Additionally, no one cared it was Sunday night with class on the horizon on Monday. With the amount of people out, it felt like the Saturday night of homecoming. It's hard to know how many times I yelled 'Go Pack Go' with the countless Packer fans. I know it had to be over 20 with my voice being at medium strength on Monday. Easily, the best night out in Eau Claire in my four years of living here.
One of my friends asked me how it was going and I replied... "How the ---- you think?! WE JUST WON THE SUPER BOWL!" then proceeded to give him a celebratory hug. I believe the happiness was at another level because nobody expect us to even be here. If Ryan Grant, Nick Barnett, and Jermichael Finley played all year leading the Packers to a 13-3 or 12-4 record with Aaron Rodgers being MVP then going on to win the Super Bowl; I don't believe the excitement is the same as it was last night. Still today, this is a holy shit moment in any level of sports that you get every once in awhile no matter what fanbase you belong to, and you never know when it will happen to one of your favorite teams.
When the Packers were 3-3 and lost their second straight game against the Miami Dolphins, my buddy Bails and I exchanged texts discussing how if the Packers finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs, I am okay with it because of all the injuries. It appeared Green Bay couldn't catch a break to save their souls, and I didn't believe they could do it. The 7-3 lost to Detroit led me to a tweet where I called the Packers, the team of what ifs and snakebites. No matter what happened, it appeared the Packers couldn't catch a break until December 19th when everything changed.
Sitting in my living room with my parents relishing the fact the Milwaukee Brewers got Zack Greinke, but upset that Philadelphia Eagles couldn't beat the New York Giants with the G-Men up by 21 because it put the Packers playoff hopes in serious doubt. We turned over to a meaningless Indianapolis-Jacksonville in hopes of a better game...fail, but then DeSean Jackson happened. We flip back over to see Michael Vick leading the troops down the field for the game tying touchdown then the Eagles forced a 3 and out expecting overtime where anything can happen. Not so fast my friend! Jackson takes Matt Dodge's punt to the house cracking the door open for the Packers, giving them a real chance for the playoffs.
Once that door became cracked, the Packers knock it down in the coming weeks. Injuries stopped happening and we began to see this team start to gel as a whole. The Special Teams stopped being a problem, the line protected Rodgers like Fort Knox, and the defense continued to play strong. I am not calling it luck or karma by any means, it just felt like the Packers entered an era of good feelings unlike the Pack had all throughout the season.
I love watching these guys because they cared about each other. Never did I think someone was playing selfishly, or trying to make a moment all about them. The Packers did have drama but they never had a player disrupt anything they were trying to do. To be a winner, you have to be cocky sometimes and the Packers told people to book tickets for Dallas in August, and backed it up in February. What a great start to the Wisconsin sports year.
-Charlie.
I love watching these guys because they cared about each other. Never did I think someone was playing selfishly, or trying to make a moment all about them. The Packers did have drama but they never had a player disrupt anything they were trying to do. To be a winner, you have to be cocky sometimes and the Packers told people to book tickets for Dallas in August, and backed it up in February. What a great start to the Wisconsin sports year.
-Charlie.
