I've been watching Packer football since the '60's. Every year some southern team gets to come and enjoy the December ambiance Green Bay has to offer. Every year that team, its coaches, fans, and players, have it all figured out. They explain that their Q.B played for a northern college (as if Ann Arbor in mid november or some MAC school in late October is comparable to Green Bay in December) so they will be just fine. They say they play at least one such game every year so all their players are used to it. They explain they have the right clothing and equipment, have practiced in refrigerated conditions, etc. They have it figured out, after all their assistant defensive line coach played in Green Bay.News flash, they don't have it figured. Green Bay's record, even in the lean years, is unequaled when home in December. The cold makes cowards of strong-willed men. It saps strength, it crushes will, it destroys the best laid plans. It is something that can only be contended with by those who live it daily. There are reasons that only the Inuit go out onto the iceflows, that only Sherpas are truely qualified to lead teams up Everest, and that the Packers prevail on the frozen tundra soaked in the icey blood of Starr, Hornung, Nitschke, Hudson, "Blood" McNally, Wood, Davis, 'Mad Dog" Douglas, Reggie White, and Favre. The cold wakes the ghosts, it allows Lombardi's voice to echo still in the wind, it is the Packer's element and friend. It sounds like John Facenda and it looks like Jerry Kramer pawing the frost before snowplowing poor dumb Jethro Pugh into depression. The cold has crushed the spirits of Halas, Butkis, Sayers, and Ditka. It has disheartened Unitas, Landry, even Bud Grant. It has turned back The Doomsday Defense, the Fearsome Foursome, and the Purple People Eaters. It leaves survivors, not victors. It leaves victims more than losers. More than anything, it mocks the efforts of those who assume they have it figured out.One other thing it does. It wakens desire and steels the hearts of those who embrace it by living there. The cold takes sides. It has favorite teams in Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, but its favorite team, the one it always helps, is the Green Bay Packers.Welcome Jacksonville. Is it cold enough for ya?