The Super Bowl has a very special meaning for former Fort Smith Northside and Arkansas player Brett Goode.
Goode, 28, has something few local football players can claim: a Super Bowl championship ring. Goode earned the ring as a member of the Green Bay Packers, who won Super Bowl XLV.
The Packers defeated Pittsburgh 31-25 two years ago. Goode, who was working a construction job, had signed as a free agent before the 2008 season after the Packers' deep snapper sustained a season-ending injury.
Playing in the Super Bowl fulfilled a lifelong dream.
"Before I got to junior high, I always dreamt that and it kind of goes away because everybody tells you you can't do it so it didn`t really become a reality until it was actually over," Goode said. "It took a few weeks after the Super Bowl to realize what just happened."
Goode remembers the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl as being most unusual.
"It's kind of surreal," Goode said. "You get media outlets from all over the world, and so we actually had translators for different parts of the countries that do media. We don`t get that in Green Bay."
The game itself lived up to expectations.
"You try to make it just like any other game," Goode said. "You really don`t get into a real game rhythm until the second half because the first half you have longer pregame and the halftime is a lot longer."
Goode said he felt prepared for the game thanks to his experience and background as a free agent.
"Being able to go out there and want to do better I think you have the ability to do anything you want as long as you work," Goode said. "I think knowing I worked on a construction crew and knowing I didn`t want to do that for a living so it really pushed me to get my education and the football field makes you really strive to there`s going to be ups and downs and make you strive to get better every single day."
Goode said he will start training in Fort Smith this week before taking some time off in April. Then, he'll report to Green Bay for preseason workouts.