Trouble in Paradise

Well, it's happened!  The Bears are going to meet the Packers in the game of the century. No game since 1941 has been this monumental.  As a NFL football fan, I am WAY excited about the Monsters of the Midway meeting the Land of the Frozen Tundra Cheeseheads for the chance to go to the Big Show.  I am proudly claim my Chicago-land roots as the Pack march in to Soldier Field.  Why, here I am in 2009, standing in front of the ever-so-infamous Soldier Field. Growl!

 

As the partner of a cheesehead, this is problematic.  You can't root for both teams.  Per the wife, that would be ridiculous.  As the partner of a cheesehead who will gladly don the green and gold (as evidenced here), I am conflicted.  While I love a good trip to Lambeau Field (home of the vegetarian brat) and I enjoy the wife's passion for the game and I support the wife in all her misguided adventures--er, I mean her passion for the Packers, I need to pick a side in this house divided.

 

There is trouble in paradise.

 

Understandably, the wife is a nervous wreck about this big game.  Packer fans aren't JUST fans.  This is THEIR team.  This is THEIR game.  This is THEIR life! As I have said before and I will say a billion times again, they ARE their team.  They are ONE with their team.  They don't say "The Packers;" they say "we," as in "we have to win this game....we look great today....we might be developing a running game." They live and breathe with their team.  I've never seen anything like it.  The priests in the Catholic churches pray aloud for the team....

For the record: Don't EVER say that "it's just a game" to the wife.  It makes her delirious.  It is NOT just a game.  It is her reason for being.

Losing this game would be devastating to the wife and to her people.  The wife wonders if it would have been better--easier--if the Packers hadn't made it this far.  That way, they couldn't lose this game.  Of course, if they didn't play the game, they couldn't potentially go to the Super Bowl, so this confuses me. I find being in the playoffs amazing, electrifying, entertaining.  To the wife, it's painful, stressful, angst-filled.

 

God help us all if the Packers do make it to the Super Bowl and lose. I'll need to buy stock in anti-depressants. 

And so, it will be a very long week.  Every time I look at the wife, she looks distracted, worried.  I can tell this is weighing heavily on her....and, it's only Wednesday.  By Saturday, she should be a puddle on the floor.   

Me? I am going to enjoy the banter and the festivities and the excitement.  I'm going to taunt both sides and be taunted by both sides.  For fun, I think I'll wear my Bears coat today and my Packers coat tomorrow.  That really pisses both sides off.  It's a game!  It's a game and it should be fun! Pass me a vegetarian brat and give me the Super Bowl Shuffle.  May we all enjoy a good cheesehead....may the wife and I chuckle at the memory of that sloppy-drunk, frustrated Chicago fan who fell on his head when we were at the game....may we all continue our existence, no matter what the outcome....

 

Yup, it's gonna be a really long week in the Addiverse.  May Vince Lombardi be with all the cheddar heads this week.  May George Halas look down fondly upon his Bears.  May the wife not beat the snot out of me when I accidentally cheer for a great Chicago play. 

Amen.
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