Reggie White's passing brought back some memories for me and some observations worth sharing.

• When White was signed by the Packers, it was a HUGE story. I remember a the local network either putting it on a ticker on the bottom of the screen or breaking into regular programming with the news. Back then, the idea of the Packers winning the Super Bowl was still pretty outlandish. I mean, we knew they were getting good. But could they get that good? Could they really beat the Cowboys and 49ers?
• When the Packers finally did winner the Super Bowl, the whole fourth quarter belonged to Reggie and his sacks. Bledsoe would try to bring the Pats back into the game, but Reggie would take him down and we'd all shout and almost growl out a "Reggie!!".
• When Reggie's church in Tennessee was burned down, it wasn't at all surprising that people from Wisconsin were the overwhelming contributors to get it back up and help everyone out. I was thinking on the drive home today that if a hurricane would have hit near Kiln, Mississippi this past fall, people from Wisconsin would have donated and volunteered to help in huge numbers, just because it's where Favre is from. Packer fans are weird like that. Once we love you, we will always be there for you.
• The area code around Green Bay and in parts of Eastern Wisconsin used to be 414. Then, they needed to create a new area code. The new one? 920. Now, I've always heard that the code actually does refer to Reggie's #92, but I can't confirm it. Hopefully James can help me out.

Reggie was this great football player and seemed to be a wonderful Teddy Bear of a man. I will always think of him after the Super Bowl victory when he was running around the Super Dome in his brand new Super Bowl Champions t-shirt down to his knees. He brought so much happiness to the people of Wisconsin and seemingly to everyone else whose life he touched. Godspeed, Reggie.