Six of One...

What is it about the Greenbay Packers I so dislike?  By population, they should be perennial underdogs.  But the Greenbay Packers, underdogs?  Hardly.  My earliest football memories are of Vince Lombardi and George Halas.  Pick your scowl.

In my more rational moments, I have to give a tip of the cap to the franchise for being so good for so long.  The Packers come as close as you can to a dynasty in their sport.  We’ll see what the Patriots are made of once Tom Brady retires.  Brady is one star quarterback versus Bart Starr, Brett Favre and, now, Aaron Rodgers.

There was even a time when I really liked Wisconsin.  My parents would find a cabin on a lake somewhere north of the state line, and off we’d go for a week, my mother vising the Piggly Wiggly or some such place for groceries.  I can still hear the waves lapping against the side of the rowboat tied to the pier, and I remember listening to a Cubs’ game on the radio.  It was in the mid-90s back home while we cooled off in the shade of the North Woods.

But the flies always liked to bite, that I remember, too, and I wonder how much our hosts could stand us.  Nowadays, it’s an open secret that Wisconsinites detest “flatlanders” from Illinois; we drive too fast and probably talk too loud.  Maybe that’s a recent development, in which case, how sad.  If not, the flies were a tipoff and I hate the Packers.

Yesterday, they demolished the Giants, 38-13.  Chicagoan that I am, the score makes for good lemonade because I hate things and people New York more than I ever could Greenbay.  Next week, the Packers travel to Dallas to face off against the Cowboys, Cheeseheads vs. Jerry Jones’ kids.  Oh, well, I hate things and people Texas more than I ever could Greenbay.  Maybe, sometimes.