Everything has a beginning.
Will Packer fans look back on Super Bowl XLV and mark it as the beginning of yet another dynasty in the history of the franchise?
Who knows? I think it's possible. After Sunday's game, after overcoming all the adversity of the 2010 season to become Super Bowl champions, the future seems so bright.
It's been a long time, 1998 to be exact, since I really cared about the outcome of the Super Bowl.
Of course, football takes center stage but fun and food and drink and the commercials and the half time show usually get plenty of my attention, too.
Not this year. Not with my Packers playing.
I was relaxed enough to concentrate on some of the pre-kickoff happenings. I heard Christina Aguilera screw up the lyrics of the National Anthem. It was just a little mistake and I don't think she should be bashed because of it. She recovered very well and overall did a great job.
I missed most of the commercials because we were listening to Wayne and Larry on the radio. The volume on the TV was muted. I watched some commercials but none seemed worth unmuting the volume.
No way could I stomach Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, not with being as tense as I was.
I was too stressed to eat as much as I normally do during the Super Bowl.
The Packers got off to such a fantastic start but then the injuries started to pile up. No Donald Driver. No Charles Woodson. Even with the 11-point lead after the first half, it was unsettling. Actually, it was nightmarish, like it was all going to slip away.
Half time: I could not have cared less about the Black Eyed Peas or Slash or Usher. It was background noise. I cared about the game and was worried about what would happen in the next two quarters.
The second half did not start off well. The anxiety was building.
It didn't feel like the Packers had a lead the entire game. We were never trailing. Still, the momentum swing was tough. It seemed like we were trying to catch the Steelers even though they were never winning. Never.
I was hoping Wayne would have been able to throw that Super Bowl Championship dagger much, much earlier in the fourth quarter. I desperately needed some relief.
But finally, the moment came. The Packers would be Super Bowl Champs for the fourth time. The Lombardi Trophy was coming home to Titletown.
Elation!
Video, from WLUK:
What the team accomplished really is remarkable.
Tony Walter, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, writes:
The trophy’s 14-year sabbatical from Wisconsin has ended. The satisfaction of being champion won’t grow weary to the ears of the Packers and their fans until somebody comes along to replace them. And the sight of another banner hanging in Lambeau Field will never grow too old for many.
The victory brought to a joyful conclusion an adventurous 2010 Packers season that moved between the valley and the mountaintop and finally, with a resolve that wouldn’t let injuries interfere, was not denied the ultimate prize.
Champions! Our time.
...Packers fans are known for their passion and a Super Bowl title is an annual dream.
That dream seemed fantasy less than two months ago when the Packers stumbled against the Detroit Lions, lost valiantly to the New England Patriots and were left with only one option.
Win the rest of the games. All of them.
The Giants, the Bears, the Eagles, the Falcons, the Bears. And the Steelers.
It is an accomplishment that will find its deserving place in the team’s proud history, alongside Curly Lambeau’s direction of triple titles of 1929-31, the three-peat of Vince Lombardi’s 1965-67 teams, and the Mike Holmgren-led victory in Super Bowl XXXI at the end of the 1996 season.
The Packers' only option to achieve their goal was to pull off six straight wins.
They did it.
Mike McCarthy should be Coach of the Year. I guess he'll have to settle for a street named for him in Green Bay. Win a Super Bowl and that happens, as it should.
Dom Capers deserves at least a cul-de-sac.
The players showed such heart and such grit and such talent.
Aaron Rodgers was snubbed for the Pro Bowl, but being the Super Bowl MVP has to take the sting out of that.
He takes his place among the elite quarterbacks in the league.
Already, his place in Packer history is secure. Aaron has matched Favre's one Super Bowl victory and he did what Favre never accomplished - be Super Bowl MVP.
It's well known that the disgraced Vikings quarterback Brett Favre "wanted to stick it to Ted Thompson."
The reality, Favre knows now, is he not only wanted to play again, but he wanted to show Green Bay -- particularly general manager Ted Thompson -- that it was making a big mistake in going forward without him.
Well, in just three seasons after Favre left, the Lombardi Trophy is back in Green Bay.
It was most definitely not a big mistake going forward without Favre.
We are celebrating another title.
Congratulations, Green Bay Packers!
Thank you for bringing the Lombardi Trophy home!
___________________
Greg Jennings' Tweets:
Dreams do come true! You know what it is Green and Yellow Green and Yellow Green and yellow!!! http://twitpic.com/3xbw1c
This feeling is surreal. But I'll take it any day. superbowl champs. Great day to be a packer baby.
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