Week Four: Looking Back and Monday Night Football

Crazy weekend in terms of standings moves within the FYC League.  Team Sparkle appears to have been handed their first loss of the season, going from 3-0 to 3-1.  At the bottom of the standings, Argh! Not The Bees! is close to having their first win of the season, to join to other teams at 1-3.  The match to watch tonight is Team Votto vs. Team Minch, where Team Minch needs a huge day on the Green Bay side of the ball and Team Votto needs a huge performance from the Vikings defense/special teams.

I would like to take the time to talk about the pink elephant in the room: Monday Night Football.  The Green Bay Packers versus The Minnesota Vikings.  Aaron Rodgers versus Brett Favre.  After watching ESPN, listening to local sports radio, and reading blogs, the consensus seems to be that the Packers have no shot at beating Favre and the Vikings.  I'm going to level with everyone: the match-up does not look good on paper - the Vikings have the stronger team, no doubt about it.  They have Purple Jesus, a solid defensive line, and a good core of receivers.  We have a porous offensive line and an anemic running game.  And we are on the road at a rowdy Metrodome.  This does not look good.

But what I realized last night, when I couldn't sleep because of my worry over this monumental game, is that a win or loss here won't change anything except the standings.  Brett Favre won't be getting a trophy and it doesn't give him a Super Bowl ring.  If Brett Favre embarrasses Green Bay tonight, the only thing that it will do is get the Vikings a win and fill that need for revenge inside of him.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Aaron Rodgers will not be lynched by angry Packer fans, Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy won't be exiled to Gary, Indiana - nothing will happen besides us being one more game back of the division leader.

Let me tell it to you straight: I can't stand Brett Favre now, but I loved him during the "good years" in Green Bay.  Even though he took us deep into the playoffs in his last year, he was starting to get on my fucking nerves.  Every year with his mini-camp/retirement bullshit - there is only so much disappointment you can take from your sports hero.  Leaving the team in such a selfish and immature way last year was bad enough, but to come back to the NFC North and try to exact revenge on the people that built his legacy?  "What an asshole," is what I remarked when I heard he was coming back with the Vikings in 2009.  Honestly, watching him fail on national television at the hands of my team would be sweet, but then I would just be like him.  Fiending for revenge and, ultimately, a sad excuse of a human being.

So tonight, I'll be rooting for the Green Bay Packers to beat the Minnesota Vikings.  I won't be wishing for a Brett Favre injury, nor will I be giving him much of a thought rather than just failing to convert.  I just want the Packers to sit tied atop the division at the end of the night.  I'm a Packer fan first, and while I don't "understand" like Favre hopes I would, I have come to accept this situation.

Go Pack Go.