Finally! My original plan to do something involving Converse had to be shelved. Heck, even they didn’t have anything new on their own site until a couple days ago. Nice to see a Fortune 500 company (division of Nike since 2003) struggle to be on time.
Then I caught some of the NFL wild-card games this weekend and decided to throw my support behind Green Bay. Da Packers? Yes, the team the Sports Media hates the most and at the risk of probably being arrested in Texas for not swearing my oath of fealty to the Cowboys, aka “America’s Team.” Normally, I’m pretty neutral with the NFL unless there’s a team from an egregious part of the country involved *cough!* Indianapolis, or it has a player who’s a big idiotic jerk (take your pick). I do admit to being impressed with New England’s perfect season, the first since Miami in the Seventies. I only take issue with it being Boston, there’s no city called New England. The Boston fans are a mean-spirited, unsportsmanlike bunch on par with Philly, New York and Chicago. They’re more famous for having a distinct, obnoxious accent. It’s no wonder why their neighbors call them Massholes.
Meanwhile, I am showing my support of the Packers for several reasons. They’re the best chance the NFC (Midwest) North has at winning a title: Minnesota always blows it (tied with Buffalo for most Super Bowl appearances without winning), Chicago lost badly last year and I’ll have my friend Brian explain Detroit’s issues. Then there’s Brett Favre. He beat Dan Marino and John Elway’s records this year. It would be nice to see him retire on a high note. Plus any athlete willing to show up at the end of There’s Something About Mary to help an ongoing joke is cool. Finally, anything to turn the screws on the National Sports Media because I stated earlier how they dislike Green Bay. When I worked at the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Packer beat reporter explained this attitude to me. Admittedly, Green Bay, WI is out of the way, the weather stinks and it’s not a very cosmopolitan place. It’s the smallest professional sports market in the US. There’s very little to do compared to the major cities and it doesn’t have the amenities TV celebrities like to make their time in Flyover Country bearable. The final insult to them is that the team is owned by its fans with a rule stating nobody can own more than 200,000 shares (out of 4.7 million outstanding shares). Thus, no multimillionaire looking for a tax shelter can acquire the team and move it to a larger market the National Media would prefer.
Who knows though. Maybe I’ll end up changing the colors to match Dallas, a theme I’ve never tried, because the Packers could get knocked out by Seattle this weekend. I just know I won’t root for the AFC teams.