Things are going to be tense for the next few days.

The big event is almost here and we are more divided than ever. Family members split down the middle. Dinner table conversations trying to avoid the elephant in the room in hopes of avoiding an argument. Americans glued to their televisions waiting to see what happens with Michigan and Wisconsin.

Wait, did you think we were talking about something else?

This Sunday marks another matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions and we here in Superiorland know that this rivalry is particularly special in this area.

While there is always a lot of drama between the Packers and the Chicago Bears on the national scale, you would be hard pressed to find a Yooper who doesn’t look forward to Lions-Packers matchups with a keen interest.

The Upper Peninsula is unique as we are generally split down the middle in our fandom. It’s not uncommon (in fact, it might be more common than not) to have families divided evenly between Packers and Lions fans. This unique quirk of geography and culture makes for exciting games between the two NFC North rivals, no matter what the standings look like.

That is why Sunday’s game has outsized importance.

Historically the struggling “little brothers,” the boys in Honlulu blue have been generally regarded as a laughing stock of the league. The current iteration of the Lions, however, is an NFL juggernaut and one of the clear betting favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl.

The Packers have had a more up-and-down season thus far due to injuries to their quarterback Jordan Love but remain near the top of the standings.

While this may not be the most important event that happens this week, we would like to take a moment to encourage all of our fellow football fans, no matter who you are rooting for, to sit back and enjoy this heavyweight tilt between the Upper Peninsula’s two most beloved teams.