Buh-bye, NFL

2018 will go down as the year I was liberated from the NFL's Sunday stranglehold on my attention. I still love sports and athletic achievement (Tiger Woods back in the winner's circle, unbelievable), but the game of professional football has lost me. I don't know what is holding, I don't know what is interference, I definitely don't know roughing the passer--and apparently, do few of the officials--but I do know a grab-all-the-money-you-can-while-you-can, and that's the NFL in 2018.

For 40 years of my life, I ranked NFL football first and all other sports second. Now, baseball (Go Brewers!), basketball (the Bucks oBuh-f 2018/19 are the team to watch), PGA golf (I still play golf and, hey, at least I understand the rules), and a bunch of other things (World Cup Soccer?) come before the NFL.

Proof? The Packers lost yesterday and I don't even care. If my social media feeds are any indication, I am not alone. The 30-year waiting list for Packers' season tickets ought to be down to four and a half years by seasons' end.

(P.S., I'll still watch sometimes, but with unequivocal ambivalence.)

Roger Goodell -- the NFL's Luxury Box Commissioner

So the Packers finally sold out their Lambeau Field game for Wild Card Weekend.

Thank God. I am so tired of hearing media say "What?! Packers fans aren't selling out Lambeau? And here we thought Green Bay Packers fans the best fans in the league!!" Reference this comment from the Business Insider's Jay Yarow: The Green Bay Packers are struggling to sell out their playoff game. As are the Bengals and Colts. The only team that didn't have this problem? The Eagles. Philadelphia fans are the best sports fans in the country. They actually go and support the team. So, next time you hear some crap about them being jerks, or bad fans, remember the good people of Green Bay don't even want to watch their team.

Screw you, media, and you in particular, Jay Yarow.

We're fans, but we're not dumbasses. And, Roger Goodell and the NFL, I'm not so sure I can't say the same to you and your strong-arming tactics.

As I write this post I am in a perfect position to attend the game on Sunday. I live in Milwaukee, but I'm "up north" for the weekend and have to drive through Green Bay on Sunday. My mom lives one mile from Lambeau and would welcome me before and after the game, but let's break things down here:

1. A playoff game is not an inexpensive proposition. I logged into Ticketmaster to look at the price of a pair of tickets, I was at $231 and change before Ticketmaster added their fees. And if you've ever purchased a ticket through Ticketmaster, you know these fees are not insignificant.
2. Sunday night. Look, NFL, you like to market how Green Bay is the "smallest market in the NFL." We know what you're selling ... and we like it. But don't kid yourself, this is just as much Appleton's, Madison's, Wausau's, and, most importantly, metropolitan Milwaukee's team. Short notice arrangement of travel plans for fans in these cities is just not possible. Maybe it would be if we were granted a Saturday game or the Sunday early game, but we've got the last game of the weekend. Not exactly the easiest game for us to make arrangements to attend yet still get home at an hour reasonable for work on Monday morning.
3. It's gonna be cold ... REALLY COLD. Again, NFL, I love the whole "Frozen Tundra" marketing scheme, but the forecast cold is serious business (schools are already cancelled throughout the state on Monday morning). I've gone to games down to zero degrees, but a high of zero frankly frightens me. I just don't have clothing that will allow me to sit in a stadium at 10 below for three and a half hours. I recall going to games at Lambeau as a youth. I had chopper mitts, ski mask, snowmobile boots and snowmobile suit ... I could handle temps down to zero for an hour or so, but sub-zero temps? No. I don't have the gear and it would cost me just as much as a pair of tickets to procure these duds.
4. Are you sure you needed to sell 72,928 seats?! A quick Google search tells me that that is Lambeau's capacity. I bet that's the capacity for those sporting t-shirts and shorts in early September, not those garbed like Nanook of the North for a January 5th playoff game. Those that attend are going to be wrapped thickly in wool, cotton and blaze orange. It will have an affect on the seating capacity of a row. I don't know what the total number would be, but at least one seat should be eliminated per section/row to allow for bundled Packers patrons. That's likely to shave a thousand or more off the seating capacity right there. (Didn't think of that, did you? Trust me, it's real ... it's going to require more than those 16" per butt that you normally allow.)

Anyway, I'm very glad that Wisconsin corporations anteed up and bought the last remaining 3,000 tickets and put an end to those dubious accusations. I'd like to suggest, for the future, that any game subject to blackout in Wisconsin should be required attendance by the NFL's Commissioner. He or she should not be privileged to view the game from the confines of a luxury box or suite, but should be forced to enjoy the game from the stands ... with the real fans. If they can do that, then they'll have justification to blackout our team's game.

One last thing, Yarow. The metropolitan population of Philadelphia is 6,018,800; Green Bay's is 306,241. Philadelphia is nearly 20 times larger. You think Eagles fans would sell out Lincoln Financial field if it seated 20 times more than its current capacity (1,370,640)? 

Probably not, is my answer.

Go Packers! Beat the 49ers!!

Fire Packers Coach Mike McCarthy? That's Crazy Talk.

I love sports ... but hate sports fans.

Under Mike McCarthy, the Packers are 81-45-1 with five playoff appearances and a Super Bowl win. Yet I hear (see) Packers fans clamoring "FIRE McCARTHY!"

Are they nuts? The biggest problem is, as Packers fans, we've become so accustomed to success that an injury-plagued, .500 season is deemed a failure and we demand someone be held accountable.
That's just dumb. McCarthy has earned the right to have a mediocre season for a change. The four years prior to this season all ended with double-digit victory totals.

I'll stick with Mike, thank you very much.

Oh, Life's Changing Priorities

I never thought this would happen. I am going to miss a Packer game. I am going to miss a Packer game to do something I'd prefer to do more.

Since about 1977, I've only missed Packer games due to work or travel. I'm guessing here, but that's probably between 10 and 15 games, and definitely less than 20 (yep, including Super Bowl XLV -- I missed the darn Super Bowl!). However, as I age and my free time has become even more valuable, I've decided that there are actually better things to do on a lovely Sunday October afternoon than sit in front of a TV for 4 hours.

This assessment was fortified two weeks ago while watching the Packers lose to the Colts 30-27 on a gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon that took 3 hours and 45 minutes from kick-off to conclusion.

Throw in a little pre-game coverage and my butt and the couch were inseparable for nearly 5 hours!

Unacceptable.

Today we have the fortune to golf one of Wisconsin's great courses: the Jack Nicklaus designed The Bull at Pinehurst Farms. My wife won a round for two at "The Bull" during the 2012 season at a golf outing earlier this year. Our busy weekends have ticked by and the available golfing weekends are soon coming to a close. Today is finally the day. We're going to say "The heck with the Packer game, let's go golfing!"

Last night I told my wife's lifelong Sconnie cousin that we were going to go golfing instead of watching the Packers game.

You know what he said to me after that?

"Unacceptable."

Regardless, GO PACK!! Albeit, from the golf course. ;)

Gameday!

Gameday, from Milwaukee's General Mitchell airport. January 23, 2011.

Today is a big deal in the life of a Packer fan - of which I have been since I was 8-years old. I was born in Milwaukee and lived there until my dad decided to move north to be closer to family and friends that lived in Michigan's Upper Penninsula. We settled in a tiny little town north of Green Bay about 35 miles. It was there where Packer fanaticism was irrevocably instilled into my blood. I could live in other cities and ultimately start rooting for their baseball or basketball teams, but never could I root for their football team - at least not if they were playing against the Packers!

Fast forward to today - the day of one of the biggest game in team history: the NFC Championship game against the lifelong rival Chicago Bears. I was put in a bit of a quandary when - near the last minute! - I was asked to report to work in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Monday morning. Not a big deal at first, but then as I looked at my available flight options, it became clear that there were no flights to Nashville that wouldn't interfere with my viewing of the game. Except one: the dreaded 6 a.m. departure. So that's the one I opted for. If my travel plans go smoothly, after a short stop in Charlotte, I should be safely on the ground in Nashville by 10:30 a.m. I'll be left with plenty of time to find a good spot to watch the game.

You can really tell this is a unique day just from the people at the airport! As a frequent traveler, I usually cringe when I see a bunch of roly-poly Sconnies in another city all decked out in the their green and gold finest, but today is truly an exception. There are people all over this place sporting Packerwear and instead of being cringe-inducing, it's inspirational! I am pumped and a little embarrassed that I call myself a life-long fan, but I have no Packerwear to wear! Well I do, but it's got that obnoxious number 4 on the front and back which will someday look good one a large boy in Bangladesh, but that's another story.

So my plane is about to board and I'll be out of reach for a few hours until kick-off. Until then, tchuss and GO PACK GO!

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