The Internet echoes a new "fact" about the Green Bay Packers that has caught even hard-core fans off guard. Many blogs and websites now say the G on the Packers helmet stands not for Green Bay, but for greatness.
The Packers say it's nonsense.
Looks like the blame falls on Tiki Barber, a flashy former NFL player who made a video at media day leading up to this year's Super Bowl. He asked Packers players on camera if they knew what the G meant, and then insisted to their surprise that it actually stood for greatness.
"Now you can go pass the knowledge to the other guys on the team," Barber says to punter Tim Masthay, who admits being embarrassed that he didn't know about this.
But Barber does it all with a smirk, and he demurs when challenged by fullback Korey Hall about whether he researched the matter or if it was something he already knew. "Oh, no, I didn't know that. I didn't research that. I'm from New York, man," Barber responds.
It didn't take long for the claim to ricochet across the Web, often as gospel though sometimes with a note of skepticism. One wag suggested the G should stand for gullible. Answers.Yahoo.com says, "The oval G logo was created in 1961 by Packers equipment manager George 'Dad' Braisher. To most people's minds, the G stands for Green Bay. However, when the logo was designed and adopted, it was determined the G would stand for Greatness."
Barber also refers to George Braisher in the video. His name was actually Gerald, if we can believe his newspaper obituary from 1982. He was equipment manager from 1956 to 1976.
I couldn't reach Barber, but some think his bad information came from a tidbit that a Packers fan added to Wikipedia last summer. The site now attributes the claim to Barber, so it's gone fully circular.
When I first heard about this greatness stuff, I asked Aaron Popkey, spokesman for the Packers, to set the record straight. He conferred with Tom Murphy, archivist at the Packers Hall of Fame.
"The Packers have no knowledge of it being anything other than Green Bay," Popkey said. "Maybe it was Tiki Barber having some fun with it."
Greatness is certainly an apt description of the newly crowned Super Bowl champion Packers. But it's not the answer to the trivia question about what the G stands for.
I suspect this rumor will linger forever.