Column: Thanks for Listening

The 1983 Green Bay Packers were 8-8, but to me I thought they were going to the Super bowl. That is what it is like for a Packers fan. Actually any fan of any football team hopes and wishes their team would go to the Super Bowl. This is what makes football fun.

My 1983 high hopes were resting on the potent offense of quarterback Lynn Dickey and his cannon of an arm. In 1983 he threw for 4,458 yards. Sadly Dickey’s downfall was that he could not move. In 1983 he rushed for only 12 yards. Dickey had knee and back injuries that made him an immovable cannon. Dickey did have some great weapons on his side, like wide receiver’s James Lofton and John Jefferson. These two wideouts made all Packers fans stand and cheer for the long pass as they combined for 2,166 yards and 15 touchdowns.

I know today that does not seem like a lot, but that was prior to the many rules the NFL produced to protect the offensive players, thus making those numbers better than you would think.

On offense we also had my favorite player at the time, Paul Coffman, who played tight end and had 814 yards and seven touchdowns. The reason he was my favorite player was that he had no problem catching a ball over the middle in the areas where you were bound to get your bell rung. He had great hands and would make the clutch catch every time.

Rounding out the offensive arsenal of the team were running backs Gerry Ellis and Eddie Lee Ivery, who combined for a modest 1,036 yards. Thinking back, it seemed like they rushed for many more yards than that, but if my memory serves me correctly, just running 60 yards for a 12-yard gain is still only a 12-yard gain.

Now on defense we had the big names of linebacker John Anderson and cornerbacks Tim Lewis and Mark Lee. George Cumby was probably a crowd favorite at linebacker, but I liked the first three much more because they played hard. Following the Pack in 1983 was so much fun because although they were fifth out of 28 teams in points scored, but they were also 26th out of 28 in points allowed making for quite the year.

Living in the Schmeltzer household on Sundays in 1983 in Marquette, Mich., meant going to St. Peter Cathedral for Mass and then watching the Packers. It was quite confusing to come straight from church and into a setting of a wee bit of swearing. The swearing was usually caused by that 26th-out-of-28-in-points-allowed deal that I mentioned a bit earlier, and, really, it would be impolite for me to try to correct my mother on what and how to name or call an interception.

Sunday afternoons we not only forged a bond with the Packers, but as we watched the Packers, we also forged a bond with our family. It was over bowls of chili that we could tease each other, help solve each other’s problems and mostly just forget about our own. You see, in 1983, my father passed away at age 49 and the burden on my mom and our family was enormous. The Packers helped us become a family again. Those Sundays and my mom’s love of the Packers helped give her and us a break for a few hours. That year, buying my mom every type of Packers memorabilia became the norm as she received Packer sweatshirts, jackets, blankets, stickers, banners and coasters.

1983 was a year of a family healing from a great loss. The 8-8 Packers never made the Super Bowl in 1983, but to me, they were the greatest team of all time. So as I wait to watch the Packers in Super Bowl on Feb. 6, I think back to 1983 and cannot help but think of my family and all the healing we did on those Sunday afternoons.

Thanks for listening.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer is fan of the Green Bay Packers.