Green Bay and Dallas – Ready To Fight This Battle

Posted by Jayme Joers on November 3, 2010   Jump To Comments

I am a history buff.  I love it.  Maybe it’s my knack for remembering dates and random facts.  Maybe it’s because I like to be a “smarty-pants”, but history has always been my love.  In high school, I had one of those great teachers.   The one who came in and pretended to be King George and us, the students, as the colonists yelled our grievances at him.  The kind of teacher that made you excited to learn.  Besides being a great history teacher, he was also a big sports fan.  A friend of mine once wore a 1982 St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt to class; he announced her mistake to the entire class.  I would stay after class to discuss how of course Penn State would lose and Wisconsin would go to the Rose bowl.  As we approach another Packers v Cowboys game, I often think back to this teacher, and possibly the first “blog” type writing I have ever done.  In an in-class essay test, I compared the Battle of New Orleans to the Dallas/Packers game in 1997.  Needless to say, I aced the test.

In the mid-90s, Dallas was the British Army.  Bigger, stronger, more money, fancier dressers; they ruled the world.  The Packers were a rag-tag bunch of newbies, running around with a reckless kid for a quarterback.  Nearly every year, for some strange, horrible, completely unfair reasoning the Packers ended up playing the Cowboys in Dallas, and every time they lost.  Crushing, mind blowing defeats.  The NFC championship game in 1995, the horrible 1996 Monday Night Football loss when even Reggie White couldn’t contain his anger at Dallas’s last minute field goal.  But then something happened at the end of the 1996 season, the Packers won the Super Bowl; they won their independence.  1997, was the Packers year.  Year to roam around and declare dominance.  And by the grace of God, it was the first year that the Packers did not have to go to Dallas; Dallas came to them.  At half time the game was tied ten all.  The War of 1812 was also tied at the half – aka two years in.  No clear winner, just wanted to get out alive, all go home, back to our prospective sides and forget it ever happened.  And then came the second half; and then came Andrew Jackson.

The Dallas-Green Bay game in 1997 wasn’t even close.  45 to 17.  I don’t think I will ever forget that score.  The Packers came out of halftime ready to draw blood, to make a statement.  Thanks for putting us through years of torture; your reign ends now.  The War of 1812 ended Christmas Eve 1814; the Battle of New Orleans was fought and won by the USA – and considered the United States’ greatest land victory of the war – in January of 1815.  There are stories about how Andrew Jackson didn’t know that the peace treaty was signed – this was before twitter let you know everything two seconds after it happened.   Either way, the British had thrown in the towel, ready to concede to a new dynasty, but the USA still held on to administer a crushing blow.  It was needed for morale, a statement victory.  Same with the Dallas game.  This was not the 1994 Packers.   They had arrived.

This year, Dallas comes to Green Bay with their tails between their legs.  Preseason greatness now crawling to find its way.  Which Packers team will come out to meet it? A powerful, strong, united team ready to bring the hammer down on Dallas’s season?  Or a team, content to play down to its opponent, looking for a long drawn out fight?  Me, I’m hoping for, and expecting, the statement team.  And I’m guessing you are too.  Andrew Jackson would want that.

Want to share your expectations for the game?  You can email Jayme at Jayme@brentfavre.com or find her on twitter @jaymelee1 or at Random Musings on the world of sports.