... before I tailgate.

Any one of the ten people that read this blog regularly are all too aware that I am really not about breaking it down. I'll leave the play-by-play to other blogs and to the Packers Lounge's newest messiah (or so it seems) Jersey Al Thompson, while sticking to my general bitching and uniformed observation.

Truth be told, I am more about feelings, and although I am hardly overly emotional, I love sentimental. I guess the point I am trying to make today is that the Packers are far more of an experience than a daily re-cap of player movement and breaking down film. In reality, it is a massive weekly meeting of the minds and the heart, a meeting that has no boundaries.

This lack of borders will never be more apparent than it will this weekend when the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Infantry Brigade gets to tailgate with nearly 3,000 of their closest family during this weekend's game. Although they are thousands of miles apart, these soldiers will get to spend this Sunday with their wives, their children, and their friends rooting on the Packers via satellite.

Now I suppose they could have chosen a holiday or another special occasion to gather, but in true Wisconsin fashion they chose the weekly celebration known as Packer Sunday.

Before I go any further, and to avoid any political discussions, I defer my opinion on the state of affairs, and the military in general, to other round-tables. I have never been in the military and only have one close friend who spent any length of time in Iraq. After 11 years he came back home a shell of his former self. If you looked him directly in the eyes you could tell he had killed people, a lot of them. So, I may be a little biased, but it will remain a dialogue left for another time.

But, what I will discuss is that regardless of your opinion, one would be hard pressed to argue in the raw beauty of this weekend's event. Be it on a scale of this magnitude, or in backyards across America, Packer Sunday will always be about friends and family connecting, conversing, and confiding during one of the most celebrated weekly events anywhere.

This meeting of the Middle East and Middle America is one of the finest examples of this phenomenon you will ever see. Saturated in everything that screams Packer football, it once again reminds me why I am so proud to root for the Green Bay Packers.

This being the case, I hope that all Packer fans can put their personal beliefs aside for a moment and wish all in attendance a fantastic time and a well deserved Go Pack Go.

Whose woods these are? They're our woods. And we are Packer fans.