Simply Living in the Northwoods: Sunday Football

The dogs are BIG Packer Fans

We love watching football on Sundays. Unfortunately, our satellite service comes out of Duluth; Viking games are sometimes aired instead of Packer games. Tonight we were lucky as the Packers play the Patriots at 7:00.

I didn't always enjoy watching Packer games. When I was a kid I remember Mom, Dad and Karen gathering in the TV room for the Sunday Packer game. Dad was in his leather easy chair workstation, which consisted of a TV tray stacked

with bills and an adding machine. My mom made a huge bowl of popcorn on the stovetop (microwave popcorn did not exist. I don't think home microwave ovens did either) and settled into the sofa with a pile of sewing projects including my Girl Scout sash and badges. To this day I don't know why she didn't make me sew on my own badges. Perhaps. I hadn't earned my sewing badge yet. By the way, today neither Girl Scouts, nor their mothers need sew on badges - they're all iron-on! When did this happen? Since I didn't have to sew badges and I didn't like football, I took my own bowl of popcorn and retired to the kitchen for and afternoon with Charlie Chan.

photo courtesy of filmsinreview.com

Now, in Mercer Pete usually has brats and sauerkraut, but today he made a delicious beef stew to enjoy during the game. I should say, a delicious savory beef stew. The stovetop of our Jenn Air range is called the Savory Centre - really, it is, it came that way.

The Savory Centre Logo

A Pot of Savory Stew

The dogs donned their Packer scarves and were ready for the game to begin.

Packer Zombie Dogs

Before the game I was talking to a wise man (Jere McGaffey) who reminded me of the often quoted saying, ". . . on any given Sunday, any given team can beat any other team." He didn't seem very optimistic, but as the game went on it seemed as though the Packers might be that "given team".
The game was really exciting, the lead went back and forth and I was forced to stay up for the whole thing.

Sometimes the dogs didn't want to look

or listen.

It was up and down - good news was followed by bad news, good luck was followed by bad luck and good plays were followed by bad plays. In the end it seemed a Vince Lombardi quote came true,

"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."

Pete with statute of Vince Lombardi

What an UGLY ending.

Without a timeout left on fourth-and-1, clock ran all the way down to four seconds before Flynn snapped it. Then, he is sacked and fumbles as time runs out. The game ended at 10:26. Packers lose 31-27.