Seriously. It’s times like these that I realize why some people are still single. Then it makes me wonder why I am because I don’t have these horridly bad habits.

A couple weeks ago I agreed to start talking to a guy that one of my friends knew. He’s a pretty nice guy and we exchanged quite a few emails the past few weeks that were very conversational. It was very easy to keep the exchange going and not die down or cry out of boredom. I figured it couldn’t hurt to meet up.

Plans soon became cloudy as my free day was the Packers/Vikings game. I invited him to come, but he mentioned that it started earlier and he had some appointments so he couldn’t meet up. We decided that I wouldn’t want to be interrupted during the game so we’d possibly meet up after depending on how I was doing.

Now fast forward a couple days to the day of the game.

Morning comes and I have an email where he’s asking me to breakfast the next day. I’m at work with no time to respond. Afternoon hits and I get a 3 minute voicemail immediately followed by a text message asking me if I got said email and voicemail. Really? Yeah, this was starting to creep me out.

I head to the game, and have my disaster fiasco. I get a text from him about 20 minutes into the game that says he will stop by where I’m at around 7:30.

No. This was not part of the plan. The plan was to wait until the game was over and go from there. So I text him and tell him not to bother because the bar I was headed to didn’t have the game on so I was elsewhere.

I then get a phone call DURING THE GAME that I do not pick up. Immediately after I get a text that says to let him know where I’m at and he’ll swing by. I let him know that I just wanted to veg and hang with friends and/or myself and I get another one pleading to go out. I ignore it.

The next day I get an email and a text message that I don’t respond to.

As of today it’s been three whole days and I thought this was over, until I got a text message today.

Seriously boy. You interrupted my Packer game and you were a little too intense. This is done.

Distraught. Confused. Lost. Forsaken. Hurt. Sad. Left behind.

These are all adjectives describing how I felt yesterday when the game of the season for Packers fans was on and I had been planning for months to make it my first visit to Mabel Murphys of the season. I went into work early to finish everything I needed to so I could leave by 4pm to get a seat well in advance of 5:30 kickoff.

I was confused when I got there and the parking lot was empty. As I approached the door, a couple told me that there’s no game there tonight. This was something I was unable to comprehend. No Vikings / Packers game at the Packers bar? It was then told to me that the establishment was under renovation. I was distraught and confused. I wondered how I had not gotten the memo. I went to check their website again, and sure enough, no mention at all.

As I was having some small chatter with the other couple, more cars started showing up and more people in their green and gold started appearing. One by one, we informed them of the somber news. Everyone was astonished. When another person approached the construction worker and asked them if they were given any recommendations from the owners on another place we could all enjoy the game, he said he had no idea and that he had been answering that question all day. This, to me means, they did not do a good enough job by any means of informing their customer, and with the specific target market they have, this is not an option. A note should’ve also been on the door with suggestions and a notice of when they would be open again.

We were all disbanded and put out of our element and therefore did not cheer to our best abilities. We were all like lost puppies not knowing which direction to go. I’m extremely saddened by Mabel Murphys.

Here is my Yelp Review.

Brett & I - 2008

I think the official word came today. Favre is not returning to football and is going to retire, or for all you haters, retire for real this time.  I completely understand that many people are not a fan of him. Some of you may have never been. After all, most people didn’t hop on the Green Bay band wagon until they started kicking ass, and most hopped right off when they stopped. This is probably why a lot of you feel you have the right to bitch about him too. Others may have really appreciated him, or not really appreciated him, and are sick of him due to his wishy washy nature he’s had lately, and I guess you may have a point with that reason, though I feel there are two sides to every story and he’s really not as wishy washy as you may think. Go ahead, you can convince yourself I’m only saying that because I am his biggest fan and slightly addicted if it will make you feel better. I completely understand. However, his career post Green Bay has been pretty stressful for me. Growing up as a Green Bay Packer fan, and then due to circumstance and amazing talent, becoming a Favre fan has almost torn me in two.

I’ve been watching football for as long as I can remember. Of course when you’re little, you really aren’t sure of what is going on, but are simply caught up in the excitement and the yelling and the cheering. There wasn’t much excitement when I was younger though, but I still stuck with my roots. For us cheeseheads, it’s in our blood. Right around the time I really started to concentrate on understanding football was middle school, which is when Brett started his first season with Green Bay and his second season in the NFL. He’s really the quarterback I grew up watching and the team leader I learned to love and respect. He’s all I really knew at the time.

You can jeer him and say anyting negative you want, but the fact of the matter is he’s one hell of a quarterback. He’s set amazing records and led plays that have been the cause of epic victories. He was a team leader and a motivator.

It was tough when he left and then headed to the Jets. I won’t relive that experience or re-share my thoughts on that as this might end up being a novel. It did become a little ridiculous for him to go into retirement again only to debate playing for the Vikings, however, given the circumstances I think he was in when he left Green Bay, I kinda understood.  My opinion has always been that he should’ve sat out last season and then came back and played when he had more options on the table.

But, I digress.

I agree with him not playing for the Vikings this year and I’m glad he made the right decision despite all the pressure he had been getting and his love of the game. At the same time, it’s all very unfamiliar to me. Football without Favre? I’m gonna miss that guy. He has been a big player throughout my life and a lot of awesome memories revolve around him and the rest of the Green Bay team.

Add another fantastic find to my list. As I stated yesterday, I was determined to start going out more. In particular my goal was to find a sports bar (I really wanted to watch the Packers / Bears game, can you blame me?). I looked through the metromix guide and found some good ones and just as I was about to pick between some upscale ones, I found an actual Green Bay Packers themed bar in Old Town Scottsdale. Mabel Murphys which is in Oshkosh, WI, is apparently also in the Phoenix area. I got there late as I had to run back to Tempe first to do some stuffs, and it was completely packed by the time I got there, but the more the merrier! This place is PERFECT.

First, here are a couple things you see as you head towards the entrance:

Inside was crazy insanity and I felt like I was back in Wisconsin, no joke. Everyone was dressed in their GB gear and the game was on every single TV in the joint. I was drinking Sunset Wheat and yelling at the screen like the rest of them, and didn’t feel the slightest bit out of place. In fact, I might’ve been the milder of them all, seeing as I had been at work all day and hadn’t had much of a dinner yet. During commercials the song “The Bears Still Suck” would play occasionally and everyone would join in song.

Here are some photos. You’ll have to mind the quality. All I had was my camera phone and it was dark inside and just not a good atmosphere for award winning shots.

Also, here is a video of everyone breaking out into song. Once again, mind the quality and the movement of the camera. It was bad enough I was trying not to sing while taking it.. don’t make me stop dancing!