Green Bay fans relish rich Sikhi heritage

GREEN BAY, WI — When one thinks of the Green Bay Packers, or the state of Wisconsin, one can’t ignore the strong Nordic-European contingent in its population.

Green Bay is awash with sausages, cheese and smash-mouth football. It’s know as Titletown, and rightly deserves the moniker.

But deep inside the football organization lies a little known fact – that the machine that is the Green Bay Packers is fueled by a Sikhi connection as influential as a Favre bomb to Sterling Sharpe.

The Packers GM, Ted Thompson, recently elevated former Assistant of Player Development, V. J. Patel to the newly vacated role of Assistant General Manager.

“The man knows his football”, quipped Thompson. “He has his fingerprints all over the recent uprising of the Atlanta Falcons, where he pretty much worked in obscurity”.

Patel was responsible for shoring up the Falcons offensive line with beefy, mobile guards. Matt Ryan credits him with helping the QB unload the ball more precisely under a blitz.

But the most surprising note about Patel’s brilliance as a football mind is that the pigskin isn’t his “ball of choice”. Growing up in Compton, Patel was practically born with a basketball in his hands.

“I have very fond memories of my youth in Southern California”, noted Patel. “The boys and girls in the neighborhood were very warm and giving. They welcomed me into their games of basketball very often and desired to select me on their team when they discussed who would play with whom”.

When asked about the upcoming 2011 NFL season, Patel announced that, “We are very cognizant of the fact that winning a Super Bowl and then winning another Super Bowl in the year directly following the first is very difficult indeed.”