Like any other sports fan, I've lived through the highs (the Packers Super Bowl win, the Badgers Rose Bowl victories, the last week of last year's Brewers season and Easy Goer's perfect 8-length triumph in the 1989 Belmont Stakes) and the lows (well, I'm a horse racing fan, so there's nothing lower than watching your favorite literally die), but this season with Brett Favre is a whole new experience. I try to describe it to non-Packers fans like this:

You're married to someone for 17 years. You've been through a lot together, both good and bad. You've come to appreciate each others' quirks and accept their faults. But, over time, the love starts to fade and you both know it's over. Although nothing has happened, there's this new guy that you're interested in. You want to explore that relationship. At the same time, your husband tells you he doesn't want any relationship. He just wants to go back to being the guy he was before you met. You're both sad, but you know it's the right thing to do, so you say your tearful goodbyes.

A few months go by and things are great with the new guy and your ex seems happy in his new life too. Then the call comes. He wants you back. You don't know what to do. On one hand, you still love him. On the other hand, you remember how things were at the end and you've heard rumors that he's trying to hook up with your worst enemy and you suspect he wants to make you reject him so he can feel free to get together with her. All of your mutual friends are scandalized and confused and you get all kinds of conflicting advice. Finally, you let him go and he finds some skanky Jersey girl and hooks up with her, all the while talking trash about you and trying to undermine your relationships. You're a little bit hurt, but their relationship seems pathetic and you know it's not going to last. And besides, you really do like your new guy.

A year passes and you've been through some rough patches with your new guy, but you feel like they've just made your relationship stronger. Your ex, on the other hand, left his Jersey girl with the same song and dance about wanting to be single again. No one believes him. And sure enough, after a few months you start hearing rumors about him and your enemy again. This time it seems serious. Before you know it, they're together. She's always been a loser, but you're a little worried that your ex is the missing piece she needs to put her life together. Everyone talks about how great they are together. You throw up in your mouth a little bit every time you hear that because you're pretty sure your ex doesn't love her - he's just with her to get back at you. You want to ignore them, but you see them together everywhere and you wonder what you did to make him hate you so much.

And now, there's this event coming up and you're going to be in the same room together for the first time in two years. You feel sick and anxious and like you have something to prove. It's not fun anymore.

So yeah, that's what's it like. Although, I have a feeling that it could all be better if the Packers defense can repeatedly pound Favre into the ground. But it felt a little weird to try to add that into the extended relationship allegory. :)