Dilemma: Cheer for local Pats or wife's Pack

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2006 | by Paul White

New England has embraced Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz, but one question is the litmus test for whether he returns the sentiment:

Packers or Patriots?

"I cheer right now for the Patriots," Ortiz says, breaking into a smile after a long pause. He knows he's risking the wrath of his wife, Tiffany, whom Ortiz met as a 20-year-old playing for the minor league Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in Appleton.

That's his wife's home, and, like most everyone in the vicinity, she and her family are die-hard Green Bay Packers fans. She has taken Ortiz to games at Green Bay's Lambeau Field.

"It's pretty cool," he says, admitting he became a Packers fan and admirer of quarterback Brett Favre. "It's pretty cold, too," he adds, shaking the 6-4, 230-pound body more...