BURLINGTON -- It's a relatively quiet afternoon at Gooseberries Fresh Food Market on State Street. The after-work rush won't start for about two hours and the customers, many of them taking advantage of the store's five-percent senior citizens' discount on Wednesday, seem to be enjoying the quiet.

Mary, a petite woman who appears to be in her 60s, has passed through the impressive produce section and the bakery and is beginning to work her way toward the checkout counter when she pauses near the snack aisle.

"While I'm here, I better get something for the game tomorrow," she says.

There was no need to ask which game she meant.

The Packers' game against the Cowboys, which begins at 7:30 tonight in Dallas, has created a tidal wave of anticipation throughout the state. Both teams have 10-1 records, a circumstance that has only occurred seven other times in National Football League history, and the winner will have the inside track for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Though it is located in Racine County, about 150 miles south of Green Bay and 1,000 miles north of Texas Stadium, Burlington - a quaint town of 10,000 known as "Chocolate City" because of the Nestle factory -- has become the epicenter of pregame hype.

In case you haven't heard, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo grew up here.

Long before he took command of the Cowboys huddle, started dating bombshells like Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson and generally began living a dream-like existence that would have drawn chuckles from the Burlington Liars Club just a few years ago, Romo, 27, was a standout in football, basketball and golf at Burlington High School.

"He's a special kid. We're really proud of him here," said Eric Burling, the school's assistant principal and athletic director.

"What's unique about Tony is that in the day and age of video games and sports specialization, he was the one that tired his parents out by asking them to throw a ball and letting him throw to them. He was the kid that would be out in the yard shooting hoops in the winter with his gloves on or going to whatever gym he could sneak into to play basketball.

"He just kept working and working. It's good when good things happen to people like him and they're able to expand their talents."

Romo played soccer as a youngster and excelled in basketball, which many thought was his favorite sport, particularly when, as a senior, he beat out Racine Park junior Caron Butler - now a star with the NBA's Washington Wizards - for county player of the year honors.

"I was a basketball fan growing up," Romo told Wisconsin reporters during a conference call this week. "I mean, football was obviously big and it was a big thing to everyone, but I was a basketball guy growing up. Football was just something fun to do on Sundays and as the Packers got better, it was funner to watch."

After graduating from Burlington, Romo attended Eastern Illinois University, dedicated himself to football and set records for both the school and the Ohio Valley Conference. Despite a promising workout at the NFL scouting combine, Romo was bypassed in the 2003 NFL Draft and signed with the Cowboys as a free agent.

He entered his rookie season third on the depth chart behind Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson, who flamed out, and then backed up veterans Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe before winning the starting job last year and riding his underdog story all the way to the Pro Bowl.

"In the back of your mind, you're always hoping you can be a good player, but you never really know until you go out and do it," he said. "Last year, for the Carolina game, you know, I was getting ready for it all week, and then I went out there, and I was pretty calm, I kind of went out there and ran around, made a few plays, did some stuff, and we won the game. And people kept asking me, `How'd you stay so calm?' And I'm like, `Well, I went into the game...' -- it had been 3 1/2 years at that point before I'd stepped on the field in a regular-season game, I had never done it before -- so I was like, `I had a lot of time to prepare for this moment, so it was kind of like, either you're good enough to do this now, or you're not.

"If I wouldn't have been good enough to do it then, then I probably never would've been. So it was kind of like, I'm going to go out here, I'm going to try to find the guy that's open and throw him the ball, and if I can do that, then I can do it. And if I can't, well then I can't. There's no secret to it. All you can do is work hard and put yourself in a position to be successful, and then whether you are or not, either you're good enough to or not."

Romo was good enough to grab one of the marquee jobs in sports and a six-year, $67.5 million contract extension. That's enough to adjust anyone's attitude, but people who know Romo say he has remained humble and grounded. He still hangs out with his hometown and college buddies. He still comes back to practice with the Burlington basketball team and help with the summer football camp.

How does a guy in Romo's position stay grounded?

"It's about people," he said. "At the end of the day, either you treat people good or you don't. The thing I noticed a while ago, and for me, I was that kid who always wanted to just watch sports. And I looked up to people and things of that nature growing up, and now I can understand when people come up to you. It's the same thing, except the roles are switched. So, I just treat people good, I just try to treat them with respect. I know the feeling when they come up to you. They're excited, and they just want to talk to you a little bit. I have no problem giving people time or an autograph or picture or any of that stuff. It's just who you are as a person.

"And I also understand that this isn't going to go on forever. I'm going to play this game, however long it is, and when I'm done playing, people will forget about me in a few years and that'll be that. You have to go back to living life the normal way and you have to be able to enjoy it, and I think I've learned that the things that I enjoy, they aren't predicated on having to be an attention-needy person at all. I don't need that. I really don't care for it. It's just something that goes along with it. And when the time comes and it's over with, I'll be more than happy to go and do that."

Given his Wisconsin roots and his penchant for taking chances on the field, Romo is often compared to Packers quarterback Brett Favre. What will it be like to play against the icon?

"I hate to say it to belittle the point, but I think though that to us it's just another game," Romo said. "It's a big game against a good team, more than who we're playing against or anything, it's fun to be able to play in these games against another team that's 10-1, whether it would have been the Packers or the New York Giants.

"It's still going to be enjoyable... I still root on the Packers whenever I watch 'em, because I grew up rooting them on, but lately, I've been rooting against them. But I think it's just part of your process as you grow up. You kind of start to love another team a little bit, too -- the team you're playing for."

Although the Cowboys are clearly popular in Burlington, there doesn't seem to be much of a conflict when it comes to rooting for a team tonight.

"Everyone wants the Packers to win down here," Burling said. "We want Tony to throw five touchdown passes in the game and lose, 42-35. We want Tony to do well. It's easy to be a Cowboys fan."