(February 16, 2011) --- Shouts of "Victory!" and "Thirteen!" were heard as fireworks lit up the sky while hundreds of thousands of Egyptians danced, wept and prayed in joyful anarchy during a number of historic rallies which have taken place over the past two-weeks. Slogan-screaming demonstrators, some waving the sports section of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, chanted their approval of the new rulers of American football.
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| During last week's Super Bowl broadcast -- which reached a record 111-million viewers worldwide -- freedom loving Packer Backers in Egypt displayed solidarity with their democratic brothers in Green Bay with such spirited chants as, "Death to the infidel Steelers!" and "Crimany-Cairo, go Pack go!" |
Just days after the recent regime change in the NFL, Egyptians were inspired to rise up and stage their own coup. It was the continued presence of pro-Packer protesters which helped to drive Egypt's longtime leader, and staunch Steelers supporter, Hosni Mubarak from power. Soon, stories of Green Bay's inspirational triumph over the Pittsburgh monarchy in Super Bowl XLV began to filter into the neighboring African and Gulf countries of Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Yemen and even Iran where the people began to come together in support of the NFL's only democratic team.
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| It has been well documented that the publicly-owned Green Bay Packers football franchise -- the world's only professional sports democracy -- was instrumental in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the fall of the Steel Curtain earlier this month. Here's a nice vintage photograph of President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin in 1963 when he uttered those immortal words, "Ich bin ein Grün Bayliner!" |
Despite the government's latest attempts to stifle incoming news by shutting down the internet in Iran, word of the Green Bay Packers' 13th NFL Championship began to spread across the country like wildfire. Within days, thousands gathered throughout the city of Tehran... some paying tribute to their hero by emulating Aaron Rodgers' championship-belt gesture, others offered support by burning effigies of Ben Roethlisberger.
In Algeria, citizens took to the streets demanding their own leader, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, leave office as well. News reports say crowds were in the thousands and all chanted, "Bouteflika out!" and "The Bears still suck!" Bouteflika, as most Algerians know, has had strong ties to the Chicago Bears.
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| Here's your PackerPage geography lesson for the day: Pakistan (left), Packer Stan (right). Know the difference! |
Hundreds in Jordan celebrated the Packers' Super Bowl conquest, some by wearing homemade goat cheese hats on top of their heads while others held up giant posters of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers while exclaiming "M.V.P! M.V.P!"
And a group calling itself "The Revolution of the 6th of February" used Facebook to organize protests in Bahrain when King Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa suddenly confiscated all of the country's bratwurst for their own private tailgate just days before the opening kick-off of Super Bowl XLV. Infuriated citizens were further outraged when the royal family cut off beer sales to the country at the end of the 3rd quarter.
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| As the great statesman Gabe Lincoln once declared: "...that this Packer nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom... and that government of the Cheeseheads, by the Cheeseheads, for the Cheeseheads, shall not perish from the earth, aina-hey." |
In the U.S., President Barack Obama has been closely monitoring both the NFL and Egyptian situations from the White House and reported yesterday that his Chicago team told him they will once again regain their power and stature in the league. But like Mubarak, da-Bears are both Hosnied and in da-Nile.
