Here in Wisconsin, the hype (thanks TV stations and ESPN) has already started around the Monday night battle between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings.  It's round one of the two biggest rounds of the year for Packer fans, even bigger than the Bears because of the involvement of Brett Farve.

For the first time in his storied career, the Elderly Hillbilly will be the scorn of Wisconsinites from Kenosha to Ashland.  Packer nation can't stand seeing Favre in anything other than green and gold and Viking purple is perhaps the worst case scenario for Packer fans (other than blue and orange.)  And now, for the first time since he arrived in Green Bay in the early nineties, Farve will face the team that made him a legend for the first time (albeit at home.)

Fans in Wisconsin will certainly attend parties where bricks are hurled at TVs, jerseys are burned and profanities are shouted every time #4 touches the ball.  And, I for one, a resident of this remote region of the universe, can't really blame them.

Farve broke their hearts when he flip flopped on whether or not he would play another year.  When Packers GM Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy called his bluff and sent him packing to New York, the backlash against them was swift and harsh.  But after a while, the locals figured it out and realized it was their hero, not their team that screwed them over.

Brett Farve is thought of as a great Packer player around here, but also a liar and a man who urinated on the people that loved him unconditionally.  His return and number retirement as a Packer are now light years away and it is possible the team and their former superstar may never reconcile themselves to the point where the ceremony could take place.  Truth be told, Farve cares little about the fans, he cares only about himself and his place in NFL history.  If he never had a day at Lambeau, it would not break his heart because in his twisted accounting of events, the Packers broke his.

I don't know what's going to happen Monday night, but I will promise you one thing.  I will be pulling for the Green Bay Packers.  And then, I will take a hot shower with lots of soap.