
Yeah, that’s right.
Some blogger in Wisconsin named Deke Rivers thinks the NFL and Green Bay Packers aren’t family-friendly and don’t respect Christmas because the Packers will be the first team in NFL history to play on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day this coming season.
Deke says Christmas and other holidays are about family, friends, home, church and a dinner around the table with those you care about.
“It should not be a time when we force janitors, TV technicians, food sellers, and ticket booth staff, highway patrolmen, and countless others to forgo their family time so major league football can squeeze in a game.”
Rivers says the news by the NFL this week cheapens Christmas and undermines an “international day of religion,” further lowering the values of our esteemed country and sending it into an abyss of greed and other such unpleasantries.
“Guzzling beer and hurling curses at opposing teams might be the way some act almost every other football weekend, but is this truly something anyone should want to promote on Christmas Day?! How many bars across the state will be open on Christmas night, and how many drunk drivers will venture out to drive home? Is this really how we want to spend our Christmas?”
To say this is ludicrous would be generous.
I don’t know where Rivers grew up (he claims to be from Wisconsin), but in my house football WAS family time. And still is. Football on a holiday?? Even better. More family to watch with, talk with, joke with, eat with and, yes, maybe even drink a little with.
Anyone who didn’t like football — like, oh, BABIES — usually ran around the house playing with toys or cuddling with relatives. Or they watched a movie together in another room. You know, FAMILY TIME.
We still went to church every Sunday before a Packers game, and the same can be done on Christmas Day. Last time I checked, there are no church services on Thanksgiving or New Years Day — unless they fall on a Sunday of course. In that case, re-read this paragraph.
As for taking people away from their families to work, have you stepped out your front door lately, Deke?
Things are pretty tough out there. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want double or even triple pay to work on a holiday, especially for or during a Green Bay Packers game. In fact, I’d be shocked if any of them complained about a little extra money to buy Christmas presents or food for a big holiday meal. You know, FAMILY TIME.
The NBA has been playing games on Christmas Day for years. College football is a ritual on New Years Day, and the NFL has scheduled games on Thanksgiving Day for as long as I can remember.
This isn’t a new concept.
And I argue that sports, particularly the Packers, bring families together EVEN MORE on holidays — not tear them apart. Generations have grown up watching the Green and Gold, and I have many fond (well, mostly fond) memories of watching the Packers while eating turkey and lefse at my great aunt and uncle’s house on Thanksgiving. It was tradition.
Anyone who would go so far to say that the Green Bay Packers are anti-family clearly doesn’t have any idea how much this team means to the families of Wisconsin.
mmmm lefse
As well as families across the country.
Apparently it’s Deke Rivers’s world, we’re all just living in it.
Wow, what an idiot. He’s obviously never been to Green Bay on a football Sunday.
I think he needs to change his tampon.
Wise man, that Deke Rivers. Can’t wait for Christmas.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! That is all.
how DARE anyone have an opinion different than any of you?!
Deke!! What were you thinking?? Don’t you know? Toe the line with the rest of them or this will happen.
Oh man, you guys, Jimminy’s right. Gee Mr. Glick, we really owe you one.
He is allowed to have an opinion just as much as the author of this post is allowed to have (and express) his own.
Personally, I love the idea of the Packers playing on Christmas! Its a great time for the whole family to get together and cheer on the Pack. Plus, what could be a better Christmas present than a Packers win over the Bears?
I’m sorry, did he really use the words “cheapen” and “Christmas” in the same sentence? Didn’t Macy’s, Best Buy, Target, Hallmark, Nordstrom’s and every auto manufacturer in the world do that about six decades ago?