Some Wounds Never Heal

The pain of a Super Bowl loss. Yes on some level there is a way that some Packer fans might have been able to feel a twinge of sympathy for New England fans (not me I'm just saying), for we too have known the pain of losing a Super Bowl in which we were heavily favored.

It's been over ten years now since that fateful evening in San Diego when Denver's John Elway won his first Super Bowl in lost-track-counting tries. That night the Pack could have turned into a dynasty Holmgren would have never left. Instead they joined ranks of the seeming Super Bowl fluke teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh, one hit wonders.

But eventually over time the pain of the loss dulled. We consoled ourselves with rationalizations like "hey 1 out of 2 isn't bad", "Favre is young, we'll have plenty of chances like this", and "well if we had to lose at least it was to Elway". How could we be bitter after the Pack had finally delivered on the promise of 10-6 seasons and gotten to the championship game two years in a row. We were America's Team again (never been the Cowboys as far as I'm concerned). Yeah we had a good shot at two in a row, but we gave it our all. Sometimes it's just the other teams day.

Then (after the Packers recently lose a NFC championship at Lambeau Field playing like they were coached by Forrest Gregg) you wake up one morning and see this (Badgercentric) in your local sports section. And it all comes back. The way you felt when Favre threw that last pick that sealed the game's fate, how the anger and confusion built up in your head as possesion after possesion went by without giving the ball to Levens, the 'thanks for nothing, bitch!' rant you wanted to spew at Holmgren when he left soon after for more power in Seattle.

But that's why we are such great fans. We forgive and forget and we remember the Lindy Infante/Forrest Gregg/Dan Devine eras. If you can survive the '80's as a Packer fan you can shake off 10 years of coulda woulda too.

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