Welcome, sports fans, to the Monday Sports Hangover! Each Monday, I (Dan Shafer) will recap the weekend in sports. But first, I must admit something before you begin to take my insight seriously - I'm a total homer. So for today, I'll just be talking about Wisconsin sports, so fire up the tailgate and crack a Miller. You probably need it after this weekend.
Like anyone with a Y chromosome who was born in the state of Wisconsin during the 1980s, I am a huge Green Bay Packers fan and Brett Favre is my boyhood hero. I consider Super Bowl XXXI one of the top 5 greatest moments in my life and I think the Green Bay Packers are the greatest franchise in all of professional sports.
Also, I'm pretty sure that I'm one of the few fans of the Milwaukee Brewers who has been a fan since Molitor, Yount, and Gantner were rocking the old school logo way back when the Crew was a competitive American League team. When I was seven, my dad took me to see Robin Yount's 3,000th hit at now-demolished Milwaukee County Stadium. (I now own a grandstand seat from that stadium) I weathered the '90s with the Crew and watched as Bud Selig nearly destroyed baseball in Milwaukee forever. Watching the turnaround of these past 5 years has been liberating, but also unbelievably frustrating.
No loss was more frustrating than the 12-inning choke job against the Cubs last Thursday afternoon. With the devastating 7-6 loss, the Brewers basically killed any chance they could sneak back into the playoffs, gave the division to the North Side Losers (I mean, the Cubs), and crushed the soul of millions of Brewer fans who have long been waiting to return to the postseason. Following this epic collapse, the Brewers lost their next two games against the lowly Cincinnati Reds - at home - before finally winning on Sunday afternoon.
Me? I'm still in denial. I've invested so much of my life into this baseball team this year, I really can't believe that it could be ending in a week.
The past few weeks during this collapse, I've repeatedly had to say to myself, "Well, at least there's the Packers."
And then the Cowboys came to town.
The Packers got out-played and out-coached in front of a national audience on Football Night In America. On offense, the line couldn't block, receivers couldn't get open (except for Driver's 50-yarder), the running backs couldn't break free for any big runs, they couldn't control the clock and didn't seem to have any discernable gameplan whatsoever. On defense, they couldn't stop Marion Barber, their line was dominated by Dallas' enormous O-line, they couldn't stop Marion Barber, they allowed devastating big plays, they couldn't stop Marion Barber, they couldn't stop Jason Witten, and have I mentioned that they couldn't stop Marion Barber?
In 3 hours, I went from "well, at least there's the Packers" to...well, I don't think it can be posted, but it involves more than a few 4-letter words.
All I know now is that this may have been one of the worst Wisconsin sports weekends in a long, long time. But on the bright side,
...
(trying to look for a silver lining)
...
(still trying)
OK, there is no bright side. So, I'll leave you with this video of the greatest moment in the history of organized sports.
I still get chills every time I watch that play.
Until next week,
- Dan
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