Bears v. Packers

The NFL, and more specifically, the Super Bowl, is the biggest sports spectacle in the United States.  People in the USA love football.  People throughout the country are indoctrinated every weekend, starting with high school  on Friday nights, college on Saturdays, and the NFL on Sundays/Monday Night.  Despite its immense popularity and history going back about 90 years you see things every week you have not seen before.  That is what makes it great.  A ho hum game can turn into a classic battle that everyone is talking about.  More specifically, franchises that were left for dead can turn into powerhouses in short periods of time.  To me the 2000s have symbolized that.  The Patriots & Colts elevated themselves to perennial contenders and yearly rivals with the game's two best QBs.  The Baltimore Ravens (the former Browns, playing in the Colts old city) have been one of the unlikely powerhouses, winning a championship in 2000 due to their outstanding defense.  The Rams came from out from obscurity with a former grocery store bagger as a QB and won a Super Bowl in '99 followed by another appearance in '01 and a few good playoff years in between.  The Seahawks and Cardinals made the Super Bowl out of the NFC West which is generally a forgotten division.  Pittsburgh restored glory to the famed franchise, and Tampa Bay built a defensive power along the lines of Baltimore and won a Super Bowl against the historic Raiders.

I say all of this because in the NFC this year you have a game that, in my mind, and it appears most of the country's as well, blows all of this away.  It is Bears-Packers.  Two teams that have played 180 regular season matchups before.  That is twice a year for 90 years.  This is not Jets-Dolphins or Patriots-Colts.  This is two teams that have won a combined 21 NFL championships (including 4 Super Bowls).  Even Packers-Vikings, which in my lifetime has been the more intense rivalry, doesn't even compare.  This is like a college rivalry; Nebraska-Oklahoma, Michigan-Ohio St, Alabama-Auburn.  They are about 215 miles apart along Lake Michigan. It is the midwest.  It is hard working, blue collar, men (and women) bleeding their teams colors.  Families are torn between the teams.  The unfortunate thing is that in their long histories both teams have not been good at the same time very often.  In fact, this is only the 4th season that both have made the playoffs.  That makes this game even more meaningful to the fans, knowing that this might not happen again in their lifetimes.

For me, it is just about winning.  I don't care if we are playing the Bears or Panthers or whatever.  I just want them to win.  But if Green Bay beats Chicago for the right to play in the Super Bowl, you can believe that I will never forget this season, and the players involved will go down as legends.  This is the time.  Aaron Rodgers, Charles Woodson, Donald Driver.  You are the leaders of this team.  You cannot let this slip by.  Clay Matthews, Tramon Williams, Desmond Bishop.  You are the young/inexperienced core that has brought this team to the next level down the stretch run.  This will probaby never happen again.  It is time to "carpe diem" as they say.  Sieze the day, and become legends.

GO PACK GO