An Un-Bear-able Super Bowl

(From the Janesville Messenger, 2-4-07)

This weekend, of course, is the Super Bowl, which means that if you’re a Green Bay Packers fan, you’re prepared for the possibility of having Chicago Bears fans rub it in your face for a year.

What was surprising to me was that on January 26, the ten-year anniversary of the Packers’ Super Bowl victory passed with little fanfare in these parts. It was easy for me for remember. That victory, something I often wondered if I would ever see in my lifetime, occurred on my birthday. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime gift.

My wife, who cares for football about as much as she cares for having her fingers slammed in a car door, simply cannot figure out why I’m drawn to this sport like a moth to a porch light. When the Wisconsin Badgers were playing in the first of their three Rose Bowls in 1994, we had a one-week-old son and a 23-month-old daughter. But I was absolutely useless as a parent for four hours, as I was insanely bouncing all over the living room watching this game on TV. I was like a congregant at a Catholic mass– I’d sit, then I’d stand, then I’d kneel, then I’d pray, then I’d....well, I guess they don’t curse at mass.

As time was running out, Wisconsin was clinging to a five-point lead but UCLA was driving down the field for the potential winning score. I was a wreck. My disgusted wife finally shouted at me, “Why is this game so important to you?” I recall responding, “Just once, I want them to win something that matters!” I don’t think that really answered her question. It probably also frustrates her that I can clearly remember details of these games, but can’t remember that she asked me to pick up milk at the grocery store on my way home.

The Packers’ Super Bowl victory remains my peak experience as a sports fan, and a recent viewing of that game’s highlight film was one of those satisfying father-son moments. For good measure, I even went back a generation and showed him my game film of the 1967 Ice Bowl, so that he could appreciate one of his grandfather’s Packer experiences.

So I can identify with Bears fans who – despite their poor taste in football allegiances – are justifiably excited about their team’s first championship opportunity in a generation. At one time, the very thought of a Bears Super Bowl championship would have repulsed me and put me in a bad mood for months. But now, I have to admit that it won’t really bother me if they win. If nothing else, it will make my 92-year-old uncle - a Bears season ticket holder since 1939 - a happy man.

I just thank God it’s not the Minnesota Vikings.