GREEN BAY, Wis. - Reggie White pulled on a white sweater the size of a parachute. Twelve years in the NFL without a title ring may have left him hungry. But not lean.
''You ready?'' A Green Bay Packers media relations minion hovered close to White's locker. He whispered into a walkie-talkie. Packers coach Mike Holmgren had concluded his discussion of Green Bay's 30-13 domination of the Carolina Panthers in the NFC final. Now it was White's turn.
''Reggie?'' the minion asked again. ''You ready?''
Ready? White has been readying for this his whole career.
We laughed at White four years ago. He was a free agent then. He took the NFL's version of the palace tour. He went to Cleveland, where they put him up in a hotel penthouse and fed him filet mignon. Everyone threw money and flattery at White, like tickertape at a parade.
He was the best defensive lineman of his time. Arguably, the best of any time. He could have gone anywhere.
White chose Green Bay. He said it was God's will.
Ha ha. God wanted Reggie to play in Green Bay? What is God ... some kind of sadist? Ho ho.
Makes mockery of his critics
''People mocked me four years ago when I came here. I thought we had a quarterback that could lead us. I thought we had a coach who knew what he was doing,'' White said.
Nobody's mocking him now.
The Packers are back in their rightful place, don't you think? They won handily Sunday, they're in the Super Bowl for the first time in 30 years, and you can't help but feel that some of the league's essential fabric has been restored.
The last time they celebrated a title in Titletown, Reggie White was a 5-year-old evangelist prodigy, preaching to, who knows, Captain Kangaroo.
White is an ordained Baptist minister. He says it's God's will that Green Bay will ascend to the Super Bowl. Who's to argue? Certainly not the NFL, a thoroughly modern pro sports league with thoroughly modern problems.
What could be better, in a time of mercenaries and greed, than to resurrect the Packers? What better place for history to be re-made than on - all together now - the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field? Lambeau is the NFL's heirloom.
The Packers are the league's link to more sane times. And White is the Packers throwback to 1967. He is humble and decent and, like the Packers fans, seemingly immune to cynicism.
Confirmation of his beliefs
Late in the game Sunday, after the Packers had overcome an early 7-0 hole to take irrevocable command by halftime, White sat alone on the bench, head in hands, tears flowing.
''Confirmation of my beliefs,'' he would say later, when asked to describe the moment.
Say what you want about White's beliefs. ''There is a larger purpose here than us winning a championship,'' he said Sunday. Maybe. Or, perhaps, Green Bay simply had the better team.
Say what you will. But respect what White thinks. Give his beliefs some room. He's due that. Given the current state of pro sports, give White's beliefs all the room they need.
The Packers won this game in the third quarter. Their defense allowed Carolina one small touchdown, after an interception and return to the Green Bay 2-yard line. Quarterback Brett Favre started slowly, but found a rhythm by halftime.
During one stretch in the second and third quarters, Green Bay ran 30 plays to Carolina's two, outgained the Panthers 192-to-minus-1 while outscoring them, 13-0. Chris Jacke's 32-yard field goal culminated the run, giving Green Bay a 20-10 lead with 8:16 left in the third. Then the coronation began.
Afterward, they handed the George Halas Trophy to Bob Harlan, 26 years the Packers president, in the stadium named for Curly Lambeau. The 60,000 present let loose a roar pulled all the way from 1967.
Reggie White took the microphone and said what you guessed he might:
''God has his hands on this team.''
Believe what you want. In the NFL in 1997, there are worse beliefs.
You can call Paul Daugherty at 768-8454.
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