The NFC Norris Division

In comments to yesterday's football post, Mary notes that because I dared express pro-Viking sympathies as far as the NFC goes, she'll be rooting for her own boys, Da Bearz, to grind my Bills into the dirt. Fair enough!

Funny thing is, though, that I pretty much like the entire NFC North. Yup, I like 'em all. There's just so much great football history there, and all of those teams come from the Upper Midwest, which outside of Buffalo is my favorite part of this whole country of ours.

I went to college in Iowa, which meant that I was generally surrounded by three types of football fans: Viking fans, Bears fans, and Packer fans. This was when it was the NFC Central division, not the North as it is now. It was also when the Buccaneers were in the division, and perenially played doormat. (I don't recall any Detroit Lions fans in college; I guess Detroit was too distant to have a presence on my small Iowa campus.)

So there I was, a Buffalo Bills fan, watching entertaining games between all those NFC Central rivals, and it was always just a great time -- although all of those fans of the various teams would invariably look at me as though I'd sprouted a second head when I dared note that I didn't absolutely loathe the other two teams in that Upper Midwest NFC Triumvirate:

ME: Man, I like that Favre kid.

SOMEONE ELSE: Hey, weren't you rooting for the Vikes last week?

ME: Yeah, but the Packers are OK too.

SOMEONE ELSE: What?

ME: I like the Packers too.

SOMEONE ELSE: [head explodes]

You really have to love NFC North fans. They're hardcore. Liking the Bears equals hating the Packers and Vikings, and so on with the others. Not so AFC East fans. Sure, the Bills fans hate the Dolphins, but generally, we don't seem to really despise the Jets, and even though I personally hold the Stupid Patriots as the greatest force for evil in the football world, few others in these parts seem to do so. If anything, the StuPats get a respect from people I talk to around here that makes me want to vomit, but hey, maybe I am the deranged one.

Anyhoo, go Bills!