I took my 11-year-old daughter to her first professional football game this past Sunday, and it was a picture perfect day.
First, you could hardly ask for a balmier late afternoon or evening in December in Green Bay. Plus, the crowd was full of good cheer. And the Packers were almost unbelievably dominant.
I wasn’t sure how much my daughter would enjoy her first in-person game. The sensations of a first trip to a pro stadium, of course, are the kind of thing you remember for the rest of your life. But I feared that the relative hum-drum stuff of 3-yard-runs, incomplete passes, punts, and field-position battles might become tedious for a child who doesn’t fully grasp the game yet.
But she does understand touchdowns, and she got to see plenty of those! One right after another, in fact. It was such a dominating performance that the Packers seemed like they were simply in a different league -- as though it were pro players taking on a Division III team.
The offense was a well-oiled machine. The defense was suffocating. And the Raiders were pathetic.
A great deal of post-game attention was paid to the Greg Jennings injury. Yet it turned out to be about as minor as possible, and the prevailing football attitude seems to be this: You play to win, and you can’t play scared. I think, therefore, that it’s going to be full-speed-ahead toward 16-0 in Green Bay.
Three games left: two are at home, and the remaining road game is against a team that managed 4 yards of offense in the first half this past Sunday. The game in Kansas City looks like a win. And while Chicago always plays us tough, the present Bear squad is a badly hobbled group. I think the perfect season will come down to Week 17 and the Lions’ visit to Lambeau Field.
And I’ll be there -- with another one of my daughters for her first pro football game.
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