Championship Sunday

Some week.

A week ago, Kates and I were in the midst of a three-day weekend, thanks to Martin Luther King Day. Monday, she went shopping for the day with some girlfriends, aka my coworkers, while I stayed home to work on some projects of my own.

But there would be no time for relaxation the rest of the week. At work, legislative themes dominated my assignments and thinking. Wednesday night, we were gathered around the radio and listening to the governor's state of the state address like a fireside chat, while Phoebe sat at her table coloring. I spent most of Friday afternoon in a meeting with the state's department of higher education. And by the end of the day, those of us around the table were looking at each other wondering what happened to the refreshment we expected to be feeling after an extra day off.

Then there's the whole house hunt. When I wasn't dealing with the responsibilities of my work this week, I was crunching numbers and thinking about the latest and greatest house to present itself for us. ... But I'll save the details on that for another time. I'll leave it with this: We have an offer pending.

And yet all I really wanted to talk about this week was Packers football.

There has been a whole lot of hoopin' and hollerin' in our household during the last few weekends. They beat up the Bears to end the regular season. They put away Michael Vick and the Eagles to open the playoffs. And last weekend's drubbing of the Falcons was beyond entertaining.

Then the Bears beat the Seahawks to advance to today's NFC Championship game against the Packers ... Hooooooooooooly cow. In K-Town, we were in the heart of the Packers-Bears rivalry, and we could feel the drum beats all the way down in The 'Ville. ... Just check out this Fan-O-Meter that went viral.

This story says everything you need to know ...

Love those big rivalries all you want - Lakers-Celtics, Yankees-Red Sox, Ohio State-Michigan. They've got nothing on Packers-Bears for grit.

For 90 years, from a time of leather helmets to these days of instant-replay challenges and excessive-celebration penalties, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have played rough. Through cold and wind and snow and bitter winters, these two bloody-knuckled pioneers of the NFL and their founders, Curly Lambeau and George Halas, have left marks on the game that will never go away. Twenty-one NFL championships between them, dozens of Hall of Famers who line the walls in Canton and a combative history of rugged, emotional matchups.

Then, there's the whole social media thing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's times like these that define why I love social media. Seeing the status updates and tweets of my friends and contacts further illustrate how big this game is. No matter the distance, the virtual discussion makes it feel like you're all in one room. ... The one-liners, taunts and links were popping up all week. Today, I'll bet four of every five updates I see are related to the game. Like this one being posted by several people ...

The Dead Bird Epidemic has finally come to an end: 53 Eagles found dead in Philadelphia; 53 dead Ravens in Pittsburgh; 53 dead Falcons in Atlanta; and 53 dead Seahawks all over Soldier Field! And the Wisconsin DNR just issued the Packers a Bear permit…

The buzz has consumed me this week. So much that I had to keep myself from writing Go Packers! at the end of everything I wrote.

My heart is going to be racing when the opening kickoff finally arrives.

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