In looking at the Green Bay Packers' success during the Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers era, you have to wonder just how spoiled can a Packer fan can be, and if that expectation of success will end anytime soon.
For the sake of this comparison, let's just say that a kid typically becomes a hard core sports fan with some long-term memory around the age of 10.
So, any Packer fan born around 1982 has almost no memory of the team being out of the play-offs for more than a couple years between 1992 and 2009, when the team's regular season winning percentage was .618. Add on this year's 2-0 start and if Aaron Rodgers can avoid serious injury and the rest of the team continues to improve, Packer fans can likely expect at least another decade of serious annual play-off contention. For the purposes of Bear Week comparison, Chicago's record since 1992 is 132-156 for a .458 winning percentage.
On the other hand, for someone like myself who was born in 1962, my earliest memories of the Pack include nothing more than a couple fleeting play-off appearances in 1972 and 1982. In fact, for the 18 regular seasons between 1972 and 1989, the Packers' regular-season winning percentage was a dismal .412.
Just for comparison again, the Bears' winning percentage in that era was .517, but is heavily skewed by the Ditka glory years of the mid-1980s. Fortunately, I've also been around for the last two decades to enjoy the winning teams produced by the likes of Ron Wolf, Mike Holmgren, Bob Harlan, Mike Sherman and Mike McCarthy.
Another fan comparing those Packer eras is Fox6 news anchor Ted Perry. He recalled unique Packer memory after they beat the Carolina Panthers to go to their first Mike Holmgren era Super Bowl.
"Reggie White was running around with the Halas Trophy and it was freezing," Perry said. "I was on the field and I looked up and Ray Nitschke was standing next to me. He was smiling and crying at the same time. I think a lot of guys from the Lombardi era might have privately felt their legacy might have been diminished if a new Packers dynasty emerged. But he seemed genuinely happy for that team and long-suffering fans. It was a public/private moment I won't forget."
Despite those losing Packer seasons of my youth and formative years, I and other Packer backers have memories of some great games like the 48-47 Monday Night Football victory over the Redskins in 1983 or the instant replay victory over the Bears in 1989, and some great players like Don Majkowski, Lynn Dickey, James Lofton, John Brockington and the unforgettable Chester Marcol.
Former Milwaukee Alderman and lifelong Packers fan Mike D' Amato isn't afraid to admit the importance of watching games in the leanest of times.
"I remember, like it was yesterday, skipping my college graduation in December 1985 so I could watch a Packer game in an empty fraternity house," D' Amato said. "Beating the 2-14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers was among the few highlights that we had to celebrate in those lean years. The good thing about being a Packers fan back then was that every fan was hard core. Not a lot fair weather fans jumping on that bandwagon."
Unfortunately, I was just young enough to have almost no memory of the Vince Lombardi glory days when the Packers won almost three quarters of their regular season games and five NFL titles between 1959 and 1967. There is a mixed blessing that I do recall seeing Packer greats of that era like Bart Starr, Nitschke and Willie Wood play, but their skills were so diminished after Lombardi's departure that it almost didn't matter.
Shawna Nicols, a Packer fan on the younger side and highly successful local athlete in her own right, had a practical take on the team's current winning ways.
"Something I learned at (Milwaukee) Pius with Joel Claassen and basketball, was once you start winning state and conference championships on a regular basis, that is the expectation every year, and anything less than that, is well ... just that, less than the best," Nicols said. "As athletes, we strive to always be the best and win championships ... once that is achieved and continues to be achieved season after season, it becomes the norm. This is how programs are built that then turn into dynasties. I think that is the best way I can correlate the history I have personally witnessed with the Packers."
What this all means to Packers fans is to thoroughly enjoy every game and every winning season as much as possible, because it can all end very quickly with the retirement of a coach, general manager or quarterback.
Well, maybe not a quarterback.
