The view from the back row of 2003 By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Sunday started out slowly, and not happily. I got a new Packers sweatshirt with a hood from my sister for Christmas and planned to wear it, but when I got it out I discovered the "inktag" anti-theft device hadn't been taken off. You can't take those things off without leaving a mess. So we had to make a stop at the appropriate store for a quick exchange before heading to the stadium. No chance to get charcoal, etc., for tailgating, so we just hit McDonald's and ate that in the parking area (about a half-block from the stadium - not bad). By 3:15 when the game started, we knew Dallas had choked, so the Packers had to win and hope for a Minnesota loss. (The Packers didn't put the scores on the board.) And as the Packers and Broncos warmed up Sunday, I started thinking about the year past. It hasn't been a good one. The stories I've covered seem to be never ending, filled not with hope but with conflict. The feuding on the County Board, the never-ending water talks, and the troops saying good-bye to go to battle ... well, I'm not sure what. And at home and work, the slumping economy took its toll. My wife had health problems, as have I. She changed jobs, and many of my co-workers left. So I sat there, in the wind, and cheered for what was good - the game was one-sided, but thrilling with Ahman Green's 98-yard touchdown run after the fourth-and-2 stop, followed immediately by the kickoff fumble and another TD. The crowd sort of settled down, waiting for the bad news from Arizona. It seemed to be a microcosm of the year. The Packers had worked hard, as had we. But little mistakes here and there would overcome all the good that had been done, and the prideful play of the good days would be forgotten. Then, from lower in the stadium, a buzz and chants of "Let's go Cardinals..." Then cheering. Back in our seats - tucked under the south scoreboard - we knew something good, but what? We saw celebration on the sideline. And finally, after the final gun, the flash on the scoreboard ... "2003 NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS." And everyone went nuts. I don't remember celebrating like this after beating Carolina to go to the Super Bowl. The roar was amazing, and going through the concourses and ramps, LOUD. By the time we got to our car, people were running through the streets high-fiving people in cars. And before I finally got to sleep that night, I hoped it was an omen. That Brett Favre had overcome his own pain to find strength, and the joy of an unexpected championship. That once in a while, good things happen to good people. That we can find strength to go on, and if we do, we will (to steal a line from William Faulkner) not only endure, but prevail. It's been a while since I went to a game like that. And so I go into 2004 more optimistic than I would have thought, rallied not by a football victory but by a basic thought: Just as there are no final victories, neither are there any final defeats, as long as there are still efforts to be made. Barrington is a reporter for The News-Chronicle. His column appears here Fridays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected] or call 432-2941.