Column: The Audacity of Hope

MBB: A column on The Shawshank Redemption, Green Bay Packers and Valparaiso men's basketball

I knew better.

I knew better than to hope - that in a season of transition - the Green Bay Packers were suddenly for real.

I hoped anyway.

I hoped a recent three-game win streak over the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs was the sign that Green Bay had landed yet another All-World quarterback in Jordan Love.

I hoped that not only was a once improbable playoff berth now likely, the NFC North division crown was suddenly well within reach.

I hoped the Packers would walk into Met Life Stadium on Monday Night Football and deliver a statement to a national audience with a dominating win over the Giants.

Instead, Love played one of his worst games of the year, the playoff odds shrank considerably and the Packers endured a crushing loss to the Giants on a last-second field goal.

As Red says to Andy in “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”

What does all of this have to do with the Valparaiso men’s basketball team? We’re getting to that.