Gritting teeth, Minnesota senators formally congratulate the Green Bay Packers

By Christina Wilkie - 02/14/11 08:48 PM ET

Two Minnesota senators gritted their teeth last week as they played a role in formally honoring the Green Bay Packers, who won the Super Bowl earlier this month.

By some cruel twist of fate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) had to read a measure extolling the Packers while Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) presided over the upper chamber.

In case you’re not up on rivalries, the one between the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings is pretty intense.

Klobuchar, a daughter of beloved Minnesota sportswriter Jim Klobuchar, took to the floor and spoke of “Green Bay, Wis., also known as ‘Titletown, USA’ ” and of the Packers as a “team unique in professional sports … known all over the world for their devoted fans.”

Klobuchar, a diehard Vikings fan, waxed on, calling the Packers a team that “exemplified the hard work, discipline, determination and humility of Green Bay,” and summing up with the requisite congratulations to the team.

How did this happen? Had Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ordered this punishment for some defection on a motion to proceed? Had the Minnesota senators lost a bet with their Wisconsin colleagues? Well, no.

“I was simply asked to read all the resolutions for the close of the day, “ Klobuchar told ITK. “It happened to be one of them.”

She then did some solid trash-talking, Senate-style: “While it wasn’t my resolution, I congratulate the Packers on their victory and know that next year it will be the Vikings.”