VH1 Storytellers - The Green Bay Packers

File this one under the "life" category.

I've always had Aaron Rodgers' back. (Can we just call him A-Rod now, since Alex Rodriguez is now completely undeserving of that title after eating popcorn out of Cameron Diaz's hand like a trained goat in front of half the country?)

When I was in East Asia, one of my roommates brought his PS2 and I started a franchise with the previous year's version of Madden. Naturally, since I loved Aaron and it was his first year starting, I traded away Favre and made Aaron my starting quarterback. (I also knew this would make my roommate, a Favre lover, extremely irritated.) Call me Ted Thompson, but I knew he was destined for greatness.

In the midst of all of the Favre controversy that spanned the course of several years, not once did Rodgers publicly complain about his situation, having plummeted in the first round of the draft just to sit behind a legend who had absolutely no interest in showing Rodgers the ropes or being a teacher. He worked, studied, and waited patiently for his time to come.




And in many ways, the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers took on much of Rodgers' attitude and character throughout an up-and-down year. Despite devastating close losses and enough starters on the injured reserve to start their own championship-caliber team, the Packers kept fighting - and winning.

Before the Packers even won the Super Bowl, I jokingly posted that they would make a movie about this season . (I also posted much earlier in the season that I didn't think the Packers would even make the playoffs with all of the injuries they had. Thankfully I was wrong.) And while it's possible that every fan of a Super Bowl winning team thinks that's true of their team and the season they had, the Packers' season truly had all of the elements of a good story.

Author Donald Miller says, "A great story is simply this: A character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it."

Super Bowl expectations.
The loss of 15+ key players to injuries. (And one to "The Purple Drank")
Doubts about Aaron Rodgers' and the Packers' big-game ability.
Criticism of Ted Thompson's personnel choices and McCarthy's play calling.
Needing to win the last two games of the season just to get into the playoffs.
Three road games to get to the Super Bowl.
Three key players injured in the Super Bowl game vs. the formidable Steelers.
Super Bowl Champions.




There you have it, the elements of a GREAT story.

Given all of the injuries and all that had happened in the past 5 months, it's absolutely extraordinary that the Packers came out on top. And all along the way they took care of injuries, criticism, and the like, in-house, confident in their own abilities and that the next man would step up - and they did it with class and character.

And while there's much to be excited about for the future of the Green Bay Packers, let's take a day, or 200, to soak it in and ENJOY the victory. Heck, I might even sip champagne and watch a few minutes of the game (since I taped it on VHS - old school) every night before bed. A toast, to the real A-Rod, and the 2011 Super Bowl Champion, Green Bay Packers.

-CK