Winners, Squeakers...and a bye bye bye...

I'm back among the living in blogger land...sorry for the hiatus.

Luckily I didn't have to add the "losers" up in the title, but squeaking by with 3 points seems to be the theme this weekend for both my college and pro teams so they get called "squeakers". I don't like just barely getting by - I like for my teams to dominate and that just didn't happen.

Let's start with my Tide. For heaven's sake, Ole Miss is the worst team in the SEC and you can't even understand their coach when he talks so why couldn't we put them away? I'll tell you why - our D-line! We need some serious help in that area, but hopefully that will improve over the next few years as Saban gets his own recruits in their to run his defensive scheme. I guess he's doing the best he can of trying to fit square pegs into round holes, but Alabama fans have never had realistic expectations from anyone so why would we start now? We expected to blow out the Rebs and just didn't do it. We've got the ol' pumpkin this weekend in T-town before a bye week and then LSU...I hate orange. 'Nuf said.

Well, it wasn't enough that I had to pull against Jason Campbell and Carlos Rogers in college and now I have to do it on Sundays. Campbell's stats actually were better than Favre's, but luckily his supporting cast likes to cough the ball up and our defense still played well for the most part and capitalized on those mistakes. My Pack's D-line needs some work as well for the most part, but they got the job done again and our offense fortunately scored more points than the opposing team's! Thankfully that's all that matters in the NFL. I'm not sure if I'm grateful for a bye week this week for the Pack or not. Normally I would say that's a good thing, but we've only lost one game and I don't want to lose momentum. After our bye this week we've got 2 road games in a row. In years past we haven't been a good road team, but this year seems to be different...we beat Minnesota on the dreaded turf already!

On paper it looks like Green Bay should do well with the remaining schedule, but we still don't know how good we are 6 games into the season...strange, isn't it? We're 5 and 1 and most people would agree. I don't like that most people say that we're not as good as our record dictates (I'm referring to talking heads here). At the end of the day, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that we're 5 and 1 regardless and in my experience it puts us in a good position to make the playoffs and Packer fans (as well as Favre) want another shot in the post season.

I'm looking forward to playing the Cowboys at the end of November since everyone is saying that Romo is the next Favre in the league. The jury is still out on him in my book. Yes, he's had an incredible year so far, but we know he doesn't do well under pressure and we'll have to wait and see how durable he is over his career. Favre has earned the Ironman nickname outright - he even had a pretty good season playing with a broken thumb!

I'm glad that this weekend I only have to worry about one nailbiter since the Pack is off, but I long for the day that both teams just seriously put someone away and I don't have to have the paramedics on standby! Roll Tide Roll!! Go Pack Go!!

IS THERE REALLY AN AMERICA'S TEAM ANYMORE?

I'm well aware that I'm probably going to get crucified by the Cowboys fans out there for bringing up this question, but I think it's a fair topic.

As long as I can remember, the Dallas Cowboys have been known as "America's Team". I remember growing up and watching football with my dad. I remember the glory years for Dallas under Tom Landry - before I show too much of my age (which is 29 of course) be aware that I was very young, but I do still remember Landry pacing the sidelines in a grey suit and usually a hat. I didn't know as much about football as I do now, but I knew that they won a lot and were everywhere - they were always on tv which is why I believe they were America's team.

...notice I said "were"...let's face it - they should no longer be considered "America's Team". I went to Wikipedia to do a little research (I don't know why I went there - it's a stupid concept when anyone can go in and change the info and we consider that a valid source) and thought that it was interesting to find that they are called that because of a "large fan base that lives outside its immediate local area" and the term actually came from an NFL highlight film. Wikipedia also references their national following being represented by sold out games, etc. Someone answer the question, "when was the last time that Lambeau Field wasn't sold out or season tickets weren't sold out?" There are people that have been on season ticket waiting lists for over a decade for the Pack!

Now, before you go accusing me of being a "homer" and thinking that my Pack needs to be dubbed "America's Team" you need to scroll back up and read. My point is that I don't think that anyone deserves that term anymore. I think that times have changed so it makes it even more difficult to name any one team "America's Team". We now have NFL Sunday Ticket or whatever your cable/satellite provider offers so that we can watch lots of games. We're no longer forced to watch whatever the network decides. Also, there are more networks showing NFL games and we now have ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN News...not to mention the internet (thanks, Al Gore - ha!).

I'm also not trying to belittle the Cowboys. I understand the incredible amount of success that they've had overall for over 40 years. They've been to "the big dance" and they're tied with two other teams for the most wins, but doesn't that further solidify my point? Why aren't those other teams (San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers) screaming to be called "America's Team" if they've won as many Super Bowls?

I love football - both college and NFL...this is my favorite time of year, but the NFL has transformed since I first started watching it as a kid with my dad - some good and some not so good. Maybe it's time that we accept that there isn't a true America's Team anymore...it's not our grandfather's NFL!