I believe it is said that you learn things about yourself in times of hardship. That may be true, but then the flip-side should is also true: you learn things about yourself in times of prosperity. I would hazard a guess that most people would consider a Super Bowl victory and subsequent 15-1 season to be a time of relative prosperity...probably not even relative prosperity, just flat-out swim around in your money-bin, dance-of-joy, golden ticket prosperity.
You know what I learned in this new age of Packers’ prosperity?
Prosperity makes me soft.
As you’re aware...or maybe not...probably not, actually. The number of posts around this joint started decreasing, my vitriol towards moronic Bears and Vikings fans faded, and I started viewing things through a very fashionable set of rose-colored glasses over the last year. My discussions about the Packers were void of passion, my email debates were forced and lacked conviction. After all, what did I really have to debate? The Packers were clearly the best team in the league, I felt no need to point out flaws or analyze potential chinks in the level 35 Armor of Invincibility (+20 Ranged Offense, -15 Ranged Resistance). The Chiefs loss bothered me, but it was more the “Huh. I’m Kind of Bummed Out This Week, But It Will Be Resolved Come Sunday” kind of feeling. Lo and behold, it was resolved. I’m a damn prophet. What is there to get worked up about when even with Matt Flynn at the helm, the Packers turned in a win when Flynn decided to write his own paycheck for the this year.
Then something happened that should have woken me up....Oh, the Packers got smacked around by the Giants? Oh. Well, that’s too bad, but they had a great season, and they won it last year. Can’t be too upset. There’s always next year. They’re a great, young team, they’ll be fine next year.
Ummm...what?!?!
Never in my life would I have predicted thoughts like this would enter my mind let alone be verbalized to others...like I said, SOFT. Soft like this, and this, and this.
I am Franklin’s walking shame bucket.
You know what happens when you go soft? You wake up one day and realize that your fellow Ranter with the fabulous hair has vacated the premises (although he left me three red bulls in the mini fridge, so that was nice...or maybe just forgetful), one of your favorite Packers of all time has traded in his cleats (temporarily) for tap shoes, and a neighbor has hit the bigtime.
Wow. A lot has changed.
Moving forward, I vow that this softness and apathy will not happen again...okay, I strongly believe that this won’t happen again...okay, I can promise you that my vitriol towards Vikings and Bears fan will never lessen again, but the whole lack of posts thing may be recurring, especially since Robert found an exit and made it back to Zion without me. Also, the rose-colored glasses will probably persist, if for no other reason than I find it tiresome to always be angry at the teams I cheer for. How do people do that? They've got to be miserable.
Anyway, I’ve already got two new posts queued up, so maybe you can be entertained for 3-4 minutes...then again, maybe not.
I think Fast Eddie Felson said it best:
