Cheeseheads, Chowderheads, and Dresden circa mid February 1945

I have a new job that takes me to a place called Schenectady New York every week. It's a good paying job for a seemingly good consulting company, and the client is chock full of really nice people. But Schenectady? Why? No sooner did I take this job, a former co-worker approached me about doing work in Europe, traveling all over Germany, Italy, Holland and all sorts of wonderful places I never would have the chance to visit in the foreseeable lifetime. I told her about my new job, and how in a strange way Schenectady reminded me a little of Europe. And then I added: "think Dresden, circa mid February 1945"...


Its a great time to be Packer fan. There are Packer fans all over the country and wherever I go I run into them, even here in Schenectady. The hotel I'm staying in has a media room with a 60" TV and surround sound, and it was there I watched the Packer game with some guy who happened to be from Green Bay. Nice fellow, but he was confused by me because I wasn't drinking. He kept asking me if I wanted a beer and I kept saying "not yet". Most Wisconsinites really don't get people who don't drink, especially fellow bald fat Packer fans, but eventually I said "OK, grab me a Coors light". If Wisconsinites don't understand people who don't drink, they really don't understand people who drink Coors light. "How can you drink that stuff" he asked. Since the Packers were playing were playing the Broncos in Denver I replied "I figure we'll beat their football team and drink their beer in the process". He understood that.

The best part of Monday's game for me though was the second half and the overtime. Oh, not for the obvious reasons that you might be thinking, but rather for the fact that Mrs. Samichlaus watched the game with me while we were on the phone together. As you are all painfully aware by now, Mrs. Samichlaus and I have been a little distracted by a whale of a situation that I dealt with in a previous post. As a result we haven't really watched the games together, but this week we found a way. Mrs. Samichlaus was going on and on about how every time she watches the Packers this season they don't play well. I kept saying "aww shit, it doesn't work that way" but the more I watched the game the more I started to believe that there might have been something to this. When Denver kicked the field goal to tie the game I blurted out "turn the game off, will ya" but quickly said "Wait, I'm only kidding". Truth be told I was half kidding, but I would never tell my wife that. Thank God she never reads my blog... Anyway, the Packers win the coin toss and start on their 18. And then Favre hits Jennings and the two of us start screaming. I'm in my hotel room at 11:45 at night yelling "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" while my wife is on the other end of the phone yelling "IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER!!!" The magic was back, the questions about Brett's arm strenght were answered, and all was right in the Samichlaus household...

The only collective group of people in a happier place right now than the Cheeseheads are the Chowderheads. Schenectady is in Upstate New York and there are as many people who identify with New England as they do with New York. As a result I have been bombarded with "Red Sox Nation" and "Patriots Nation" since I've got here, and frankly these obnoxious fuckers have a lot to crow about. I have to say that as a Mets fan and a Yankees hater this puts me in the unenviable position of rooting for the Sawks from time to time. Not that there's anything wrong with that, history teaches us that the Red Sox have been kind to the Mets in the past. I swear if they ever build a "Monument Park" at the new Mets ballpark the first monument they stick in should be Bill Buckner. Calvin Shiraldi might get one as well. So I don't mind rooting for the Sawks, its getting lumped in with the damn chowderheads that freaks me out. Chowderheads are like Eagles fans with a goofy accent. Except that Eagles fans run the risk of getting tossed into jail at their own stadium. There doesn't seem to be any law up here for the Chowderheads, and they are free to roam the streets without fear of repercussion.

What the Sawks did to the Rockies was delightfully criminal. The Rockies didn't know what hit them, and Boston simply beat them in every aspect of the game. It wasn't even close. I suspect the Patriots will do the same to the Colts. The Colts are a young team and although they are undefeated, they are not in the same league as the Pats. If we get around to our predictions this week I'll break it down a little further but really, this game isn't going to be close. For now, the Chowderheads are reveling a deserved revel. The Cheesheads remain cautiously optimistic, and I can't wait to get home to my wife...