Packers Vs. Vikings. What Will We See?

What will we see? 

This weekend’s match up between the Greenbay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings will disappoint many football fans.  Hype can not be extended beyond a certain point.  The first match up between these rivals had Monday Night Football to boost its ratings.  No other game was available and all eyes were on the war between bitter interstate rivalries.  Were you there to watch the teams play or to watch Bret Favre face his team of old? 

Truth be known, the only reason that game shattered viewing records was because it was Monday Night Football.  There wasn’t a competing game in the NFL but when the Vikings roll into Greenbay this Sunday, twenty-six other teams will be playing.  Let’s face facts.  This game holds very little attraction to the rest of the NFL’s fans.  It will be a mere sideshow amongst many sideshows.  It won’t have the draw that the first match up held.  

Sure, Bret Farve is facing his old team.  Sure, Bret Farve is going into Lambeu field for his first time as one of the opposition but it won’t hold the magic of a Monday Night Football game.  It just won’t.  So what will we see?  

We’re going to be treated to an over-hyped, under-rated football game.  Oh sure, it’s a black and blue division rivalry   It’s Favre facing his old team.  It’s filled with everything a marketing team salivates over but in the end, it will be a disappointment for most football fans.  They’ve already watched Farve’s debut against his old team.  Watched his media inspired battle against the direction of new management.  Watched ESPN try to prop the desire of the average football fan to watch a game because of “historical proportions” but in the end, there are more fans of other teams than fans that will consider this “must watch tv.”

It’s just a matter of numbers.

Will this game garner more viewers than normal?  Yes.  There will be more people interested in watching because of the hype but unfortunately, it will not live up to that same media inspired hype.  It’d going to become blatantly obvious that this game will only have the players will to propel it.  It will become just another game in a sixteen game schedule and all the money thrown into advertising will eventually drown in mediocrity.

Still, this WILL be a game to watch.  It will be worth the price of admission to your local sports bar…but what are you going to see?

You are going to be treated to two teams that come out, pumped by the crowd.  One will seek its crowd’s approval, fighting to prove itself and subconsciously, the direction laid out for the by management.  The other will seek to decimate the belief that their choice of quarterback was made as revenge against a bitter rival.   What’s ironic is it’s the Greenbay Packers are that are looking for revenge, not Brett Favre.    

Packer fans are the ones looking to ride the tide of the home field crowd and unless the Packers show their fans that management made the right decision, that same crowd could very well turn on them.  If they lose, you’ll read of dissention in the ranks but not by the players…instead it will come from Wisconsin fans themselves.  If Greenbay loses in anything but a close game; we may witness a change in management similar to a bloodless coup. 

THAT folks, is what you should be wanting to see.  You should be curious as to whether the fans and ownership of the vaunted Greenbay Packers turn on the management and decisions they’ve made in the last two years.  Will the Cheeseheads that once worshipped Bret Favre finally understand that he wasn’t done?   Will they realize he was what made them special all those years?  Will they actually start a revolt? 

That’s what *I* will be watching to see.  The outcome.

I’m curious as to how Greenbay’s fans will handle things if their previously heralded savior becomes the one piece the Vikings need to find their way back to a Superbowl appearance.  I wait to see how Title Town handles the loss of their once great savior… if he becomes the new Purple Jesus.

 That folks, is what you really be wanting to see.