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| Yep. The Pack is back. |
It’s that time again. Time to be brand-new-parent nervous again.
Yes, the Pack is back. Back in all that Super Bowl champion glory. Back with Belt Celebrations locked and Lambeau Leaps loaded.
And they bring with them the first football-induced butterflies you’ve felt for about seven months.
Oh, sure, you probably had a few frustrations with that whole NFL lockout thing. But you weren’t truly nervous about it. Because you knew it would eventually end. Moreover, you had no real emotional attachment to the teams involved. Did you really care whether the owners or players won? Nah. Like some sportswriter with an early deadline, you just wanted the game to end.
Because that way, the real games would begin. On time. And now they will.
The preseason is mercifully over. The preview magazines have been read to shreds. The blogs have exhausted every possible pixel of analysis. The prelude is past.
So tonight you’ll gather around a TV, or even around Lady Antebellum, in anticipation of that first kickoff sailing through the air. You’ll smile at the memories of Packers 31, Steelers 25. You’ll pray for more B.J. Raji dances.
And you’ll be nervous. Maybe not quite Josh Sitton nervous, or maybe much more, but whatever the level, it will be a splendid nervousness. It will be one filled with high expectation and great celebration and even the occasional deflation.
Because despite your fervent wishes, the Packers won’t be perfect. Maybe Aaron Rodgers finally clawed his way out of Brett Favre’s magnificent shadow, but he’ll still throw some Favrian interceptions. Maybe the Packers won’t suffer an avalanche of injuries like last year, but they’ll suffer plenty. Maybe they’ll even lose to the Lions again.
But you’ll still love them. (In fact, tell us how much you love them in our Packers fan survey, and maybe your comments will appear in an upcoming issue of Milwaukee Magazine.) And like any brand-new parent, your faith in them will be unshakeable. With very good reason.
Last year at this time, you hoped they could do it.
This year, you know they can.
Now, finally, the train is leaving the station again.
All aboard.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And listen to me chat sports with Mitch Teich once a month on WUWM’s “Lake Effect.”
