Woe unto Wisconsin

A large portion of the state of Wisconsin is grieving today. Yes, we'll all miss Evel Knievel. And we have to face the fact of The Mighty Pack's loss to the despised Dallas Cowboys. While the Packers represent everything there is to like about football, the Cowboys are the exact opposite. Owned by an ultra rich jerk, all glitz, stupid mascots and artificial turf - it's hard to swallow. Not only did the Packers lose, but Brett Favre was forced to leave the game with an injury. He didn't play very well before he got hurt, either. Interestingly, backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers (I like to call him Mister Rodgers) came in and, after a shaky start, almost managed to save the game. Alas and alack, it was not to be. Oh well, it's only football, after all. There's always next week. Or next year.

An interesting note about this particular game was that it was broadcast by the NFL Network. As a result, it wasn't possible to watch it unless you got your opiate via satellite - no cable or regular networks had it. People across the state were outraged. Come on, folks! It's only television. If people spent as much energy on important issues as they do on whether or not they can watch a stupid football game.... but I digress. So, if you wanted to watch this game and didn't have satellite, you had to go somewhere to do so. Every bar in the state with a satellite dish was packed (sorry about the pun) to capacity. I had a rehearsal that kept me from getting an early seat in one of my neighborhood watering holes, but thanks to our rock-star status and all (hard to get that written down without choking), our keyboardist and I were able to get in midway through the first quarter even though they were turning people away. Feeling rather important, I went up to the bar to procure a refreshing fermented malt beverage and found myself standing next to (drum roll ..........) Chad Vader (the body, not the voice - if you haven't seen these videos, check them out). Confused, not knowing if I should feel humbled or special to be in such lofty company, I couldn't think of anything to say (like, maybe "I believe in you Chad. I also believe in elves" or "Do you have any live goats?") and opted for silence rather than risking stupidity. It made the ignominious defeat just a little bit easier to bear, knowing that the body of Chad shared my pain.