Zero2Cool
14 years ago
I think this may have been posted, not sure. I looked and didn't see the authors name anywhere on the site.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/23/sports/la-sp-plaschke-20110124 

Green Bay shows that a small-town franchise can thrive in a league full of big-city heavyweights.

Dance on a frozen tundra. Dress in your best Lombardi. Stick an absurd piece of yellow foam on your head and shout into a chilled sky.

Cheesy Hallelujah, the Green Bay Packers are going to the Super Bowl.

The NFL's throwback franchise will be crashing the league's futuristic championship, the Packers defeating their longtime rivals Chicago Bears, 21-14, Sunday to earn a chance to reclaim the trophy named after Green Bay's most famous coach.

The league's smallest city is going to its biggest game, playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas on Feb. 6 for the right to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and earn the most outrageous of bragging rights.

Playing in a town of barely 101,000, the Packers can again become giants. Playing for a team owned by ordinary citizens, the Packers can again become the richest story in sports.

"Dallas, Super Bowl, Dallas, Super Bowl, amazing," safety Nick Collins said, his words singing through a happily crowded locker room. "There have been a lot of legends that have come before us now maybe it's our turn."

Those legends from the league's second-oldest franchise have won more NFL championships than anyone a dozen and won the first two Super Bowls in the late 1960s. But they've only won one since, and seemed destined to endure another cold winter earlier this fall when they lost five playmakers to injuries and dropped three of their first six games.

But then something happened, something that only seems to happen in magical little places like Green Bay, unknown players making plays, an unsung quarterback making a name, two consecutive wins at the end of the season to sneak into the last playoff spot, two stunning playoff victories on the road and then, Sunday at Soldier Field, possibly the ugliest, weirdest win of all.

"All we've been through, what happened today can only be called a blessing," tackle Chad Clifton said, and that's certainly one word for it.

The biggest touchdown of the game was scored not by an offensive player, but by 337-pound nose tackle B.J. Raji on an 18-yard interception return midway through the fourth quarter, his enormous girth jiggling as he waved the ball at the humiliated Bears.

"One of my coaches asked if I wanted to be called, 'The Fridge,' " Raji said, referring to the nickname of a former Bears giant. "I said, 'Nah, man, I'm The Freezer.' "

The biggest tackle of the game was made not by a defensive player, but by the quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, who saved a touchdown in the third quarter when he somehow tangled up Brian Urlacher as the linebacker had broken free on what would have been 94-yard interception return.

"I had to make a stand," Rodgers said, shrugging.

Finally, the clinching play of the game was not made by some veteran, but by an undrafted rookie free agent named Sam Shields, who picked off third-string quarterback Caleb Hanie on the Packers 12 with 37 seconds remaining.

Said Shields: "I came in with a chip on my shoulder."

Said a smiling Collins: "He came in not knowing anything but we've been working with him."

The Packers are that kind of team, a buried backup named James Starks emerging to rush for 74 yards and a touchdown, the second-leading receiver being somebody named Jordy Nelson, who caught nearly as many passes this year as in his first two years combined.

And, then, of course, there's Rodgers, who spent his first three seasons hidden in the deep shadow of former Packers greatBrett Favre, but has emerged in his three seasons since, and is using his first playoff run to push himself into the same sentence with the league's quarterback elites.

He quieted the raucous crowd that bounced for three hours in 18-degree temperatures by leading the Packers on an 84-yard opening touchdown drive, finishing that drive with a scoring bootleg, and was just good enough to keep them in the lead throughout.

Rodgers just needs to get that "elite" part down a little bit more, as he strolled into the interview room carrying a bottle of grape soda while dressed in baggy jeans, a long-sleeve T-shirt under a souvenir Packers shirt, and a souvenir Packers cap.

He had the game ball in his locker, but only because he was on the field for the final kneel-down snap, and refused to give it up.

"I actually have the ball from all three of my, I mean our , playoff wins," Rodgers said.

His concern for the perception of team seems diametrically opposed to that of the Bears quarterback, Jay Cutler, who left the game midway through the third quarter with a 31.8 passer rating and an apparent knee injury, and spent the rest of the time just standing around watching. He received no hurried treatment that might have allowed him to return. He offered little advice during timeouts to the two quarterbacks who followed him.

"I knew that it was probably better that I didn't [return]," Cutler said. "I know my knee, I know my body."

Who knows anything when it comes to Cutler. But the honest truth is, the Super Bowl is better when the Packers are in it. They may not be the league's most lucrative or star-studded team, but they are its most important franchise.

The Packers offer the eternal argument against those who say the NFL is a league dominated by major markets and maniacal billionaires. The Packers are the forever answer to why the NFL is more intrinsically fair than baseball or basketball.

"We are unlike any other team in the league, and when we have success, it shows the real strength of the league," said Mark Murphy, the team's president and chief executive who is surprise, surprise a former NFL player. "When we go to Dallas, the hopes of an entire community will be going with us."

We're talking about the hopes of far more than just a community.

Smile, America, and say cheese

"Bill Plaschke" wrote:


UserPostedImage
Pack93z
14 years ago
Nothing CHEAP about attending.. I toyed with the idea for about 30 seconds after the championship Sunday was over.. with tickets and airfare.. it was deemed too steep.

That is counting that we had a place to stay at the in laws. Just nuts.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Cheesey
14 years ago
I know. I wish i had the money to go see it "live" too.
But geez......for a parking spot close to the stadium, $990.00!!!!
JUST to park your friggin' CAR!
Let's face it, the Super Bowl is for rich people.
UserPostedImage
Packers_Finland
14 years ago

I know. I wish i had the money to go see it "live" too.
But geez......for a parking spot close to the stadium, $990.00!!!!
JUST to park your friggin' CAR!
Let's face it, the Super Bowl is for rich people.

"Cheesey" wrote:



Yeah well of course. It's business after all and they're gonna take all the money they can get. So many people want to go there that they can have ridiculous prices like that and still make a hefty profit.
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beast (16h) : That's not what your she said 😌, she said keep going 😏
Mucky Tundra (19h) : Anything over 4 hours means he needs to get to the hospital
Mucky Tundra (19h) : Someone might want to check on Hafley and make sure his erection has gone down
Zero2Cool (21h) : LaFleur texts "bleep me I cannot sit down"
Zero2Cool (21h) : YouTube has had me last hour or two lol
Mucky Tundra (22h) : Ugh this trade happened right as my shift started and it's killing me
Zero2Cool (22h) : Parsons wore 23 in high school.
Zero2Cool (22h) : Packers just cost Lions more money with Hutchinson too huh
Zero2Cool (23h) : That is fair by me.
buckeyepackfan (23h) : Kenny Clark is the player, 2 1st rnd picks
Zero2Cool (23h) : umm... what?
wpr (23h) : I am stunned
Mucky Tundra (23h) : RICKEY SCOOPS WAS RIGHT AGAIN!!!
Mucky Tundra (23h) : ITS HAPPENING
buckeyepackfan (28-Aug) : DEAL IS DONE
buckeyepackfan (28-Aug) : MICAH IS COMING TO GREEN BAY!!!!!!!!!
wpr (28-Aug) : Me do-ed it gooderly,
Zero2Cool (28-Aug) : Bahah, I was like WTF why isn't anyone posting on PP.com ... oops no one has permissions
dfosterf (27-Aug) : tell her I reckon
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Micah Robinson cut. Probable PS player tomorrow. Has to call mom back and t
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : New site so much better. Might make switch and deal with it.
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Mecole Hardman to our practice squad
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Nick Nieman from Texans our 5th linebacker. Special teams signing
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Looks like we signed Clayton Tune as QB3
wpr (27-Aug) : TKT people lose their minds over QB3. Point is almost none of them are ready that's why they are on the PS and other teams don't take them.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Unfortunately he doesn't seem ready to be an emergency QB.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : As a Canadian and a follower of Canadian University football. I am rooting for him
dfosterf (27-Aug) : I bet a lot of us will follow the Taylor Elgersma journey with interest. Personally, got a Kurt Warner vibe goin' on. I like him
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Not sure if either will be claimed though.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Tune or Hooker would make sense
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Clayton Tune cut by the Cards? Don't know if that's the guy, we shall see
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Per Bill Huber, the Packers will not be bringing back Taylor Elgersma or Sean Clifford on the practice squad, so a new third quarterback
Mucky Tundra (27-Aug) : Schefter must have deleted his tweet
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Hopefully Jerry reaches under the seat cushions and ashtrays of his jet and scrapes up the 45 million apr and spares us further nonsense
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Have to admit the PO'd Cowboy fan videos would be fun to watch. Problem with draft picks is half their fanbase barely knows what that is
beast (27-Aug) : I think Cowboys fans are ready to get their pitch forks and burning sticks if Jerry were to trade Micah
dfosterf (27-Aug) : If Jerry traded Micah to GB, here in northern Va. they would have to quick build yet another data center to handle the internet hate traffic
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : its signing and trades that you don't hear about, other then announced
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : If you hear rumors about Packers sign or trade, won't happen. Not how they work
dfosterf (27-Aug) : 19 players in a contract year. Jones called loss to us worst loss in Cowboy history. Forget Parsons trade. Not happenin' Cap'n
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