IT'S GAME DAY

Finally, it's Thursday. It's game day.

The week of live reports from Dallas, all the hype, all the advertising leading up to tonight's game is mercifully coming to an end and there will actually be some football. The teams will take the field.

Let's get some perspective.

The Packers - Cowboys game tonight is not the Super Bowl.

It's not a playoff game.

It's a regular season game, albeit a big one, with possible playoff implications.

Of course, I would love to see the Packers win. I think they can. You know what they say, "On any given Thursday...."

It's not like I haven't enjoyed hype of the big showdown replacing murder and fires and robberies as the lead story on the news. It's been a nice distraction.

And don't get me wrong. I'm really looking forward to the game. I think the hype is stressing me out, too much pressure. I dread the letdown if the Packers should happen to lose (not that I think they will).

All I care about now is what happens on the field. But I do have a few thoughts about Burlington boy Tony Romo.

I am sick of hearing that Romo was dating or is dating Jessica "Chicken of the Sea" Simpson. I'm sick of it. Enough already.

I'm really sick of hearing that growing up, Romo was no fan of Brett Favre.

Irving, Texas -- It's an irresistible, made-for-TV storyline: Kid from small-town Wisconsin grows up idolizing Brett Favre and winds up facing his hero in an epic battle between two 10-1 teams with Super Bowl aspirations.

Cue the violin music and the baritone voice-over.

In reality, however, there's a hole in the two-hankie tale bigger than the one in the Texas Stadium roof.

See, Tony Romo grew up idolizing Michael Jordan. He rooted for John Elway in Super Bowl XXXII. At Burlington (Wis.) High School in the mid-1990s, when Favre fever was sweeping Wisconsin, he picked No. 16 as his football jersey number in honor of Joe Montana.

"I was probably the outcast," Romo said.

His all-time favorite sports moment? No, it's not Favre sprinting around the Superdome after throwing a touchdown pass to Andre Rison in Super Bowl XXXI. It's not a grieving Favre going off for 399 yards and four touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders one day after his father died.

It's Jack Nicklaus, then 58, contending at the 1998 Masters.

"I come home from church on that Sunday morning in '98, and I can't wait," Romo said. "And the first thing (CBS announcer) Jim Nantz says when he comes on the screen is, 'You're not going to believe this.' And they show Jack.

"I jumped so high my head hit the ceiling."

That's kind of odd.

How did Romo not get caught up in the Packer-mania of the Super Bowl seasons of '96 and '97, the return to glory?

I can't imagine.

...Now, Romo finds himself in the biggest game of his life, a game that probably will determine home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs.

On the other side of the field will be Favre, a man he admires and respects but does not worship. Romo never owned a No. 4 Packers jersey. He never wore a cheesehead. He wants to play well, but not to impress Favre.

"I don't think it's a matter of Tony trying to go out there and impress anyone," Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens said. "I think Tony is going to go out there with the mind-set of winning the ball game.

"And if that impresses Brett, so be it."

Romo seems like a nice enough guy, but it is kind of weird hearing about how he didn't idolize Favre.

I just don't get how a Wisconsin kid who actually played football as quarterback during Favre's MVP seasons wouldn't worship the future Hall of Famer.

Furthermore, what Wisconsin kid in the past decade and a half hasn't at one time owned a No. 4 Packers jersey?

I can see him never wearing a cheesehead, but the other stuff is sort of surprising, very un-Wisconsin.

I'm guessing Romo doesn't like brats. I bet he doesn't like the Fonz either.