The End of the World as We Know It

Uh oh. All is not well in the Addiverse.

Someone get the wife a beer. Quick!

I was in a meeting at work today when my work cell rang. It was Cheesy Ciabatta Bread, so I answered it....she announced the news that the wife has been dreading.....

I quickly hung up and got back to the meeting.

Then, my work cell rings again. This time, it's the wife.....

No, all is not well in the Addiverse....or, in the Frozen Tundra....or, in all of Wisconsin. Cheeseheads across the nation are in mourning....

This day is almost as bad a day when they announced they were canceling Xena Warrior Princess after six seasons...and then they CHOPPED HER FRIGGIN' HEAD OFF in the season finale!

It's almost as bad as the day my family gave the wife a Bears shirt for Christmas....

What could possibly be so bad, you ask?

Well, just turn to ESPN or go on the web or turn on your TV. It's the end of the world as we know it....

Brett Favre has announced his retirement.

Oh, stop it. I know there is a war in Iran or Iraq or where ever the hell they are fighting and I know there is global warming and I know there is mass poverty and AIDS and the flu.

But, this is Brett Favre and the wife is very, very sad.

She knew it had to happen.
She knew the day was coming.
But, it's one thing to know something and another to experience it as it really, truly happens.

I can see her wearing a black arm band on her Packers Jersey....

It is said that Brett "felt worn down by the demands of the game" and that "he and his wife Deanna thought anything short of a Super Bowl title would be a disappointment and not worth the mental wear and tear."

(I quote various sources from the Web when saying this. Trust me, there are a TON of sources about this story. I'm not going to try and cite any of them, as they are all basically saying the same thing. This is a time of loss, not a time of citing references, for the love of Vince Lombardi.)

Read: I'm tired. I'm beat. I'm retiring.

Ya gotta ask yourself: Who wants to get the tar beat out of themselves every week to not a get a nice, new big diamond ring in the end? I don't even know how the guy got out of bed every Monday after a game. I got hurt playing flag football, for crying out loud. He's got 350 lb balls of steel flying at him every twenty seconds. Who wants to ruin those last few pieces of muscle, cartilage and bone that are still left semi-intact? Who wants to jeopardize his entire retirement for one more season of Cheese and Bratwurst?

It's not like he needs more money. It's not like he doesn't have any records in the book--heck, he re-wrote the record book for Quarterbacks. He went to a pair of Super Bowls, he's won a Super Bowl, he's been a pro-bowler nine times, he has a gorgeous wife and two fabulous kids, he has a warm place to live (no offense to Green Bay, but it's not warm there) and has some great Prilosec commercials.

I know this will be painfully hard on the wife, not to mention her family. Her family is gathering this weekend for someone's birthday (hard to keep track of for whom, as there are like thirty birthdays in the next six weeks--I just show up where I'm told to be) and I know the only topics that will be discussed are the Packers & Brett Favre. No Obama, No Hillary, No nothing. Just, the Packers & Brett Favre. There will be tears and stories and yearning.

I don't know how to help the wife through this grieving process, but I do know it will be a long, hard crawl up the Lombardi trophy. Thankfully, she has the memory of seeing Brett Favre in person at his last game at Lambeau Field. That's gotta soothe at least some of the grief. (And, she has an autographed Brett Favre football, so she can stare lovingly at that. What nice person purchased that autographed football for her???) :-)

........Whatever we will do on Sundays once football season returns?

Send condolences to the wife. Send cards, flowers, Packer Beads, cheese. She's gonna need them.