Packers Heartbreak, Badgers Annual "Surprise"

When the Green Bay Packers fell behind 17-0 last weekend in their wildcard playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals, I was obviously frustrated with my team’s performance but I was not about to call the game over. Even after the Packers could not hold the Cardinals after a couple first half scores and even the touchdown to being the third quarter which put Arizona up 31-10, I thought this team still had a shot.

And sure enough. An amazing second half ensued. The third and fourth quarter were filled with amazing plays and exciting moments such as Greg Jennings’ one-handed catch, an onside kick that the Packers recovered, countless moments where Aaron Rodgers scrambled out of the pocket and made big plays. Then as the game came down to the end, a touchdown by Havner that I was convinced had been scored too soon. And I would have been right had Neil Rackers not botched a short field goal that would have won the game in regulation.

When the Packers won the toss in overtime, I was sure we would win. I said to Heidi, “throw it deep to Jennings on the first play”, reminiscent of the Broncos-Packers overtime game two years ago. Sure enough, Rodgers let it fly, but just a tad to far out of Jennings’ reach. One play and one penalty later, the game was lost on one of Aaron Rodgers’ two bad plays of the game when he lost the ball and it was run back for the winning touchdown.

Although the game ended in heartbreaking fashion, it was the game of the year in my opinion and one of the ten best NFL games I have ever watched. And if nothing else, it gave me hope for the future. Aaron Rodgers is going to become one of the top quarterbacks of the next decade and if Ted Thompson is as good as he thinks he is, this team will be in the playoffs many years to come. There is some work to do on the offensive line and continued learning that needs to be done in the 3-4 defense if they decide to continue down that path. There are other minor details to work out like is Ryan Grant the back they want to stick with, finding a punter, and making some adjustments to the secondary when going against good passing attacks.

But I am confident this team will be a winner again next season. The schedule will be tougher but this team will be better. Ron Jaworski, ESPN analyst for Monday Night Football, made a comment at the beginning of the 2008 season that this was the beginning of a destiny. It’s off to a slowly-improving start, but so was the Packer run of the mid-1990s and many of the championship teams of this past decade. Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay all had many disappointments in the playoffs before winning their championships. I think it is just a matter of time for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

So with football season culminating, it’s time to shift attention to college basketball. And does anyone notice how the Wisconsin Badgers are picked to finish between fifth and eighth in the Big Ten every year. And all they do is finish in the top four every year. The Badgers are once again doing this. I saw them picked to finish as low as eighth place this year in the Big Ten. All they’ve done is beaten Maryland, Duke, Ohio State and Purdue when all those teams were ranked and a couple still are. They are sitting at 4-1 in the Big Ten and are arguably the second best team in the conference right now behind Michigan State.

Here we go as we get set for another exciting final half of the college basketball season!

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