We are the champions, my friends! Green Bay Packers 31 – Pittsburgh Steelers 25. Packers are Super Bowl Champions!!

It’s all over. The Green Bay Packers are the Super Bowl 45 Champions. Aaron Rodgers is the Super Bowl MVP. Dreams really can come true. For the players on this team, they have. The Vince Lombardi trophy is returning to Titletown.  People in Green Bay will be dancing in the streets and wearing cheese on their heads. Some won’t be wearing anything but cheese on their heads. Can you blame them? 🙂 You know what goes great with an Aaron Rodgers “title belt” celebration? Having the Lombardi Trophy back in Titletown.

Congratulations to the veterans on the team, especially Donald Driver, Charles Woodson and Chad Clifton. While it was disappointing that both Woodson and Driver got hurt in the game, in my opinion they both still earned their Super Bowl rings. What a great season and what a great team. Woodson and Driver were definitely emotional leaders for the team, even if they couldn’t finish the game on the field.

Congratulations to Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy. They deserve as much credit as anyone for this Super Bowl win. Congrats to Dom Capers and the entire Packers coaching staff. This team will go down in history as one of the greatest Packers team ever.  And yes, dad, as you promised, you will now have to call him MR. McCarthy now that he has a Super Bowl ring and a street in Green Bay named after him. (Sorry, no more Mike McFarty…. at least, not until they have a losing season.)

I will admit, I wasn’t always a believer in this coach, or this GM or this team president. But I will gladly eat some crow now and say that Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy are all geniuses and have proved all of my doubts wrong!!! And I am so happy for them, for the fans and for the 2010-11 Super Bowl Champs – YOUR GREEN BAY PACKERS!!

There’s only one thing left to say, and that’s how great it is to strap on the imaginary “Championship Belt” with your friends. I am planning on doing it a lot in the months to come and I hope you’ll join me. In the return to TitleTown celebration at Lambeau Field Aaron Rodgers even said “you can steal my celebration. Now that we’re the champs, you go ahead and put that on whenever you want!” Thanks, Aaron. I’m sure we will. Ha ha, I can’t wait. And with the core of this team coming back in 2011-2012, I can’t wait for next year either. I can’t think of anybody who deserves all this success more than Rodgers, Woodson, Driver and this incredible team. And you can bet – you’ll always remember where you were when the Green Bay Packers won SUPER BOWL 45 and became World Champions!!! I know that I will.

Well, thank you all for reading my blog this year. I really enjoyed writing it and hearing from some of you, my lovely readers. This is going to be my last post for a while, but I’d like to leave you with a parting gift – my Super Fun guide to Packers nicknames. Some of these I made up, and some are actually true. But they all have some meaning for each guy.

Here they are, your 2010 GBP nicknames:

Aaron Rodgers gets more than one. That’s because he’s the MVP and he deserves them. They are: “The People’s Champ”, “The Legend-Killer”, “Brent Who”, “Title-Belt Holder”, “Photo Ninja” and “Man O’ Steel”. They should usually be inserted in between the first and last name. Or sometimes just shouted randomly at your television.

Here are the rest of the guys nicknames:

James “Gridiron Man” Starks, John “The Snowplow” Kuhn, Brandon “Baby Jacks” Jackson.

Donald “Double-Dee!!!, Quickie” Driver, James “Double-J” Jones, Jordy “White Lightning” Nelson, and Greg “The Natural” Jennings. Greg also likes the nickname “Superman”.

Chad “The Wall” Clifton, Bryan “the Whale” Bulaga, Daryn “Big Cajones” Colledge, Scott “Scotty 2 Hotty” Wells, and Josh “The Incredible Hulk” Sitton.

Now for Defense:

Charles “Chaz” and “White House” Woodson. Tramon “The Man” Williams, Sam “Laser” Shields. It’s also a good idea to yell “Shields Up!” whenever you see him. Nick “Prowl Bowl is my middle name” Collins and Charlie “the Doctor” Peprah.

For linebackers we have Clay “the Clay-Maker”, “the Sack-Master” and “the Beast” Matthews. Then there’s Desmond “the checkmate” Bishop, A.J. “The Genius” Hawk, Erik “That Guy” Walden and Frank “el Zorro” Zombo.

On the D-line there is Ryan “The Boulder” or ”The FENCE” Pickett, Cullen “the Freight Train” Jenkins, “Mean” Howard Green and B.J. “The Freezer” Raji. With the Freezer of course being Raji’s own creation. Much like his weird touchdown gyrations.

We’ve also got Tim “The Master” Masthay and Mason “Chasin’ Jacke” Crosby.  Last but not least, there is Jarret “zero to hero” Bush.

Now, I know that’s not everyone, but that ought to hold you over until NFL draft time. Hope you enjoyed the ride. I know I sure did.

GREEN BAY PACKERS, SUPER BOWL 45 CHAMPIONS!!!!   Ahhhhhhhh, I never get tired of saying that. Time to go put on my “title belt.”

See ya!!!! GO PACK GO!!!

Monday Night Meltdown – Another bad night for the Pack. Vikings 30 Packers 23

Favre in purple

It looks like Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle owes Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty a case of Wisconsin beer. The two governors had a bet riding on Monday night’s Packers-Vikings matchup. The winner got a case of the other state’s beer. Might I suggest some Spotted Cow, Mr. Governor? Or, if that’s not your favorite flavor, then you could go with some Pabst Blue Ribbon, or Leinenkugel’s. All three are Wisconsin beers that have become quite popular over the years. Yes, I am aware that many of you know this.

Gov. Doyle won’t be going home empty-handed because the two governors also had a bet riding on Saturday’s Minnesota-Wisconsin college football matchup. The Badgers pulled out the win 31-28. Gov. Doyle’s reward will be a case of specialty Minnesota foods. To put it in Minnesota terms: “Oh Ya Know, we got dat tater-tot hot dish ya know hey.” I suppose the only way to make their silly foods edible will be smothering them with Wisconsin cheddar. As we all know, Wisconsin cheddar makes everything better.

A wheel of Wisconsin Cheese

Anyway, on to the game. In my last blog I predicted that the Vikings’ strong pass rush, specifically Jared Allen, would dominate the Packers’ weak offensive line. That’s exactly what happened. It was a Monday night record 8 sacks for the Vikings. Even though Aaron Rodgers put up another valiant effort, the Pack’s O-line was obviously over-matched. If Green Bay doesn’t get this fixed and fast, it can expect to be watching the playoffs from home this year instead of participating in them. Their record is now 2-2 and they are two games behind division-leading Minnesota. They sorely missed Chad Clifton this week at left tackle.

Oh yes, and who could forget about Brett Favre. ESPN had this game hyped like the second coming of Christ. The senior citizen (Favre) tore apart the Packers’ secondary, throwing for three touchdowns, and making Al Harris wonder if he should cut off his dreadlocks. Perhaps if the Green Bay defense had been able to reach Favre at all, the outcome might have been different. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Next week is the Packers bye week before heading back to Lambeau Field to face the Lions. I’ll be at the game, so I should have some great inside-the-game reporting. Especially on the tailgating.