Domestic Violence Increase with Packers' Loss

I am particularly worried about the Packer vs. Viking games that is on right now. While I tend to take on a disinterested attitude towards sports all together, a connection between the Packers and domestic violence that I recently found has forced my interest in this game.

Although the correlation between domestic violence increases and the Packers losing football games has been mentioned briefly on a few websites such as flyertalk and jsonline (it has been noted that the increase is at a 50% rate) no official statistic has been reported. In an effort to verify this connection, I called the local police who confirmed a connection but had no specific stat to offer.

I can’t help but wonder if the efforts that the Packers have made in the last few years to combat domestic abuse is a confirmation of this connection. On a Packers blog, I found that Verizon Wireless and the Packers first teamed up in 2001 to fundraise for domestic abuse organizations. In another blog, I found that the combined efforts will continue until 2013.

I think that these efforts are very important; by supporting domestic abuse efforts to stop violence and publicly talking about it (like the three hour discussion about Hopeline that took place on Lambeau field today before the games started), Wisconsin’s increasing domestic abuse will hopefully come to a halt and begin to decrease.

Still, it is important for everyone to take responsibility for domestic violence, not just major corporations like Verizon and the Packers. We must continue to talk about these issues and support victims and shelters.

As the Viking vs. Packer game is coming to an end, please remember the connection between domestic violence and lost packers games. We must all be advocates for those who may be in an abusive relationship.