Sunday. NFC Champoinship game is on now and I get to watch the Packers play at least one more game this year. As I type this now we are down by 7 and Rodgers just got sacked on the 5 yard line. Damn it. I’m passionate about them and obviously want them to win. We all want our team to win, to be better than others, and we all love that feeling we get when winning. For most people it is addicting and you want that feeling all the time regardless of what happens to the “loser” or the other side. You want your win. Everyone is guilty of it one way or another. You don’t like football, take your pick on the other wins we gotta have including arguments with friends/family, proving a co-worker wrong, and the big one right now politics.
I had the pleasure of living next door to a NFL player for a couple years. He lived in the apartment right next to mine so I got to know him and his young family pretty well. I would tease him often about the Packers. Once I told him someone keyed his brand new HellCat charger and watched all the happy drain out of his face as I said “Yeah man, someone wrote GO PACK GO right on your hood. He laughed saying “you got me good there.” I share this as there is a point to my blah blah blah.
Time went by and that year in November the Packers came to town to play the Panthers. It was a crazy week leading up to the game and on game day I went to Packers tailgate party outside of the stadium as we all know Packer fans travel well. My good friend whom we call Rowdy won 2 tickets to the game and generously asked me if I wanted to go. Hell Yeah I wanted to go. Next thing I know I’m in the stadium getting ready to watch my team play the home team. For the record this was the day “I’m goooood brahh…” became a saying. The story behind that is a freaking great one, but you don’t get to hear that one today.
Prior to leaving for the tailgate party I had purchased a greeting card saying good luck and wrote a nice note in it for my Panther player next door. I came to really like him and his wife. It was funny he was always offering to carry things for me like the water jugs I get delivered, but I was scared he would pull a muscle in his back and then Panther nation would blame me for losing our cornerback. Okay getting off topic again. I wanted to wish my friend luck even though it was going against my team winning. I had been giving him shit for 4 months prior to this game and loved every second of it.
In the note I told him that to me it was simply a game. I wanted my team to win because it is natural and I wanted my “high” for the day. I thought about it that week though coming to the conclusion that it was just a game. To him it was his livelihood and the way he took care of his family. I realized it was bigger than me. In your rush to be right, to win, take a moment to pause and try to identify with who you are beating. There is a good chance you don’t know the back story, how that person got to where they are, and no matter how flipping right you think you are, there is a chance you’re not. Sometimes in life the end result that benefits you the most is not the best ending. I know in your selfish mind you can’t even grasp that concept.
The Packers lost that day. My neighbor shut down Randall Cobb for the game and it was great to see that for him. My neighbor was very happy when I saw him later that evening. He thanked me for the note and said the whole Panther team gave that note credit for the win that day. Okay that didn’t happen although he did thank me for the note. I ended up feeling better that night than I would have if the Packers won that game. I think about that day, that game, and that night from time to time when I need perspective on what is actually more important in my life and the lives of other humans.
It is the fourth quarter now so I’m done here. Just remember being a good human usually means doing the opposite of winning.
Go Pack Go.
FknBucky
FknBucky 