Confessions of a Packers Fan

The National Football League pre-season is always exciting.

This season as a fan/owner of the Green Bay Packers, it offers a chance to see how the younger players are going to fit in to the established success formula over the last two decades.

It is awesome to feel that way about my team as each year begins with the hope of winning the Super Bowl.

It wasn’t always that way. When I was nine-years old, I was “threatened” by my uncle, who had just married my aunt. I was even in the wedding, but it didn’t matter. A native of Wisconsin, he told me if I didn’t like the Packers, he would beat me up.

I believed him. He didn’t really do that of course, but it made me live through what seemed like a lifetime of sometimes horrible football in the 1970s and 1980s.

My first year as a fan was 1972. It was a fun season. The playoffs! I thought that this team would be great. It was disappointing that year ended with a 16-3 loss to the Washington Redskins, but hey there was hope.

Since I was new to the team, my favorite player had to be pretty new as well.

John Brockington was a rookie from Ohio State in 1971. In 1972, he gained 1,027 yards and it was his second straight season to reach that plateau. He did it again in 1973, and was an All-Pro for the third consecutive season, but the team stopped winning.

So naturally as the Packers began to suffer though some lean years, I placed my anger on those “Evil Doers” to the west …. the Minnesota Vikings. They were very successful and Fran Tarkenton made my life miserable.

There was the winning season in 1978 at 8-7-1, but the Packers didn’t make the playoffs. During the strike season of 1982, Green Bay made the post-season with a 5-3-1 mark, but the Dallas Cowboys beat the Packers 37-26 to dash my hopes.

The Chicago Bears dominated the mid-1980s. Maybe it was maturity or just being used to bad football, but I didn’t mind them winning. They were fun to watch and how could anyone not be a fan of Walter Payton.

Reggie White

In 1989, the Packers won 10 games. But again, no playoffs. I had a lifetime of suffering with my team. That was about to change.

Brett Favre and Reggie White soon arrived in Green Bay and led the charge of the guys who made the Packers into champions. I was sick during Super Bowl XXXI, but Desmond Howard made me well enough to sit up on the couch and yell at the television.

The current crop of Packers brought home another title with Super Bowl XLV and there isn't any reason to not "RELAX" as someone once said.

Thankfully, the last 20 plus years has been a great ride and I’m looking forward to winning a Super Bowl as an owner of the best franchise in sports.