THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701130165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 67 lines
For the next two weeks, we will not escape the Green Bay Packers football team.
Today's. Or yesterday's.
There are 13 long days and nights until the Big Game in the Big Easy, time enough to tell the country more than it could ever want to know about Dorsey Levens.
But the Packers' present is inescapably linked to the glorious past, so prepare, too, for a fortnight of Ray Nitschke retrospectives.
Expect Jerry Kramer to be a constant visitor to your parlor. Pick out a place at the table for Bart Starr. Welcome home Paul Hornung and Willie Davis. Say a prayer at the shrine of St. Vincent.
This Super Bowl belongs to the Packers before the first cliche is thrown, probably a good thing for pro football and its fans.
Twenty-nine years after the Pack played in its last Super Bowl, the Green Bay franchise creates for Baby Boomers a comfortable connection between the '60s and '90s.
``This is the real America's Team,'' a Packers executive crowed after the game.
Arrogance should not be encouraged, whether it grows in Wisconsin or Texas. But after a steady dose of Dallas Cowboys, perhaps the Packers are the class of winners America needs.
The Packers feature Brett Favre, who apparently has overcome substance abuse problems, and their likable walrus of a coach, Mike Holmgren. But a more poignant figure is Reggie White, a great player who waited 12 years for this moment.
Rounding out the picture are all the ghosts, living and dead. Television assembled some of the old-time Packers after Sunday's game. The faces seemed warm and familiar.
Eleven years ago, the Patriots went to their first and only Super Bowl. But in Foxboro, Mass., the present is all that seems to matter. Coach Bill Parcells is the team's reigning celebrity, and he's still identified with New Jersey and the Giants.
No legendary Patriots presences were observed or felt at the AFC trophy presentation. Perhaps Tony Eason and Russ Francis could not be reached.
Parcells' Super Bowl reputation may be all that keeps the Patriots from being an afterthought. Because he is the only coach other than Don Shula to take two different franchises to the Big Enchilada, his name will be associated with a legend. This is an inescapable and unfortunate fallout of Super Week hype.
Even so, on the strength of Sunday's games, there is no reason the Patriots should not be 17-point underdogs in New Orleans.
All but three of New England's points in its 20-6 victory over Jacksonville were the direct result of Jaguars turnovers, while Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe looked awful at times.
Give New England's defense and special teams credit for taking advantage of Floridians bearing gifts. But can anyone envision the Packers being quite as munificent?
Green Bay got off to a slow start against the Carolina Panthers before Favre teamed with Levens and Edgar Bennett to overwhelm Dom Capers' proud defense.
Green Bay's biggest plays involved Levens, an all-purpose back and one of the game's bigger mysteries. If Levens is still unrecognized two Sundays hence, it will not be the fault of the media.
As the wretched excess of Super Bowl buildup begins, the Packers' past will make plenty of room for the present.
These Packers of Favre, White and Levens are what America craves: new blood descended from blue blood.