We’re quickly running out of football season, much to my dismay, but there’s a heightened sense of excitement among the fans of those teams still in the race. One match-up in particular has people drooling in anticipation. The Green Bay Packers will be taking on the Giants this week, and one newspaper decided to attempt a novel sort of preview to the playoff game, to be held in New York. (A city, I should point out, which is also home to the Jets, who allegedly still technically qualify as a football team.)

Fans of the Pack are colloquially known as “cheeseheads” in part because Wisconsin is somewhat famous for their historical curd production. But the Empire State is also a source for plenty of fine, sharp cheeses. The New York Daily News set up a showdown with blind taste testing to see which state had the better cheese. So how did New York fare in this category? About as well as the Jets did at actual football.

“I don’t really like it,” Guglielmo said as she chewed a New York cheddar made by McCadam. “It tastes extremely cheddary. It tastes very strong.”

Seven out of 10 tasters preferred the mild Wisconsin cheddar.

Nibblers were blindfolded so they couldn’t distinguish the alarmingly orange Wisconsin cheddar from the white New York version.

“In the Midwest, they really prefer their cheddar orange,” said expert Liz Thorpe, author of “The Cheese Chronicles” and vice president of Murray’s Cheese in New York. “That is a major regional difference.”

Thorpe was taken aback by Wisconsin’s taste-test triumph.

“I’m very surprised everybody preferred the milder” version, she said. “I think New Yorkers are sharper in general.”

If nothing else, the event provided one uniting factor that everyone can get behind. We all still hate the French.

French tourist Alexis Chamberlin, 24, raised on Brie and Camembert, held up his nose at both cheddars.

“The texture is glue,” Chamberlin said of the Wisconsin cheddar.

“Not very good,” he said of the New York version.

Shortly after the Frenchman was beaten senseless outside the event, everyone went back to arguing about which football team would win. (OK… I made that last part up.)

I have no doubt but that Ed will be back from New Hampshire and will do his usual preview column and predictions, but for this one particular game I’m going to go out on a limb and pick Green Bay to win. I’m wrong almost every time I pick football games, so I assume that by publishing this I might actually give the Giants a chance.

Oh… and I’ve had both types of cheeses mentioned in the article. New York’s is clearly superior and that stupid, artificially colored orange stuff from Wisconsin isn’t fit for children’s parties.