I was ten years old the last time the Packers won the Super Bowl.
As the clock ticked down, I remember my Dad ceremoniously handing me the Green and Gold helmet that was signed by my childhood idol, Brett Favre.
“It’s time,” he said. “We’re the World Champions.”
I placed the helmet on top of the mantle, making it the centerpiece. It was worthy.
I didn’t grasp how much it meant at that point. I didn’t realize that it had been nearly 30 years since the place they call Titletown had a title. Thirty agonizing years.
The next year, the Packers were back in the Super Bowl, and I thought it was going to be a yearly occurrence.
I was wrong.
I’ve never felt worse than I did when the Broncos took the Lombardi trophy away. I cried, I felt sick for a week, I was depressed — and I was 11 years old.
That feeling stuck with me for 13 years. I will never forget the empty feeling of being on the losing side of the biggest event in sports.
But that feeling is gone now, completely replaced by euphoria.
It’s time.
I mirrored the jubilation of Saints fans last year with my own rather spasmodic celebrations.
After the first Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass to the incredibly savvy Jordy Nelson, I unleashed a flurry of Rodgers’ title belts in the general direction of some sullen Steeler fans on the TV.
The surround sound was turned all the way up to drown out the 20-some people I had in my living room, most of whom were forced to wear some sort of Green Bay clothing.
I had it so loud because my favorite thing to do when watching a Packer game is to listen to Joe Buck make some sort of reference to Nelson’s craftiness or knowledge of the game.
Maybe he would make a comparison between Nelson and former NFL greats Wayne Chrebet or Ed McCaffrey, you know, because Nelson’s a white wide receiver. Don’t call him athletic, he’s just real savvy.
During the Nick Collins pick-six of Ben Roethlisberger, my screaming celebration was so intense I literally made a baby cry. A baby who was wearing a title-belt t-shirt (I couldn’t make that up).
If you would have videotaped my reactions during the first half, it would’ve almost exclusively featured me vigorously doing the title belt celebration to innocent bystanders.
But it wouldn’t have been a 2010-11 Green Bay Packers game if it wasn’t close at some point in the second half.
My fingernails were chewed to the limit. My hat was thrown into some dark corner of my room. I even had to go put on a hoodie for good luck purposes when the Steelers looked like they were going to steal the game away.
Obviously, that was an excellent decision.
Roethlisberger, the man who supposedly has ice running through his veins, fired an incompletion to seal the game. The title-belts started flying.
Everybody in the house was watching me with morbid curiosity as I started running around the house screaming about being the Super Bowl champ.
I calmed down enough to watch Air Rodgers snap the ball out of the victory formation and take the knee to end the game. Mike McCarthy got showered with orange Gatorade, and I watched the seconds tick.
It’s time. We’re the World Champions. Read – Schwehmming Around: Aaron Rodgers is an elite QB, but he has a long way to go