More than Favre's Revenge: Blood Pumping Excitement

A feeling has washed over me, one that whispers of Vikings glory in battle centuries ago across northern Europe, or even over the last decades as men know for their ferocity and skill destroyed opponents on the green grid of turf that was their battlefield. Like in the past, warriors prepare for conflict for reasons of honor, glory, fortune or revenge, and this anticipated meeting will be no different. This contest will be taking place on Monday Night, when all of the 30 other teams are watching. A time when prime time players show their skills and when All Day morphs into All Night.

Days ago, I set sail on a journey from what some have called Hell, a place where man's inhumanity towards man has exhibited itself again and again over the millennia, that place departed was Baghdad, Iraq. One of the reasons was to see a game, one that marks time, one that will transcend known emotion, myth, and history, one for all time!

That game, that local, national and for the fine men and women serving overseas, world-wide event that is the Minnesota Vikings with the ageless Brett Favre, against the team for which his legend resurrected, the Green Bay Packers.

Today is that day, the one you can feel the blood pumping through your veins.

Brett Favre will face the team that thought he was washed up. Don't think for a minute this is not personal, because it is. In an interview, Favre told Gruden, "I want to beat them.

"I've got a lot of friends on that team. The way things went down. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. It was disappointing, for both sides. I still want to prove that I'm worthy and I think that's human nature. Believe me, I want to win the game." That dear friends, is an understatement. He wants Ted Thompson to regret ever even thinking about trying to run Brett out of town.

"He's an emotional guy [Favre]," Vikings coach Brad Childress said. "I'm sure he'll be a wave of emotion before the game and hopefully (have) a cold kind of serial-killer mentality when the game starts." ...and proceed to eat their hearts as the green and gold oozes from the dying carcass of a mercilessly slaughtered stinky cheese smelling team, setting up a dysfunctional reaction that will prevent them from winning for decades.

- I just thought that I would finish Brad's quote for him. Packers fans feel it.

Jeff Margolis said he doesn't mind Favre playing for another team. He minds greatly that Favre chose to play for the Vikings. "It's still so bizarre to see him wearing purple,'' Margolis [a typical Packers fan] said. "I almost can't believe what I'm going to see. "He showed last week that he's still got it, and Vikings fans were giving me a hard time on Monday. I just said, 'See what you missed the last 16 years?' Because it was a pleasure watching him. It was a treat. And to see him wearing purple....'' Margolis finished that thought with words inappropriate for polite company, words that will echo around the Metrodome tonight when Favre finally, officially, switches sides.

I have one word for you: 'SCHADENFREUDE'.

But this game doesn't completely revolve around Brett Favre, or even Adrian Peterson against a soft run defense of the Packers, or of Percy Harvin and the cast of offensive talent playing in prime time. It is also and more importantly about a defense that will take this game over. MLB E.J. Henderson is back from injury last year and leads an absolutely talented bunch of Berserker-like hungry "wild warriors" of Norse legend.

"He's come back and is playing very well," an offensive assistant for a recent Vikings' opponent said. "Sure tackler. He can be a mismatch on your backs in pass protection. They do a nice job keeping blockers off him. He's relentless. He, 94 (Pat Williams), 93 (Kevin Williams), 69 (Jared Allen) and 26 (Antoine Winfield) are their really good players." Playing every snap, Henderson leads the team in tackles with 22, 10 more than anyone else. "That's the bell cow of that defense," one scout said.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reported today that Packers left tackle Chad Clifton will not play Monday night. Clifton did not practice today, according to the paper. He's listed as questionable on the injury report. The report that he won't play isn't surprising because Clifton hadn't practiced all week. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Friday that Clifton would be a game-time decision, at best. The news means that Vikings defensive end Jared Allen will match up against Daryn Colledge, who has struggled at times.

I sense that there will be lots of salivating on the part of Jared Allen and the rest of the defensive line as they envision Aaron Rodgers slowly roasting in the heated glare of EJ Henderson's stare. As drippings melt from his body an aroma will fill their nostrils forcing them into a bone crushing, life threatening, feeding and sack frenzy like piranhas on a poor unsuspecting swimmer that just happens to have a small open cut. Daryn Colledge will just be the appetizer on what should be a feast of mammoth proportions.

Can you feel it? This isn't any regular game day.

"Oh Lord, save us from the rage of the Nordic people" -- Common prayer in the French churches during the Viking Age and today from Packers fans everywhere.