emerged as the fearless leader of the Packers, and my wife's appetite for football spread like wildfire. She soaked up the game in no time, she asked loads of questions as we watched games, she  learned what 'illegal motion' and 'clipping' meant often seeing the penalties occuring before I did. She probably has a better handle on the nuances of the game  better than I do at this point. During football season on Sundays, Mondays and sometimes Thursdays, we always make time to watch the Bears game and the Packers game if they're on in Chicago. They usually are nowadays. For the Bears/Packers games I usually watch those at a bar with the guys as I get too 'wound up' for my wife's tastes. Being a good sport, my wife will actually root for the Bears if they aren't playing the Packers, which I love, but I just can't seem to reciprocate; it's the Packers, I have had an intense 'dislike' for the green and yellow as long as I have loved the orange and blue. I just can't pull for the Packers!!  I'm a better sport about it now than I used to be but I'll never be able to "back the Pack." The Bear blood runs too deep within my veins. I'd rather fight my way out of a biker bar full of tattooed cheesehead Packer backers than put on a Rodgers jersey to save myself!!

     This being said, we will journey North to Madison,Wisconsin to watch Superbowl XLV Sunday night with my wife's family. If there is a lesser of evils in this scenario, this is it. My wife's family is a large wonderful loving bunch. My wife's parents raised 10 children, all grown now with sizeable families of their own. a typical holiday gathering has at least 25 people or more and Sunday night will be no different. They welcomed me in from day one like I was a long lost piece to a puzzle they had been searching for and I felt the same. My wife's Dad and I got along so well I often wished we were of the same generation. He always treated me like a rock star when we visited with an enthusiastic  "Hey Dave!!" as we arrived from Chicago.  This might have been helped along the year I drew his name on the family Christmas list and got him a Packers jacket. His face lit up like a 5 year old when he opened it and he wore it until the day he passed away. There was always alot of playful teasing between my mother in law and I as well usually over her baked goods. She was a master at desserts especially chocolate cake!! Long story short, I love my wife and her family, an entire gaggle of Packer fans, very much and they love me. National League Football and other professional sports are merely entertainment vehicles we all enjoy watching and cheering over. The real point in life is to surround yourself with the people you love and spend your time enjoying them.  I alluded to being "behind enemy lines" for the game but it couldn't be farther from the truth. My wife's family couldn't be my enemies in a million years. (The Packers on the other hand.....) While I just can't root for the Packers this weekend, I will enjoy the company and all the smiling faces especially if  Green Bay wins. Their energy is infectious. I hope the game goes the way my family would like it to, but for at least part of the game I'll be picturing what it would look like if the Bears had made it to Dallas! All in all,  I will endure a very late evening Sunday night driving back  from Wisconsin probably getting home around midnight or so just to wake up for work at 5 a.m. on Monday. Oh the silly things we do for love....Enjoy the game you cheeseheads!!!