It has been wild and wacky up in Wisconsin this week in the buildup for what promises to be one of the most emotional football games in Green Bay Packers history.

Virtually from the moment the final gun sounded last Sunday in the Packers' victory over the Cleveland Browns, websites, bloggers, radio talk show hosts and newspaper columnists from Oshkosh to Oconomowac have been debating the hot-button issue of the year for Cheesehead Nation:

How do we act when Brett Favre trots out onto the not-so-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field wearing the No. 4 purple jersey of the Minnesota Vikings?

A preview of things to come occurred Oct. 5, when the two longtime and often bitter division rivals met in Minneapolis for the first time since Favre joined the Vikings late this summer. The several thousand Packers fans who managed to score tickets let Favre have it with a torrent of boos, but the vast majority of Vikings followers mostly drowned them out over the course of a thrilling 30-23 Monday night Minnesota victory.

HOW WILL THEY REACT?

On Sunday, in another highly anticipated nationally televised game at 4:15 p.m., Packer backers, no doubt fueled by several extra hours of imbibing brewskies and inhaling brats in the parking lot, finally will be able to voice their dismay at seeing their once beloved iconic quarterback of 16 mostly glorious seasons playing for the other side, now 6-1 and leading the NFC's North Division.

``It's preoccupied the state all week. Everyone is asking, `How are we supposed to act?' '' said Phil Hanrahan, a Milwaukee native and author of a new book, Life After Favre that chronicled the Packers' 2008 season, when Favre was playing for the New York Jets.

``It's all over the websites and talk radio. People are saying turn your back, wear black armbands, be silent. One guy suggested they show all of Favre's interceptions over the years on the big screen in the stadium before the game. A columnist for The Milwaukee Journal wrote that people just ought to be classy and applaud. That set off another firestorm.

``Emotions are running high, and the fact that the game is later in the day will make it even crazier. You're going to have a lot of loaded, riled up people out there that will make it very interesting. I just think it will be all boos, louder than anyone has ever been booed before in that stadium.''

Ironically, this was supposed to be Brett Favre Day in Wisconsin, an afternoon when the most popular professional athlete in the state's history would be honored by the franchise he served so long and so well, including a Super Bowl victory over New England after the 1996 season and a return appearance the following year in a seven-point loss to John Elway's Denver Broncos.

It had been scheduled on the calendar not long after Favre announced he was retiring from football once and for all after an injury-hampered season with the Jets, and surely the brash, still beloved gun-slinging quarterback would have been given a hero's welcome.

FICKEL FAVRE

He had announced his retirement shortly after the 2008 season in a tearful news conference, only to once again change his mind a few months later. By then, however, Packers management had decided to move on with former No. 1 pick Aaron Rodgers.

At the time, general manager Ted Thompson was vilified for not allowing Favre back into the fold, though public opinion began to shift in the team's favor in July 2008 when Favre asked the team for his release.

``At that point, it became obvious he wanted to go to another team,'' Hanrahan said. ``The next day, the Milwaukee paper had a mock-up of Favre in a Chicago Bears jersey. On Aug. 7, he signed with the Jets. I went to the biggest sports bar in Green Bay the night he played in his first exhibition game for the Jets against the Redskins. There were maybe 500 people in the place, and it was about 80 percent cheering for Brett. There was still goodwill in the room, a lot of appreciation for a guy who, the week before, was sitting on his tractor back in Mississippi.

``But it's one thing playing for the Jets and quite another playing for the Vikings. I would say it's now 90 percent in favor of what the Packers did and only about 10 percent in favor of Favre.''

After the first meeting of the teams four weeks ago, Favre admitted that he could never remember being more nervous before a game, that he had been overwhelmed by the emotion of it all, at least until the opening kickoff. Still, he played brilliantly, just as he has for most of the 2009 season, a 40-year-old quarterback still playing like the first-ballot Hall of Famer he will be if he ever does retire once and for all.

``From everything I know about Brett, he's going to be feeling a ton of pressure on Sunday,'' Hanrahan said.

``I think he's going to feel twice the emotion this time. He has to know what's coming.''

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