You may call me a fair-weather fan if you'd like. You may even call me a Lambeau leaper onto the bandwagon.
It's true that during 2008, I was so disgusted with the Packers front office that I temporarily renounced my fandom. It's also true that I watched the games tepidly in 2009 and without rapt attention for the first few weeks of 2010.
But it's most importantly true that if you ask anyone who knows me, they'll agree that I was a huuuuuuge Packers fan from 1994 to 2008. Until about 2002 or so, I would've even said my love for the Packers equaled my love for the Brewers.
It's waned since then, but this season, Green Bay has given me enough reasons to rekindle the relationship.
I won't apologize for my angry feeling following Brett Favre's bungled departure. Everything about the situation upset me greatly. It was no doubt that Aaron Rodgers was the Packers' quarterback of the future, yet Green Bay handled the situation in a way that utterly disgusted me.
The team this year, however, has won me back. It began in earnest with the Packers victory over the Vikings on Oct. 24.
My passion for the Packers isn't as strong as it once was. Having enjoyed the highest of highs and lowest of lows has allowed me to enjoy the game with a little distance. If the Packers lose on Sunday (which they won't), I won't literally shed tears like I did after Super Bowl XXXII.
And if they win (which they will, handily), I promise I won't go as berserk as I did on Water Street after the Packers won the NFC Championship leading up to Super Bowl XXXI.
Yet, this team has done everything right, beginning with trusting the poised arm of Aaron Rodgers. He's kind of the anti-Favre, making good decisions on the field and seemingly off the field, too. He's quiet and affable, and while his performances are perhaps less thrilling than Favre in his prime, they're also less heart-attack inducing.
The other young players are fun to watch, too. From the great tweets by Clay Matthews and the injured Jermichael Finley, to the tight bond between the receiving corps, it's hard to not get behind this team. They shouldn't have come this far, but here they are.
So, I guess I'm back. Even during my break with the Packers, I reminded people that it would be temporary. I didn't expect it to last two years, but our time apart was well-spent. I got a lot of chores done on Sunday afternoons.
But this Sunday, there will be no chores. Just a laser-like focus on the TV. And maybe a little Tweeting.
I knew I couldn't stay mad at your forever, Packers. Please show me that you forgive me by clobbering the Bears.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
