The two brothers with the green and black helmets decided to find out what teams their helmets were for. It didn't take long for them to discover that the green helmet had the team insignia of the Green Bay Packers from Wisconsin on it. The black helmet was for a team called the Steelers from Pittsburgh, PA.
These two brothers now had favorite teams. For the one with the Steelers helmet the timing was quite good, that team was about to go on a Championship streak. The brother with the Packers helmet had to console himself that the Packers had been great once (after all they had won the first and second super bowls and that was only ten years earlier) and would be great again.
These boys grew up. They not only had favorite football teams, but every team from their chosen city was now their favorite. Vacations and special trips were planned to Green Bay or Pittsburgh. They take their kids to the games. Last year these brothers (and sons) even got together to watch the Packers and the Steelers play in Pittsburgh in early January, with the Green Bay fan flying up from the Caribbean nation he was living and working in. (That nation was Haiti and my brother has harrowing stories to tell about the earthquake and the nightmare that followed, not long after that football game.)
And now the unprecedented has happened. Green Bay and Pittsburgh will meet each other at the Super Bowl. I don't think our family will ever be the same again.
As for the brother with the red helmet. I don't know that he ever adopted a team with the same fierce loyalty of the other two. I do know his wife is a Steelers fan, so I'm pretty sure who he'll be rooting for in the Super Bowl.
And do I have a favorite team? When I was twelve my brothers made me chose one. I picked the L.A. Rams because I liked the color of their uniform. I don't think they are from L.A. anymore. I was never exactly a stalwart fan like my brothers were.
Who am I rooting for in the Super Bowl? I'm rooting for an exciting game with lots of back and forth on the score.
Go Packers! Go Steelers! It's the game my brothers have waited many many years for. I'm just glad it came when we weren't all teenagers and living in the same house!
