Confessions of a Cheesehead; Super Bowl XLV

Why I’m Pullling for the Packers
It all goes back to when I was a boy

Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood
are Pittsburgh Steelers fans.
Daniel Tiger’s stripes are black and gold.
King Friday thinks come Sunday
the “steel curtain” will prevail.
But I think the king is prematurely bold.

The cheddar wedge I’m wearing
indicates the team I’m for.
Yes, I’ve been a Packers fan since I was nine.
Coach Lombardi, Starr and Hornung
brought the game to life for me
about the time I played with words that rhyme.

Lambeau Field (that frozen tundra)
breeds a brand of athlete
that’s made strong by dealing with adversity.
No domed stadium for Cheeseheads.
Players and their fans alike
are a kind of pain-means-gain fraternity.

Like St. Peter in the Bible
they believe that suffering
has the means to purify what’s valuable.*
Tested by both ice and fire,
they know well what tempers steel
and that’s what the Pack will do come Super Bowl.

* In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)

** http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=34574

Super Bowl XLV
A kind of Judgment Day

It all comes down to Sunday’s game.
Two winning teams. One common aim.
To claim the Vince Lombardi prize
and be called “champions.”

The Super Bowl provides a test
to prove who really are the best.
It is a kind of Judgment Day
when hard work earns its due.

But come the Judgment Day we’ll face,
who wins will win because of grace.
The trophy of eternal life
was won at Calvary.

In Christ we’re reigning champions
because of what God’s Son has done.
He tackled death and sacked our sin
to earn our victory.