Packers - Bears, Betty White and Hoopla
I want two hours away from our daily trauma -- Bears Packers in NFL opener
September 4, 2019
If ever there was a time when I need a return to football; it is now. We are in the trailing edge of the chaotic age of Trump. 🏈 I am not discounting all the problems of the NFL. The Packers should have signed Kapernick when Rodgers suffered the collar bone injury during the first year after the Kneel. Instead the Packers have moved through a carousel of second string QBs, none of whom were Doug Flutie or Frank Reich Frank Reich comeback king . Football is a lush garden of bitter fruit issues.
Doug Flutie - a spark plug off the bench
First the injuries. The concussions can never be too absent from our consciousness, even though studies are buried by the NFL. It is insufficient to hold myself to the low standards of humanity. Fans yell at players to kill the quarterback. Romans cheered in the Coliseum. People brought picnic lunches to lynchings. The entire NCAA system is far more plantation than family farm. The NFL owners exploit labor in ways that would make Pullman blush. Still I like football. Start a senior citizen flag league I would likely still try to play (not well, I have the build but not the skill). Thursday night there is a game at Soldier Field kicking off the 100th season of the Chicago Bears and NFL. This game renews the oldest rivalry, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Fans on both sides of the ball have high hopes for this season.
Krammer Thurston
I live in Bear Country, but Cheeseheads are strong here. I began my Packer fandom in 1959 on Thanksgiving Day. As I lay dying, ok not dying, but with chicken pox. I would write a book about it, but Faulkner beat me to it. My father insisted I pick a team. On our black and white box I picked the Packers because I liked green. I was fortunate not to be a fan of lions or blue. This was long before Tim Russert with his charts and state maps of red and blue. I joined Packer fandom at the beginning of the Lombardi era. I lived in rural Illinois and therefore have watched and cheered da Bears on many occasions. The 1963 Bears were winners, but by this time I was a confirmed Packer fan. Gale Sayers was a special runner. Everyone had to love Walter Payton. This year the Chicago Bears have another fantastic defense always a Bears hallmark. The Packers have many unknowns and Aaron Rodgers. It should be a great game, even Betty White is a part of the promotion.
Clever use of the ever popular Betty White at 97 almost as old as the league
For two hours I will not care about the terrible days of Trump, a hurricane on the East coast, climate literally burning up our globe, tariffs and trade wars, the inhumanity of man, or when will the new Picard series drop. I will watch football from the opening kick, until as Don Meredith used to sing ‘turn out the lights the party’s over.” Yes, I will be hoping for a Packer win, not because I hate the Bears. I love the Bears, but they are not my team. I will for a moment be in junior high thrilled to watch football, before Vietnam spun out of control, before culture wars started us on the path to Trump. Watching who is controlling the line of scrimmage, the flow of the game, and how the many unknowns are playing out. I will not be brought down by all the problems with football, not for this one game. I will be like the players focused on this game, winning or losing in this historic opener. All dreams are possible in the season opener.
Walter Payton a great Bear running back
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