Yes, It Is My Job

Posted on | November 25, 2009 | No Comments | by Wally

Couple weeks ago Aaron Nagler over at CHTV had made a post about Nick Barnett.  I made a comment about how I must have given Barnett too much grief over the ‘Samurai’ as it turns out he then blocked me from following him on Twitter.  Another commenter got on my case about how Nick should have blocked a ‘nobody’ like me for saying that.  It got me thinking though, had I been too hard on Barnett?  Did what I say actually hurt his feelings?  Should I feel bad about it? 

One of my favorite feel good movies is ‘The American President’ with Michael Douglas and Annette Benning.  One of the best quotes, and there are many, is this:

A. J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen): The President doesn’t answer to you, Lewis!
Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox): Oh, yes he does A.J. I’m a citizen, this is my President. And in this country it is not only permissible to question our leaders it’s our responsibility!

For starters, awesome supporting cast in that movie, but the above, doesn’t it really epitomize about how a Packers fan feel about their team and the players on it?  Let me illustrate:

Someone Who is Not Martin Sheen: The Packer Players don’t answer to you, Wally!
Me, who is not Michael J. Fox: Oh, yes they do person who is not Martin Sheen, I’m a fan, these are my Packers. And as a fan it is not only permissible to question our team and players it’s our responsibility!

I may have taken some liberties as the President, as much as we all like to believe it, doesn’t really answer to the citizens (at least not while his ‘contract’ is in place) and the Packers players don’t answer to the fans.  But the faith and hope we put in both of these positions, players or President, give us the right to question what they do. As Packers Fans, this hold even more true, but not because the team is ‘owned by Green Bay’.  I am not one of those naive individuals that actually think because I have stock in the team I have any influence on what happens with the team.  I read a comment on the National Football Post by a ‘shareholder’ of the Packers that basically gave that impression…seriously?  Idiot. Sorry, personal rant and back to the point.

Ask any player that has played in Green Bay, for better or worse, they usually all say that the fans are a very big part of the ‘team’.  Charles Woodson on this week’s Larry McCarren show said his favorite thing about playing in Green Bay was the fans.  Jarrett Bush this week in an article on JSOline seemed to be taken back that the fans had no faith in him.  Even Purple Traitor acknowledges Packers fans as one of the best parts of playing in Green Bay. 

So was I wrong to publically, as public as Twitter is, get on Nick Barnett for doing the ‘Samurai’ for a no yard stop in a losing game?  Maybe so, but it’s also my right to do so.  It was also my right to cheer him on last week when he played well.  If anything, I am sort of honored to be blocked by Nick in the sense that what I said pissed him off enough to actually take the time to say “That Wally Pingel is a dick”.  That there makes the difference between a Packers player and any other NFL player out there.  Packers players actually do care about what their fans think.

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