I watched Monday Night Football last night. And much like the past three weeks, I left shaking my head. My roommate from Minnesota reluctantly said to me after the failed fourth-down conversation in the closing minutes, \Tough one, hey J-Mack?""
I paused for a minute and responded, ""Well... it's getting easier to digest every week.""
I anticipated this months ago and I treated the 2005 Packers season like I do midterms. I put off the truth that the day would actually come for far too long. Now, I find myself sitting in a 16-week-long midterm that will likely end with the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. But, unlike the Packers, I can at least steal a few answers from the girl next to me.
Yeah, we're a bad football team this year. Our defense is awful and littered with players who would be fighting to make an XFL roster. Honestly, Ahmad Carroll is beginning to make the selection of Terrell Buckley with the fifth pick in the 1992 draft look like a stroke of genius from the Green Bay war-room.
And Brett Favre, I'd take a bullet for this guy, but he's been pissed off since the start of training camp. He started by lashing out at Javon Walker for holding out and then on EPSN, he says he has no responsibility for the maturation of rookie quarterback Aaron Rodgers. I know he has about 40 family members cramped in his house right now because of Hurricane Katrina and that is enough to annoy anyone, but throw in a smile every now and then Brett-even a Vicodin-induced one for old-time's sake would be refreshing.
But there is an underlying positive we can take from such an awful start and a dismal looking future: it is time to start weeding out the bandwagon fans that have been on the ride for too long.
""Dude, it's time to make the switch,"" another roommate of mine said to me last night. (This is also the same guy who likes the Spurs, the Patriots, the Red Sox and, I don't know, probably a big Lance Armstrong fan too.)
I looked at him in disgust but at the same time, it was true. Things were a little ridiculous, for some people.
Green and yellow Zubas and a Reggie White jersey that barely fits over your stomach are great to wear around the house or at a Packer party, but when they leak their way into church and casual Fridays at work, it becomes a little disgusting.
Packers soon swept over Wisconsin, but far too many fair-weather fans were jumping aboard.
So, this is the trial our generation needed to face in order to truly call ourselves fans of the Packers. Don't get me wrong, this is the best franchise in all of sports, but our fathers and fathers before that have witnessed some dire stretches of Packer football. It is officially time to draw a line in the sand and find out where people stand.
This is my message to all who are ready to find a new team: Go right ahead. We never wanted you here in the first place. We may only win four games this year (remember we still have the Bears and Kyle Orton two more times this season) but the real fans will be there for every holding call, every Favre/Rodgers/Leinart interception and the five head coaches we may go through in the next 10 years.
I've cherished the Packers since I began following sports, and the nostalgia of Lambeau Field, Lombardi, Starr and Nitchke will always send a chill up my spine. Additionally, a Majkowski to Sharpe touchdown pass into Super Tecmo Bowl will still remain the finest play in the game.
The glory days may be going in the closet for a while, but the pride that lives inside a true Packer fan will burn forever. And for those that have already left, I hear the Steelers have a few openings.
Jon can be reached for comment at jrmcnamara@wisc.edu.
