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Sunday, December 12. 2010

Bragging Rights

The roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN collapsed in a snow storm, causing the NFL to move Sunday’s game between the Vikings and the New York Giants to Monday Night in Detroit, MI. Works out for me and sort of works out for football fans in Detroit because A: it’s the first Monday Night game that city has had in decades. The Lions have been so bad they have been left off the Monday Night schedule. B: the NFL is handing out free tickets to anyone who goes to the game.

The two feet of snow that caused the collapse is the reason I moved from Wisconsin to California. That’s 24 inches of snow in one storm. Then you take into account all the other storms that will happen during the season, which in that area starts the beginning of November and continues until mid-April, and you get the picture. And it’s so damn cold!

It works out for me because the Vikings-Giants game was going to be aired her in San Diego. Since the game was postponed, we got the Green Bay Packers playing the Detroit Lions! Yay! We get a Packer game! But it isn’t the Packers best game, not by a long shot. Beginning of the 4th quarter and the score is just 3-0, Packers winning. But the Lions keep moving the ball and at some point the Lions are gonna get it right, catch an officiating break and voila! The Lions are leading.

By the time this is completed, the game will be over and … shee-it! Lions just scored a touchdown.

Aaron Rogers has been knocked out of the game with a concussion so the Packers are depending on their only other quarterback, Matt Flynn. O dear. Less than four minutes left in the game and the Lions are leading by four. Packers can’t settle for a field goal if they make it into the “Red Zone” at the other end of the field. Actually, the Packers are moving the ball so they have a chance to win this game.

But not anymore. The Lions defense kept the Packers out of the end zone, keeping the Pack from getting beyond mid-field. The Lions have their third win of the season. The Packers, with an 8-5 season record, stay behind the Chicago Bears in the division. They could go 11-5 and not make the playoffs.

Here in the AFC West Division, a team with an 8-8 record could conceivably make the playoffs. The Kansas City Chiefs lead the division, by two games and they are in San Diego to play the Chargers. That game is just getting under way. Oh how we lament the Chargers in San Diego. Last week they got their clock cleaned by the Oakland Raiders.

Going into today’s games, the Chargers and Raiders were tied in the division. But, the Raiders lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars so if the Chargers win today they will be in sole possession of second place in the division — one game behind the Chiefs.

Such is the state of being a fan of a sports team, or for many in San Diego, a fan of two teams. Ideally, both teams should win every game, but they don’t Usually, one team wins and the other loses, like today.

San Diego is one of those places where you’ll find transplants from other parts of the country. There are A LOT of Packers and Steelers fans in San Diego, and interestingly enough, a whole lot of Raiders fans. Due to this being a military town — Navy and Marines — you’ll see cars with team merch, bumper stickers and the like, from just about every professional sports team in America. Even the Fucking Cowboys.

That blue star, you just want to run them pricks off the road. But, if the vehicle is sporting Cowboy blue, it’s more than likely an over-sized pickup with a jacked up frame; you’ve seen them. You need a six-foot ladder to get into them. Hard to run them off the road.

Team rivalries thrive in San Diego. We argue about our teams and it really sucks if your home team loses or is in a losing season. Man! I remember 13 years ago when the Packers were here in San Diego to play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. Everyone was certain the Packers were going to walk away the winners. My brother and I even went to see the team at their hotel in La Jolla the day before the game. They were loose, too loose it seemed and a feeling of dread came over me.

The night before the biggest game of the season, and it would seem logical they would have their game faces on, getting serious for the next day’s event. But the Packers looked totally unconcerned with football. Sure enough, after all their trash talking leading up to the game, the Packers lost to the Denver Broncos. It was humiliating to talk with family in the Denver area, all of whom abandoned the Packers to be Broncos fans.

Effin’ Packers. They were 11-point favorites! Instead, they lost by seven.

Well, the Chargers game is over, they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-0. So, to Hell with the Packers, I’m a Chargers fan today! The first game of the season though, the Chiefs beat the Chargers, but only by seven points.

The favorite past time of Chargers fans this season is to bash head coach Norv Turner. But, Norv is still the coach. More than likely, the Chargers will make the playoffs, especially if they win their final three games of the season. And let’s hope that if they do make it, they don’t fold in their first post-season game.

Now it’s time for Sunday Night Football: The Philadelphia Eagles against them effin’ Cowboys. I hope Michael Vick and his team squash the Cowboys. America’s Team my ass! I don’t know what’s worse, the team itself or their arrogant and sanctimonious fans.

This is the part where I bring up the “Ice Bowl” of 1967. It was the last day of the year, the NFL Championship Game, played in Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin. The temperature at game time was -13°f, the wind chill a horrific -48°f. By the end of the game, with that dramatic last play, the air temperature had dropped to -20°f.

Like the season before, the Packers faced the Cowboys for the championship and in the final minutes of the game it looked like the Cowboys could actually win. In Lambeau Field no less. But, with 16 seconds left in the game and the Packers on the 1-yard line, Bart Starr called a trick play: a quarterback sneak. Being diehard Packer fans, our house erupted with cheers. The Packers had won their third consecutive NFL Championship and went on to beat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

After that the Cowboys were clearly the better team, going to the Super Bowl several times, losing most of them. This was before the Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson era. But, in 1997 the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans, beating the New England Patriots 35-21.

Effin’ Packers … good thing them effin’ Chargers won.

Posted by Tim Forkes in Sports at 16:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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