Today is SuperBowl Sunday in America, of course, and today's lineup is HUGE. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers are two of the oldest franchises in the NFL, representing the heart & soul of the American industrial heartland. To our Commonwealth brethren I cannot emphasize enough just how significant today's Clash of Heroes will be:
Pittsburgh vs. Green Bay is like Manchester United vs. Birmingham. It's like my mighty, mighty Collingwood Magpies going up against the Carlton Blues . . .
. . . and watching it on the 19-inch black & white telly at my grandfather's place in St. Kilda. It's like the Canadiennes vs. the Maple Leafs pl;aying that stick-ball game they do on the ice up there in the Great White Frozen NorthLand. It's Wellington vs. Bonaparte; Patton vs. Rommel; Reagan vs. Carter (No - that's a bad analogy; Carter is a waffling, effete weirdo with serious loyalty issues - the Green Bay Packers are Heroic Warriors of the Ice Cold CheeseLand). In other words, this will be a BATTLE ROYAL of historic proportions.
I'm not a sports writer, I'm a soldier-philosopher, so I'll leave the in-depth analysis to an expert who had done a tremendous job:
TRADITION SET TO TAKE CENTER STAGE AT SUPER BOWL 2011
By James Varney, The Times-Picayune Sunday, February 06, 2011, 6:00 AM
DALLAS — Finally, something other than cold will grip Texas today, as Super Bowl 2011 features two of the most tradition-rich teams in football.
The Green Bay Packers hold a dozen NFL titles, the most of any franchise, and the half-dozen Super Bowls won by the Pittsburgh Steelers set them above all in that category.
The Steelers are the only NFL team that wears their logo on only one side of their helmets:
Yet the teams embody something about the league and the game that goes beyond their championships. Though both areas have moved beyond their hardscrabble history, they still evoke smokestacks, coal, and beer, a Midwest where the people are as famed for the friendliness as much as their football.
Each franchise earned its fame with grit, muscle and clouds of breath on cold afternoons — with a style that mirrored and pleased their fan base. The Packers will forever be stamped as a team that won on ice-crusted fields, and the Steelers’ glory days featured a rangy defense led by men with seemingly fewer teeth than hockey players.
Read the rest of it HERE
But who do you back when you're a thrice-transplanted Oakland Raiders fan?
Both teams are worthy and well-qualified . . . I like the Packers because of their traditions . . . but these days I live in Pennsylvania, and today the Heroic Pittsburgh Steelers stand to win an unprecedented SEVENTH Superbowl TITLE . . .
. . . today's STORMBRINGER BIRD reflects this sentiment . . .
. . . the Steelers are the team of America's greatest living philosopher Rush Limbaugh, they are the team of Hank Williams Jr, and most important of all, they are the team of TigerLily - a.k.a. MRS. STORMBRINGER so that pretty much decides the issue . . .
I'm not a sports writer although sometimes I wish I was - writing about football for a living would be FUN! Hell - PLAYING football for a living would be fun! Come to think of it, back when I got off the banana boat - if I only knew then what I know now; I did not know then that the NFL had a walk-on policy - if I had known that I would have had a GREAT career as a placekicker for the Oakland Raiders because everyone knows that NOBODY can kick a football farther than an Australian - ESPECIALLY if he's from Victoria.
Oh, and hey there Cheeseheads - there's something for you, too, over on the BABES OF STORMBRINGER side.
"Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant"
"Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you"
It's going to be just like this - the field is going to be LITTERED with bodies.
. . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS
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