Bring It On, CheeseHeads!

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Courtesy of Philly.com

Bring it on, Cheeseheads! We love Brett, hate the Packers
By WILLIAM BUNCH
bunchw@phillynews.com


AP

The always dangerous Brett Favre


LOVE the man. Hate the town.

OK, let's drop the atty-tude for about 10 seconds, and give some props to Green Bay Packers' QB Brett Favre. All of America - yes, even us - loves the spunk of this future Hall of Famer and his Hollywood-ready saga.

It was Favre - in case you've been living in a spider hole outside of Mosul recently - who took the field 24 hours after learning that his mentor father had died of a heart attack, and had the game of his life, launching an improbable playoff drive that seems guided by a higher power.

And so, truth be told, we spent the last week praying that we'd be sitting here last night writing a hater's guide to Dallas (Michael Irvin, Jerry Jones, Lee Harvey Oswald) or Seattle (Microsoft and Starbucks - too easy!) - anybody but Green Bay.

But then we remembered something else from Green Bay, that "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." And in the National Football League, to win on Sunday is to hate.

And so we hate Green Bay.

Vince Lombardi would have wanted it that way.

It's not like it's hard to find reasons.

It's too small

Let's be honest here. Green Bay is the nation's 69th-largest TV market, and we were stunned to learn it was even that large.

Green Bay, Wis., doesn't deserve a professional sports franchise any more than our own beloved neighborhood of Frankford or Pottsville or Pottstown or wherever the heck that place is that Gov. Rendell was trying to get the 1925 NFL title restored when he was supposed to be passing the state budget.

So why do 70,000 cheese-headed folks - 70 percent of the town (don't call it a city - pul-leeez) - show up at Lambeau Field on any given Sunday? Why has pro football succeeded here and failed in places with a few more folks, like, say, Los Angeles?

It's not because

the people are made of

hearty midwestern stock. It's because THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE TO DO THERE!!!

Well, actually, there's one other thing to do in Green Bay - drink. Under the heading of "Entertainment," the Green Bay Press-Gazette's Web site doesn't have "Nightlife" but there's a massive section for "Taverns" - as if there's a difference between the Buck Stop Inn and the creatively named Watering Hole Tavern.

You're certainly better off drinking than eating. The "Restaurant" section lists all nine of Green Bay's Taco Bells under the heading "ethnic."

Splinter-free!

Indeed, there's only one other thing besides football that Green Bay is famous for. We'll give you a hint: It's still manufactured here by the Quilted Northern division of Georgia-Pacific, whose slogan is: "We Make the Things That Make You Feel at Home."

That's a polite way of saying: "We Make Toilet Paper!"

Yes, Green Bay actually bills itself as "the toilet paper capital of the world," although for some reason Green Bay's Web site is called titletown.org and not worldtoiletpapercapital.org.

I guess we should be grateful, since Green Bay claims that Quilted Northern made the first TP that was "splinter free." But then the Packers won't be needing Quilted Northern after they get wiped by the Eagles at the Linc this Sunday.

No Warren Buffets here

There's a sucker born every minute - in Green Bay. Somehow, civic leaders duped citizens into owning the team without reaping any benefits. A total of 4,748,910 shares is owned by 111,507 stockholders - none of whom receives any dividend on the initial investment despite the millions of dollars of TV cash that's pumped into the franchise every year.

And you thought Sun Microsystems was a bad investment!

Reggie, what happened?

But then there's something about wind chills of minus-40 that can make people act a little loopy. Consider all-time NFL sack leader Reggie White, who was beloved during his seven seasons with the Eagles for his ferocity on the field as well as his godliness off field.

Then he goes and signs a $17 million deal with the Packers, and the next you know he's standing before the Wisconsin Legislature blasting gays for comparing their plight to that of blacks and adding: "We allow rampant sin, including homosexuality and lying, and because it has run rampant in our nation, our nation is in the condition it is today."

White was promptly dropped as pitchman for Campbell's - which probably spared him from a career-threatening injury like those suffered by every other Chunky Soup endorser.

Holier than thou

The funny thing is that if White wanted to find "rampant sin," he needed only to look down the row of lockers at the Packers' All-Star tight end, Mark Chmura. The ultra-conservative Chmura refused to go to Bill Clinton's White House with his Super Bowl winning squad in 1997 and said later of the Monica Lewinsky affair: "I look like a genius now. I knew it all along."

But in 2000, Chmura - who was 31 at the time - didn't look like much of a genius when he was charged with raping his family's 17-year-old babysitter in a bathroom at a hot-tub-soaked party after Waukesha Catholic Memorial High School's spring prom.

Chmura was acquitted but conceded his "immature" behavior was "something a married man shouldn't do."

We knew it all along.

Frozen tundra, hah!

Most of the Green Bay football myth is exactly that - myth. Take Lambeau Field's legendary "frozen tundra," a clever turn-of-phrase phrase made famous by - you guessed it - a Philadelphian, legendary NFL Films' voice John Facenda.

It turns out that not only is the playing field at Lambeau not tundra (duh), it's not even frozen! Alleged tough guy Lombardi had electric heating coils installed underneath so players like pretty boy Paul Hornung wouldn't get hurt. And the Packers practice indoors for most of the season.

What a bunch of wimps.

St. Vince

Even Lombardi himself wasn't really all that. Yeah, yeah, five NFL titles, never had a losing season, rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. But as you might guess for someone who thought winning was "the only thing," there were times when expediency won out - a cheating scandal when he was assistant coach at Army, and when he welcomed back prodigal son Hornung after the Packers star was suspended in 1963 for betting on Green Bay. (Ask Pete Rose what he thinks of that.)

And he did have losing seasons on the playing field of life, where his total devotion to football caused him to ignore his wife's growing drinking problem and to rarely be there for his kids.

So if you're scared about facing the vaunted "Pack" on Sunday, just remember the biggest loss of Lombardi's coaching career. It came in 1960.

At Franklin Field, in the NFL championship game.

17-13, Eagles.

Godspeed, Brett Favre. And good luck... next year.
 

gistech1978

Diamond Member
Aug 30, 2002
5,047
0
0
first of all Green Bay IS a city.
second, this there's nothing to do there argument about selling out doesnt hold water with me.
why does philly sell out?
or do they?

why does any pro sports team sellout?
because those fans support their teams.
i think its great that green bay has such support for a city that size.
unlike philly fans who will turn on a player and boo their own teams. repeatedly.
who booed mcnabb when he was drafted?
who booed the eagles this year going into halftime?
who booed micheal irvin when he nearly broke or broke his freakin neck on the field?

the guy who wrote that article is a jerk.
i didnt even finish reading that crap.
 

RagingBITCH

Lifer
Sep 27, 2003
17,618
2
76
It's because football in Green Bay = life. Football in Philadelphia = disappointment, year after year after year after year.
 

Electric Amish

Elite Member
Oct 11, 1999
23,578
1
0
What do you expect from fans that would boo Mike Schmidt....
rolleye.gif
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,928
142
106
Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
It's because football in Green Bay = life. Football in Philadelphia = disappointment, year after year after year after year.

You got the first thing rite, but the 2nd wrong... Philly = winners over Dream Bay on Sunday, once Packers fans get a rude awakening from their Cinderella story

 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,270
11
81
Philly loses, thankfully. And NappyHead McNabb is just too damn ugly to go to DisneyWorld. Nope. It's yet another painful off season for the hapless Eagles and their trailer park trash fans.
 

AntaresVI

Platinum Member
May 10, 2001
2,152
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0
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
What do you expect from fans that would boo Mike Schmidt....
rolleye.gif

Oh, come on....Philly booing is constructive, it encourages players to get better or get out! (I remember you, Scott Rolen)
 

rufruf44

Platinum Member
May 8, 2001
2,002
0
0
Originally posted by: AntaresVI
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
What do you expect from fans that would boo Mike Schmidt....
rolleye.gif

Oh, come on....Philly booing is constructive, it encourages players to get better or get out! (I remember you, Scott Rolen)

Perhaps, but cheering a man that could have just broken his neck (Irvin) ? Tell you a lot about the people there.
 

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Super Moderator
Nov 27, 1999
65,298
403
126
While I do respect and feel for Farve, Go Eagles! :beer:
 

TC2181

Banned
Nov 20, 2003
634
0
0
In Philly you aren't allowed to tailgate, and you have to pay a $5,000 "personal seat license" or something like that, if you own a season ticket. Thats a bunch of crap.
 

lightpants

Platinum Member
Aug 13, 2001
2,452
0
76
Originally posted by: TC2181
In Philly you aren't allowed to tailgate, and you have to pay a $5,000 "personal seat license" or something like that, if you own a season ticket. Thats a bunch of crap.

I think on this site you will see there is plenty of tailgating in Philly
As for PSL , I think most teams with new stadiums have them.



Oh Yea, GO EAGLES
 

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Super Moderator
Nov 27, 1999
65,298
403
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Originally posted by: ohtwell
Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
While I do respect and feel for Farve, Go Eagles! :beer:
You and I are against each other!! :Q:Q

: ) Amanda

:Q

I'm still a big Dead Zone fan! :D

Cheers Amanda :wine:
 

ohtwell

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
14,516
9
81
Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Originally posted by: ohtwell
Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
While I do respect and feel for Farve, Go Eagles! :beer:
You and I are against each other!! :Q:Q

: ) Amanda

:Q

I'm still a big Dead Zone fan! :D

Cheers Amanda :wine:
Luckily for you! :p

Cheers Zim :beer:


: ) Amanda
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
I bought my boss a $25 ticket on Green Bay winning the Superbowl when I was in Vegas. 1:27 odds. I also got 2 tickets for the cubs winning the world series next season. The odds were 1:7. WTF?

If the Packers win, my boss wins $675. Am I allowed to ask for it back since I am a Bears fan and got it as a joke? Can I make her burn the winnings?
 

Jzero

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
18,834
1
0
Originally posted by: rufruf44
Originally posted by: AntaresVI
Originally posted by: Electric Amish
What do you expect from fans that would boo Mike Schmidt....
rolleye.gif

Oh, come on....Philly booing is constructive, it encourages players to get better or get out! (I remember you, Scott Rolen)

Perhaps, but cheering a man that could have just broken his neck (Irvin) ? Tell you a lot about the people there.

Yeah, like any of the fans in the stands knew what had just happened. Philly critics love to dig this up, but it's a pretty silly argument.

I also don't see the problem with booing. You fcked up? BOO! We're gonna tell you you fcked up. Compare that to these people who sell out their games and cheer and cheer despite the fact that their team is falling apart.

This is a smacktalk thread. If you're gonna smacktalk, do it right. The battery incident and the Michael Irvin incident and booing are things done by the AUDIENCE. What's that got to do with Green Bay losing this weekend?
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
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Originally posted by: Beller0ph1
Bah...the Packers will overcome. It won't be an outright blowout, but they'll win.

The Pack had to struggle to beat Seattle; but Seattle could not win on the road (only AZ & SF)
 

TC2181

Banned
Nov 20, 2003
634
0
0
Originally posted by: lightpants
Originally posted by: TC2181
In Philly you aren't allowed to tailgate, and you have to pay a $5,000 "personal seat license" or something like that, if you own a season ticket. Thats a bunch of crap.

I think on this site you will see there is plenty of tailgating in Philly
As for PSL , I think most teams with new stadiums have them.



Oh Yea, GO EAGLES

I don't see a single grill in any of those pictures.