Now for a classy opponent
Most folks who know me well, know that I love living in the South and have some level of contempt for most things Yankee (referring to northern and not just the baseball team). Not everything, but most things. One thing that I have always enjoyed from the north is the Green Bay Packers.
I grew up hearing about the Ice Bowl and Bart Starr, Vince Lombardi vs. Tom Landry. Of course, when I was a kid, the Packers had lost their luster, so it wasn’t big deal to play them. But in the early ’90s, after Favre and Holmgren met up in Wisconsin, they got good again. The Cowboys had two real rivals in those days, the 49ers and the Packers. For some reason, I have always despised the 49ers (though it is a friendly dislike) - probably attributed to “The Catch” or something…
But I have always enjoyed watching the Packers. Pretty much, unless they are playing the Cowboys or if their loss can help the Cowboys, I root for the men in green and yellow. I don’t know why. I just do.
So following upon the whining of Strahan and the Giants, it is nice to hear a classy opponent. I especially liked this quote:
“I don’t think this is the big game. Our goals are much further than one regular-season game.”
Comments like that certainly aren’t going to be posted on trashtalk.com, nor are the ones made by just about everyone in the Packers’ locker room. Coach Mike McCarthy took care of that after the game by reminding his team how they got to this position in the first place.
His mission isn’t to let the world know that his team is the best in the NFC, but rather to do what contending teams do - play big games and learn from them.
Rather than whine (like Strahan), Favre had this to say:
“One game I don’t think is going to define us one way or the other,” Favre said. “It may have some implications in the playoffs, but we can’t worry about that right now. Now we can concentrate on Dallas.
“Enjoy this one today, tomorrow, but I have no idea what’s going to happen in Dallas. We win, they win? They blow us out, we blow them out? Who knows?”
No calling names. No saying someone who had lit you up twice this season was “lucky.” Just focusing upon the game and acknowledging that your opponent was worthy. Thats class.
I had thought the Giants were the second best team in the NFC. I thought losing the whiner Tiki Barber would actually be good for them. Perhaps it has, but unfortunately, Strahan picked up the whiner tag. If that is the caliber of men being put on the field in New York, I think I will change my mind. Perhaps Green Bay is the second best team. We will find out on Thursday in this decider of where the NFC Championship game will be played. I am confident it will be these same two teams playing that day.
