The Diabetic Football Fan

Much like my 3 greatest childhood heros: BB King, Wilfred Brimley and the Pillsbury Dough Boy, I am a diabetic. About 2 months ago I took a blood test known as the A1C which revealed that my blood was made up of 22% hemoglobin and 78 % maple syrup. This caused ol’ Samichlaus to reevaluate his lifestyle, and although I was no longer the “beer drinking fool” of my younger days, I could no longer afford to be a “carb eating fool” either. I began to wonder where the root of my health issues lay, and realized that one need not look any further than this blog.

“Super Bowl Sunday proved to be a gastronomical Armageddon at the Samichlaus household, featuring my famous Italian breaded wings served with blue cheese and buffalo sauce, a baked brie en cruet , little pizza thingies, sausage and pepper sandwiches, potato chips, onion dip, tortilla chips, 2 kinds of salsa, cheese dip, fresh veggies with ranch dressing, Ritz crackers and Triscuits. I never did break out the pimento dip. This feast was enjoyed by the whole gang, which consisted of Karen, Holly and me.”

Yep.

I didn’t even bother to mention the beer, and if you’re thinking “Well, it was Super Bowl Sunday, he couldn’t possibly eat like this every week” you’d be right. Usually I wouldn’t bother putting out the fresh veggies.

Tonight begins my first foray into the world of diabetic friendly football viewing. I must say that I am thrilled the NFL network is showing the “Packer Family Night” scrimmage. This friendly practice between the Packers and the Inferior Assembly of Football Players And We Use The Term Players Loosely Known As The Bills will prove an excellent opportunity to try some new football finger foods. I’ll be snacking on some low fat, low carb dilectables like fat free cheese with turkey pepperoni, turkey pastrami Reubin sandwiches on low carb bread, and we’ll throw in some celery for good measure. I’ll wait until next week to break out my chicken wing replacement: Grilled chicken breasts basted in wing sauce, hold the breading thank you very much. That should be a treat.

The scrimmage should be a lot of fun. We’ll get our first look at Jim Bates’s defense, albiet a vanilla version of it, as well as Aaron Rodgers who according to publised reports looked “better than Favre” yesterday. We’ll get to hear some cheesy local Green Bay announcers too. Family Night is a local broadcast tradition in Green Bay and all that the NFL network is doing is picking up the local feed. I love stuff like this. Everytime I think “Gosh, I wish Karen and I lived in Green Bay instead of the goddamn Confederacy”, it’s broadcasts like this that make me thank the good Christ that we don’t. That, and the fact that my little wife would probably look like a red headed popsicle by mid November. No thanks.

There isn’t much you can learn about the Packers or the Bills tonight. Remember, this isn’t even a preseason game. It’s a practice, so the teams aren’t going to show much. Favre will run a couple of drives, then probably give way to Craig Nall… or Rodgers. That’s something to look at: who do the Packers bring in second? If Rodgers comes in after Favre, that tells me that he’s having a better preseason that we’ve thought. It also could mean the end of last year’s third stringer J.T. O’Sullivan. Watch for Najeh Davenport to see some action since the Packers are already depleted in the running back position. It will be interesting to see how he looks playing at 243.

For the Bills, all eyes will be on quarterback J.P. Losman, whom the Packers nearly drafted last year. Losman is expected to start for the Bills, replacing Drew Bledsoe and is considered to be quite the prospect. Wisconsinites will also be cheering for WR Lee Evans and DB Troy Vincent who were standouts for the UW Badgers. Evans is fun to watch, if you can spot him. The diminutive Evans runs a 4.3 40, so look for the guy sprinting past Al Harris and you’ve found him.

Enjoy the practice, and stop by again tomorrow for my review…

SportsBlogSteves goes legit, with our own domain name and everything!!!!

Email me at Samichlaus@sportsblogsteves.com

…and email St. Ides at stides@sportsblogsteves.com . Steve needs a little prodding to blog again folks so let him know how annoyed you are that he hasn’t written.