Weekend Warriors

After a two week hiatus, Green Bay finally has another game tomorrow. I must say, I was starting to get the shakes from withdrawal, but now it's the shakes of anticipation.

I love the Green Bay Packers. I grew up watching Reggie White, Sterling Sharpe, Brett Favre, Robert Brooks, Dorsey Levens, and all of the Green and Gold throughout the 90s and I continue to watch to this day. I'm definitely a spoiled Packers fan for sure. The worst season I had to watch was two years ago in 2005 when they ended the season 4-12. Luckily that's the only losing season I've seen since I was six!

When I started to get into football, the Packers were just coming out of a rough slide (as we all know) though about 23 years. Did you know that from 1968 to 1991 the Pack only had five winning seasons? Whew, that's a tough stat to swallow. And how can we all forget the Tony Mandarich draft selection? Luckily for me I was only six years old in 1991 and my dad was just getting me into watching the historic Green Bay Packers.

At the time, I had no real idea what was going on since I was only six. I knew that they were playing well if my dad was yelling, "Go! Go! Go!" and playing poorly if he was pounding his fist on the arm of his recliner. At that time, most often it was the latter. Then came 1992... We saw Ron Wolf, Mike Holmgren, and Brett Favre join the historic franchise. The 1990's version of the Three Amigos.

I was beginning to understand the rules of the game shortly there-after. I was picking up a few rules here and there and soon I was the second string arm-chair quarterback to my dad. When mom would ask a question about a rule or call, if dad had his mouth full of some chips, I would jump in and give the right answer with pride. Football was my past-time and I didn't look back. I've seen each one of Brett's consecutive starts from beginning to end and I'm proud to say that I've seen the Packers win a Super Bowl.

Fast-forward to today and we are getting set to watch what could be a return to that level of infamy (knock on wood). The Packers have a tough match-up on their hands with the Seattle Seahawks. I'm sure Matt Hasselbeck is sick of the clip from 2003's playoff game between the two teams with his infamous "We want the ball and we're gonna score!" We all remember how that one turned out...



But none-the-less, Hasselbeck will definitely want to put that behind him.

If the Packers can get a win, then one has to wonder... Can the Pack make it to the big dance? All I can say is that I hope so. The night I watched the Packers in Super Bowl XXI was an incredible night. I was 11 years old and I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Three Amigos would bring the Lombardi trophy back to Title Town. This time around, I have my doubts... But I wonder... Would those doubts make the victory that much sweeter? Time will tell, and hopefully it will tell sooner rather than later.