Well that was short & sweet!
First of all, I want to tell you all that I really like your forum. Unlike the Charger forums I visited over the years, this one featured far more insightful analysis and far less personal bickering.
As someone who for years mostly viewed the Packers at arms length through what my husband and teenage Packer fan kids told me, I actually learned a lot about both the current roster and the history of the franchise. Again, this is a first-class group of posters (with maybe one or two exceptions
) and much better than most of the other Packer forums I visited but did not join.
Anyway, living in San Diego County we have both a lot of neighbors and friends who grew up elsewhere and a lot who were in the military (Navy and Marines). My husband, who grew up in the Milwaukee area and has been in California for over two decades, has a group of longtime friends and fantasy league competitors who are fans of the Eagles (guy still has season tickets back in Philly), Redskins, 49ers, Browns (poor guys all 3 of them), Bears, Steelers, Patriots, and I am sure some other teams I forgot. They often get together for night games hosted by the guy whose team is playing that night.
Last night my husband went to a friend's house who is a typically obnoxious Cowboys fan to watch the Cowboys Monday night game. The host is also a Delta and Navy reserve pilot who graduated from the Naval Academy. He has done flyovers at NFL stadiums across the country. I was surprised when my husband came home before 7:00 (game started at 5:30 here) and asked him what was going on?
He explained that his friend was extremely upset by the Cowboys pre-game conduct and the focus on protests generally. He went on to say that two other friends who are still active duty Navy were going on and on about how pissed people were at work about the episode involving the Steelers player who is an Army Vet apologizing after he was caught on camera saluting the flag. The host apologized and said he really didn't feel up to watching the game, so they all left early.
After he told me this, my husband went outside and took down the Packer bunting that "adorns" the front of our house during the NFL season. When I asked him why, he said he'd just lost his enthusiasm for the NFL (mind you, we have an entire Packers room in which he proudly displays a framed autographed picture from Bart Starr that he got in response to a 2nd grade assignment to write to a famous person and a life size cutout of Jordy Nelson). He also said he was troubled that his continuing to support the NFL was somehow dishonoring his father . While neither my husband nor I have ever been in the military, we just buried his dad last month in Oak Creek and my husband was visibly moved by the elderly men who showed up from the local VFW and played taps. My father-in-law was a military policeman in the Army.
He then told me that we would not be hosting anyone for the Thursday night game. This morning, my husband was still agitated and called the Packers front office (yes he can be obsessive) and asked if the team had any statement about the three players who did not stand on Sunday and was told to look at the team's statement from before the game but did not get a direct answer. Afterward, he told me he was selling our tickets to the Ravens game in November when we are heading back to Wisconsin to visit his newly widowed mother and he wanted to go to a movie or out to dinner Thursday night rather than watch the Packers' game.
So, this is a very long-winded way of saying that with my husband taking a step back from his diehard Packer fandom, I too will be doing other things than following the NFL for the time being. Believe me as a jaded former Charger fan whose biggest pleasure this season has been seeing their poor kicker create agony for all 10,000 or so of the Charger fans in attendance in LA, leaving the NFL behind will not be so hard. I am shocked about my husband's stance, however, and will be very interested how my 15 year-old son who just got his Mike Daniels' jersey in the mail reacts to these events.
Sorry again for the length of the post, but even though I did not post I really enjoyed following this forum and overall the group seems to possess that typical Midwest niceness and respectfulness that is so lacking much of modern society. I'll lurk from time to time and still hope the Packers win the Super Bowl after the season.
And, on the bright side for you Packer fans, the last two times my family attended Packer games they lost to the Cowboys at Lambeau last year and got drilled by the Cardinals at the end of the regular season in Phoenix in 2015, so I'm absolutely sure the Packers will defeat the Ravens this season.
Good luck to all.
