Solo Practice

From a football fans perspective this is the best time of year.  The NFL Playoffs are in full gear with the Divisional round almost in the books.  This blog is not a sports or football blog, but I am a sports and football fan.  So when I develop things to write about I tend to resort to things towards the front of my mind.  On top of all of that I live in Appleton, Wisconsin, which is only 30 miles from Green Bay for those of you wondering about Wisconsin geography.  Needless to say this is Packer Country.  In fact, the entire state of Wisconsin is Packer Country, but we are up to our eyes in Packer mania 24/7 for 365 days a year.  If I sound negative at all please forgive me.  The truth is I am not a Wisconsin native, nor am I a natural Packer fan.  However, I have come to appreciate and even cheer for the local teams.  That last statement is kind of funny actually since I consider the local teams to be the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Marquette Golden Eagles (basketball) and the Wisconsin Badgers (football).  None of those teams are technically "local" since the closest is the Packers and, as mentioned above, they are 30 miles away.  Yet we cheer and we act like we personally know the players such as Brett Favre.  That is the main thing that separates the Packers with my previous experience as a Minnesota Vikings fan growing up in North Dakota.  There is a personal investment by Packer fans in the outcome of the game.  If it would be proper to call the Packer nation the best fans in football, then it would be equally proper to call the Vikings nation the worst fans in football.  Talk about your quintessential fair weather fan base.   (note: this is the second time in a day that I have used the term quintessential, which coincidentally exhausts my supply of said term for the first 6 months of 2008).

The point is that the Packer's playoff push is great entertainment all across the country since the Packers have a somewhat national fan base, but it is infinitively more important here in Wisconsin.  Packer's news is the lead story on the local 10 o'clock news.  Bret Favre is the Governor even though Jim Doyle allegedly occupies that position.  The radio voice of the Packer's, Wayne Larrivee, is also the voice of reason in many households across the state.  After yesteday's dominating performance against the Seattle Seahawks it is near impossible to not feel the electricity in the air.  Are the Packer's going to make it to or win the Superbowl?  We'll see.  All I know is that the Wisconsin economy will inevitably see an up-tick in numbers the longer the Packers survive in the playoffs.  Happy people work harder and spend more money.  They also like to congregate at the local watering hole to watch "their" team make a championship run.  Go Pack Go.