Ya know what the beauty of loving sports is. It’s getting to root for teams and players far after your favorite team has been eliminated. As a Bears fan in 2007-08, my season ended much sooner than I ever imagined, but my love for the sport of football kept me interested in particular teams and particular players. My fantasy football leagues may have had something to do with it, but nonetheless. When the Bears aren’t playing, I’ll find the most interesting game, or the two teams that provide each other a great matchup to keep myself entertained. And with the Bears out of it, I’ve been asked who I’m rooting for. I’ll say a particular team, or a particular player – and immediately I’m described as a defector, and a die-hard fan of the team I latched myself on to. I’ve even been called a bandwagon jumper for what I’ve said. Are you kidding me? I’ve stuck with the Chicago Bears through the toughest of times (Henry Burris, Kordell Stewart, Jonathon Quinn, Kraig Krenzel – I could go on forever people), but when they are eliminated from contention, I’m automaticall a flip-flopper because I start pulling for another team? Ya know what I have to say to that is: Bite me!
Since the Bears were eliminated from playoff contention, I’ve started to pull for a team I never imagined I would. I didn’t even know the possibility was in my blood. I starting cheering for the resurgent Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Immediately, Bears fans laughed and wrote me off as just another fair-weather fan. No people, that’s not the reason. In fact, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. As a sports fan, I love watching the greats. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Albert Pujols – this list of men includes players on teams that I despise (Cardinals), but I could watch any one of these guys, anytime. I love watching the greats strike fear into an opponent, or announce with a big play or shot that they aren’t out of contention quite yet. In the NFL, I don’t know if there is a player more fun to watch then Brett Favre. As a Bears fan, I’m more than comfortable at admitting that. Hell, I wrote an article about it when I wrote for the newspaper at Western IL. The way he manages the game, takes risks, makes impossible plays, threads the needle, while at the same time having the most fun a guy can have wearing shoulderpads. Favre is easily the most humble player in the league, and can’t speak enough about the guys he has around him at any particular moment. Where would he be this year without receivers Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, and Donald Lee? The Packers couldn’t have taken the next step without the outstanding play of no-namer Ryan Grant. And there isn’t anyone that knows it better than Favre himself. At age 38 – he’s reached the apex, and has seen the Death Valley. And for a guy that old to still go out there and enjoy his God given gift every Sunday, it’s a joy to watch. So when asked who I’m rooting for come Sunday for the Conference Championship games, I have no problem saying, as a die-hard Bears fan, I want to see Brett Favre lead his Packers to the promise land in what could be (but won’t be) his final season in a league that wouldn’t be at the height it is without his presence. And for the AFC game, I want to see Tom Brady run the Patriots record to an unprecedented 18-0 – turning Super Bowl XLII into one of the most anticipated games in the history of sports. The unbeatens vs. the unknowns. Brady vs. Favre. The highest rated game ever to be televised. All this – because damnit, I love football, and I want to see the best matchup the game can provide us.
