Let's Hear It For The Green Bay-Sized Towns

The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have the best rivalry in the NFL, even if they haven't exactly played a ton of important games this century. These two fanbases legitimately hate each other in a way that feels very much like something you'd see in college. It's quaint in that way. The whole thing feels extremely Midwestern. Even the trash-talking is very PG.

Take Justin Fields' little zinger at the Packers' expense yesterday. Previewing Sunday's season-ending matchup at Lambeau Field, the quarterback said he's bracing for a raucous atmosphere because people up in that part of Wisconsin don't have anything better to do.

“Their fans are gonna be loud because there’s not much to do in Green Bay except watch football," Fields said.

Assembled media did their best media laugh and the comments were aggregated all over the Internet. Which is perfectly fine. But I have to wonder ... how could they mean anything at all to any Green Bay fan? Haven't they all heard this little jab a million times before? They know they live in a less densely populated place their other NFL fans do. They know they support a team in a small market. This isn't breaking news.

Maybe this part is new information for some of you-- a lot of them probably like it. They are proud of where they live and that the Packers are at the center of everything. Perhaps some of them had big dreams of living in the big city. Perhaps some of them did that for a time before returning home. For an overwhelming majority, though, such a fast and crowded lifestyle is simply not attractive.

And to be clear, this isn't intended to be a heavy thinkpiece on a somewhat throwaway line from a Wednesday media availability. Yet I do want to say something. Far too often, national media who love in major suburban sprawl grossly underestimate and diminish a majority of the population. You see the indifference they have toward places like Cedar Rapids and Lansing and you wonder just how far down their nose they must look at actual one-horse towns.

The dirty little secret about places like Green Bay or Syracuse or Fargo is that there's a hell of a lot to do. Or, more accruately, enough to do to fill the time. And the best part is that those things don't come with the annoyances of cities the size of Chicago. So it's just stupid to think otherwise.

To lift a little from It's A Wonderful Life: this small-market rabble they talk about, they do most of the football-watching and gear-buying and NFL-supporting in this country. Is it too much to ask to have them watch and buy and support in a couple decent rooms without dealing with these outdated barbs?