Charles Woodson: One Class Act

Charles Woodson signed a one year deal with the team that originally drafted him, the Oakland Raiders. Charles tenure in Green Bay can be summed up best, in one word... Classy. His work ethic... classy. His locker room presence... classy. His off the field charity work... classy. His on the field performance... classy and stupendous. I may even go so far as to say, HOF First year ballot when he does decide to hang-up the cleats. But that's my Green Bay pride showing I'm sure. Regardless, there's a bronze bust waiting for #21 (or#24) in Canton when he retires, no matter what year he gets elected. Hopefully #21 and as a Packer.

I'm sorry the Packers couldn't get a deal done with Charles. If I had my druthers he'd have finished out his career a Packer. But the guys that make those descisions have won a Super Bowl and have the best record in the NFL for the past three years. I coached little league baseball for one year in 1977... and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn... I'll leave the personel desicions to the guys who's paycheck depends on it and let my dismal 12th out of 12 teams coaching debut speak for itself.

Though Charles left many, many wonderful and lasting memories with me, my favorite one was his inspirational locker room speach he gave the team when he found out President Obama was going to go to Chicago if his fav team, the Bears won.... "Check this, the president don't wanna watch us go to the Super Bowl... guess what... guess what... We'll go see him!"

Keep it classy Charles

And the Pack's 2016 Season Opener Will Be...?

Well according to this article on ESPN's web site, the Packers may be heading to the twin cities...

Vikings stadium: Packers first opponent?

In 2003, the NFL scheduled the Minnesota Vikings as the Green Bay Packers' first opponent in the renovated Lambeau Field. So naturally, the Vikings are expecting the league to return the favor 13 years later.

According to Viking's vice president Lester Bagley --

"The way the league is structured … our very first regular-season game will likely be against the Green Bay Packers," Bagley said. "So it will be good to see Adrian Peterson break loose and score the first touchdown in the new stadium and run over Clay Matthews on his way to the end zone. We'll see. Hopefully we'll have the last word when we get to opening day in [September] 2016.", but the Vikings' top stadium executive suggested to multiple media outlets over the weekend that the Packers likely will be the first regular-season opponent in the Vikings' new stadium, scheduled to open in time for the 2016 season.

Shakeup In The O-Line

Did you know All-World QB Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 202 times in his five years as starter, which is an average of around 40 per season. He’s been sacked at least 50 times in two seasons, last season and in 2009.

Well I didn't know all that but evidently it has NOT passed by Coach Mike McCarthy's notice. According to a Bleacher Report article, there's going to be a shakeup in the Offensive Line this season, and the Packer's linemen may have a hard time figuring out their left from their right.

What the Offensive Line Shakeup Will Mean for Aaron Rodgers

After Rodgers endured a career high 51 sacks last season, it was the clear Green Bay needed to do something with the offensive line.  Now that Rodgers is the league’s highest paid player, protecting him has become an even higher priority. Head coach Mike McCarthy got the message and shook up the offensive line.  Bryan Bulaga, who is recovering from a season ending hip injury, and Josh Sitton will move to left tackle and left guard, respectively, and Marshall Newhouse (for now) and T.J. Lang move to right tackle and right guard.  Evan Dietrich-Smith remains the team’s starting center. It’s a pretty big deal when a team literally flips both sides of its offensive line, so what does this mean for Rodgers?  MORE>>

Hornung and the Horses

I found this little nugget today --

Ex-Packers hope for Titletown glory

Former Green Bay Packers great Paul Hornung looks to pull an upset in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes with 3-year-old colt Titletown Five — named after Green Bay and Hornung’s jersey number.

“We’re ready to go,” Hornung said Friday. “He’s been on his toes, and I’m just hoping he runs good, stays sound and we can run him at Saratoga this summer.”

Hornung and former Packers teammate Willie Davis are co-owners of Titletown Five, who was named by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The colt is one of three from Lukas’ stable taking on even-money favorite Orb.

Hornung grew up and still lives in Louisville, Ky., and has been a racing fan for most of his life. “Orb is a great horse, and I couldn’t be happier for Shug,” he said of Orb’s trainer, Shug McGaughey. “It couldn’t have happened to a better person. And Orb may be the type of horse that can be a Triple Crown winner. He will be tough to beat on Saturday.”

Good Luck Paul and Run swiftly Titletown Five

The Favre Situation

Well it had to happen sooner or later. A meeting of the minds on the 50 yard line. Detente between one of the NFL's most storied franchises and one of it's most storied players. The Packer's want to bring Brett Favre back into the Family.

According to NFL.com

A reunion between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers is on the horizon. Speaking at a Packers Tailgate Tour event on Tuesday, Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy provided further evidence the path is being cleared for the retired quarterback's return to Lambeau Field. "We want to have (Favre) back in the family," Murphy told FOXSportsWisconsin.com.

Now I've not hidden my displeasure with number 4. I think that's clear from the image choice I made to accompany this posting. My two best buddies and I attend the HOF ceremonies every year and for the last 4 years they've had to endure my rants about Favre and my intentions to wear an Aaron Rodgers jersey the day he gets inducted. Now I'm not saying I'd cause a disturbance at the ceremony.... we sit about 80 yards away from the stage, but there has been talk of bringing along bail money... just in case. By the way, does anyone know a good defense lawyer in Canton?

Oh and I've got cause...... let me tell you.

* His 3 year odyssey of  "is he going to retire this year" head games he used to play with the organization AND the fan base.

* His retiring then coming back when he realized we had all moved on, just fine, without him.

* His showboating by flying up to Green bay to put pressure on the Packers was less than helpful for an untested Aaron Rodgers psyche.

* And the calling up the Vikings to give them inside info on the Packer's tendencies, stratagies and play calling..... just to stick it to us.... That I can't forgive

That said....
Brett Favre simply MUST enter the Hall........ as a Packer [choke]

There... I've said it.

Mark Chmura, O. J. Simpson and Jodi Arias

In the Beginning (7-1-1991)... Ted Turner created COURT TV. And in the second year Ted did change the name of COURT TV to TruTV, and waited to see if it was good. About the third year, Ted did discover the Menendez Brothers and shortly thereafter, O. J. Simpson. Ted waited til about the 9th year before discovering the Mark Chmura/Babysitter case..... do you see where I'm going with this?

It all started a couple days ago when I was reflecting on one of my favorite Packers, Mark "Chewy" Chmura. I honestly don't recall what brought Mark to mind but I reflexively scrolled through the defensive talking points I used to convince myself that Chmura was wronged by the Packers, back in 2000, when they cut him before the trial even started. Sort of a "Politically Correct pre-emptive strike" to get ahead of the bad publicity it would bring the team. It all played out on Tru TV with the accuser's face being blurred out.

Remember that in 1984 the organization was not quite so quick to remove James Lofton after he was accused of tag teaming a stripper with Eddie Lee Ivery. Two years later Lofton was accused of groping a woman in a night club stairwell. Bye Bye Lofton. Lesson learned.

Remember also, the Clinton stuff just broke a couple years before Mark's, "Adventures with Babysitters", and we were all being told that what a guy does in his personal life, yadda, yadda. Besides, Clinton totally beat the rap. Sooooooo... is what Chewy did that much worse????

But Upon Further Review
Perhaps I was a bit over zealous in Mark's defense.
At least Monica was 21.

*Even giving Mark ALL BENEFIT of all the testimony given in his defense, to be totally true. Mark agreed he was drunk and put himself in a bad situation. Duh!

*Even though a jury of 12 Packer fans acquitted him.
Let's be honest. The trial was held in Waukesha, WI and it took less than 3 hours to reach a verdict.

Bottom line... you don't get into a hot tub with two underage girls in bikinis and you in your tighty whities. AND a married, adult, professional football player NEVER EVER, EVER, EVER should follow a 17 year old girl into a bathroom and close the door.

I think we can all agree to those two criteria.

One Last Sour Note

Remember how Brett Favre, Frank Winters and Mark were the three amigoes.
Yeah... evidently not so much.

Another part of the story is how Brett and Deanna Favre treated the Chmura's during the trial. As I recall Mark Chmura's wife stayed loyal to him throughout, as did the Winters, but the Favre's cut their friendship with them as quickly as the Packer Organization did.

Mark later stung Brett Favre back by being critical of him on his television show (they all get tv shows afterwards) during the "I'm retired, well maybe not, I wanna play, well maybe not so much, sorta kinda maybe" Brett Favre Narsacistic Retirement Tour of 2009.

He told Brett to "Drop the Drama" so to speak and sided with Team Rodgers.

And the Cherry on Top?

It's even more ironic that Brett got caught up in his own little sexting controversy a year later with the Jets. You could also say he got caught with his pants down but I thought that would be redundent.

This should serve to remind Brett that --

IF BRETT FAVRE CAST THE FIRST STONE.....

IT WILL PROBABLY BE INTERCEPTED!

Oh... you may have noticed that Jodi Arias's name never did come up in this blog. Hey, I gotta drive my web traffic up some how!

Another, Softer Side of Aaron Rodgers

I always knew Aaron was a good guy and I guess you kind of expect athletes to give back to the community, for all the gifts and blessings they have in their lives, but this video I found on YouTube is something special.

I don't live in Wisconsin so I never get to see this, softer side of Aaron Rodgers. Helping the MACC Fund raise money by "Hanging Out" with a few, very young cancer survivors. There are more videos posted on YouTube of other kids Aaron has visited... but this one, Maggie, really touched my heart. I hope you'll enjoy and if possible, make a donation.

UPDATE: Looks like I get the timing of the year award. The MJS has an article now about Aaron's and Clay Mathews, Jr's involvement in MACC (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer).

[clip]

Brett Doucette will celebrate his 40th birthday Tuesday, the same day that "An Evening with Aaron Rodgers" at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the MACC Fund. Rodgers' association with the MACC Fund "It's like manna from heaven for us," said Eddie Doucette, the former voice of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brett's father. "This is a really altruistic person," Eddie Doucette said of the Green Bay Packers' quarterback. "This is a legit guy. There is no phoniness about him. He is concerned about the welfare of others."

9 out of 11 Packer Draft Picks Agree...

...to the terms of their new contracts, that is.

According to this article in the MJS

Last year at this time, the Packers had most of their rookies signed to contracts, but this year progress has been a little slower. It's not a big deal though, especially when you consider most rookie deals didn't get done until the week before training camp before the rookie wage scale was instituted two years ago. Rookie camp began today, however, and the agreements started coming in. Terms of most of the deals weren't released, but, according to one source, Franklin's deal was for four years, $2.5 million.

Here's a list of those who have signed, according to the Packers:

• Fourth-round RB Johnathan Franklin of UCLA
• Fourth-round OL David Bahktiari of Colorado
• Fourth-round OL J.C. Tretter of Cornell
• Fifth-round CB Micah Hyde
• Fifth-round DT Josh Boyd
• Sixth-round OLB Nate Palmer of Illinois St.
• Seventh-round WR Charles Johnson
• Seventh-round WR Kevin Dorsey
• Seventh-round ILB Sam Barrington of South Florida

Aaron Rodgers on "The Office"

According to the MJS as noted here, Aaron will appear on this Thursday's (May 9th) episode of "The Office". Rodgers is to play a judge in a singing competition.

In the last few years on his weekly radio show, Rodgers has expressed a desire to to host "Saturday Night Live" on NBC, but so far that invitation has not been extended. Two seasons ago, Rodgers was a guest analyst when NBC had Super Bowl XLVI. Rodgers appeared on the network's pre-game show with former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward. Rodgers has appeared in a number of television ads most notably for State Farm Insurance, Pizza Hut and Ford Trucks.

I tracked down this video of Aaron and "The Office" star, Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) on YouTube. The chemestry is excellent and Aaron does have a nice comedic touch.

Aaron Rodgers: Swagga Up!

My nephew Steve is a Bears fan. Don’t Judge, it’s happening in families all over America these days, and there doesn’t seem to be a cure. In any case, being a typical Bear’s fan I take most of his criticism about the Pack, with a grain of salt. His current bone of contention is Aaron Rodger’s cockiness. He thinks Aaron has grown too big for his britches.

He sights Aaron’s brash nature with the media. Telling them off after the 42 point offensive "ownage" of the 2011 season opener versus the Saints. Remember? Strike shortened season... coming off the Super Bowl win... Saints got together under Drew Brees to practice on their own... Packers didn’t and still won.? Aaron said this at the presser afterward, "But I've got to ask myself, 'What could've happened if we had offseason workouts? Could we have started out any faster and scored more points than that?"

I in turn argue that, "Number one, he has every right to be Cocky! Besides... It aint braggin’ if you can do it. And number two, I kinda like a little swagga in my QB."

Allow me to elaborate on point one of my hypophysis.

"All that and a Bag of Chips"
The Aaron Rodgers Story

The Early Years
His last two years of High School, Aaron Charles Rodgers started at quarterback, passing for 4,421 yards. He set records for passing his senior year (2,446) and touchdowns in a game (6). Oh... and he scored 1300, 1310 and 1400 on his SAT’s. Thank you Wikipedia. Even with those gaudy numbers, no Division I school wanted him. In a 2011 interview he attributed the relative lack of interest to the recruiting process and the fact that he was only 5'10" and 175 lbs. But you can't keep a man like Aaron Rodgers down. He was recruited to play at Butte Community College. A Juco in his very own backyard. I guess Aaron enjoyed the home cooking so much that he went and got bigger, he's listed at 6'2" and 220 now. Rodgers threw 26 touchdowns in his freshman season, leading Butte to a 10–1 record, the NorCal Conference championship, and a No. 2 national ranking. Jeff Tedford from Cal, watched Aaron play and immediately recruited him for the Bears.... the Cal Golden Bears that is. The rest, as they say, is history. Aaron went on to a stellar college career and his future looked bright in the NFL.


The Draft
As all us Packer fans are aware, Aaron and Alex Smith were considered 1 and 1a on the Mel Kiper 2005 NFL Draft Big Board. Ironically, the 49ers had the first pick and the Packers current head coach, Mike McCarthy, was the 'niners O Coordinator. He had his choice and he chose Alex Smith. Aaron was considered "not athletic enough". Because the teams that followed did not need a QB, Aaron fell to the Packers with the 24th pick. We all recall, because they remind us every year, how Aaron had to agonizingly wait in front of a national TV crowd, to hear his name called. But again.... you can't keep a good man like Aaron down. He willing joined the Packers and full filled his baseball cap wearing, clip board holding, back-up quarterback position behind Brett Favre. A place that was considered the graveyard of back-up quarterbacks. Just ask Matt Hassellbeck, Ty Detmer, Mark Brunell, Kurt Warner, etc.


Favre's Understudy
Aaron took the job of "Legend Backer-upper" very seriously. Studying at the cleats of the master who, was quite unwilling to mentor the rookie upstart. Heck, Brett was pissed about the Pack drafting a QB and he didn't mind expressing it. Brett Favre was iron man long before Robert Downey, Jr. made it cool and Aaron seemed destined to go by the "Favre back-up" wayside. He only got two chances to play (when Favre got hurt during the game) and got injured both times. The one time he played however, a loss to the Cowboys in the playoffs, Aaron excelled for the half he did play. I'm convinced that it was this showing in that game that gave the Pack's coaching staff the confidence to go with A-Rod when Favre finally retired. The first time.


Favre's Retirement.... sort of
When Brett tearfully retired, the Packers handed the starting QB keys to Aaron. But then Brett had second thoughts. Then thrid thoughts. He wanted to un-retire and come back to the Packers.... or possibly play for the Vikings. In any case, the Pack had moved on and Favre was left without a team. Even his hoping a jet to Green Bay was designed to put heat on the organization and to make things even worse on Aaron during mini-camp. The boo bird Favre sycophants were more than happy to let their voices be heard. It seamed the organization had its very own Red State/Blue State situation on their hands. So they traded the future Hall of Famer to the Jets and Aaron went on to to start his own future HOF resume.


Super Bowl MVP... 'nuff said!
Of course we all remember the Super Bowl run of 2010. Early in the run, Aaron was redunkulous versus the much favored Falcons and he earned the MVP honors of the Super Bowl versus the Steelers. And by the way.... living in Central Pennsylvania like I do, I can assure you that Steeler tears are the best! With the MVP comes the car and the Disney trip and Aaron was crowned King of Quarterbacks by Trent Dilfer. In 2011 Aaron led the Packer's to a 15-1 record and last year he was named the NFL's best player in the top 100 countdown.


Aaron has earned the right to his cockiness
He was always told he wasn't good enough and his whole life he's had to prove his critics wrong. So when you read a story about Aaron being brash... like when he said "Greg who?" when asked about Jennings departure to Minnesota this off season, remember... It aint bragging if you can do it... and Aaron Charles Rodgers has proved he can do it!

Al Harris: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Al Harris is retiring as a Packer as noted here. I have many fond memories of Alshinard "Al" Harris during his stint as a Packer. Unfortunately, I also have some, not so fond memories. Let me start by saying... I Loooove me some Al Harris! Stand up guy and shut down corner. A real class act throughout his career in Green Bay and the NFL. But alas, the bad memories sometimes out weigh the good ones and that’s life on the corner, as they say.

THE GOOD  Hands down my favorite and most lasting memory of Al was in the Packer Wild Card game January 4, 2004. The Packers were at home hosting the Seattle Seahawks. Another blistery cold January day in Wisconsin. Ryan Longwell missed a 47 yard field goal that would have won the game but instead it went to overtime. During the 2^nd coin flip, the Seahawks won the toss and Matt Hasselbeck famously said. "We’ll take the ball and we’re going to score!" Words he had to eat as on the ‘Hawk’s second possesion, Al Harris stepped in front of an ill advised sideline pass and jaunted 52 yards for a touchdown and the Packer win, 33-27.

THE BAD

If beating the Seahawks in OT was my best Al Harris memory, then clearly losing to the Giants in the Championship game, 1-20-08, in OT was the worst. Again, Lambeau field hosted the game that determined who would play the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. We Packer fans all remember this game. Donald Driver’s 80 yard Touchdown. The Giants kicker missing two chip shot filed goals before landing the decisive blow in OT. AND....... Al Harris getting absolutely torched by Plexico Burress. Harris had no answer for the much taller Burriss. The Giant’s wideout had 11 receptions for 151 yards and it seemed no matter where Eli Manning threw the ball, a Giant’s receiver came down with it Remember the rediculous catch Toomer made on the sidelines? The Packer’s could have still won this game if for not a stupid, typical Brett Favre interception in our own territory, that set up the winning kick. Giants won 23-20.

THE UGLY

This game still works on my nerves. Wild Card game... at Lambeau... Minnesota Vikings... January 10, 2005. The Packer’s were heavily favored in this game but some how managed to totally stink in all phases of the ball. The most memorable play of that game was when Randy Moss burnt Al Harris for a 34 yard TD down the sideline that put the game out of reach. Being the class act that Moss is, he mooned the Packer end zone fans and "rubbed his butt" all over the goal post. I can forgive Al Harris for getting beat by a talented player like Randy Moss, but what I couldn’t forgive or forget was the celebration afterwards. Why didn’t one of the Packers slap the snot out of that arrogant jerk? Ray Nitchke would not have allowed such an action to go unpunished. Do you recall when Terrell Owens did a little celebration on the Cowboys star? Emmitt Smith and George Teague (former Packer) took matters into their hands and showed that jerk the error of his ways. You just can’t let that happen in YOUR Stadium! I wish Al Harris would have stepped up at that moment, like Smith and Teague did.

As I said, I loooove me some Al Harris and I consider him one of the Packer all time greats. Thanks for the momeories Al, God bless and have a happy retirement.

Green Bay vs. Man U - Who'd ya rather?

I started this blog with a few things in mind that I wanted to do with it.

1) Post the Packer's news with my "skeptical" reviews and "satirical" point of view.
2) Create a web sight that would act as a news hub making it easier to learn the most pressing issues for Packer Nation without having to go through long long page loads and prompts from pop ups and registeration notices one encounters when going to other various Packer news sources.
3) Find weird stuff on the net concerning our "Green and Gold"
The following post leans towards that third thingie. I found this article...

Manchester United: 10,000 Times Better Than the Green Bay Packers

The article starts like this --

On Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013, the Green Bay Packers lost their chance at the Super Bowl. Playing before a sellout crowd at Candlestick Park against the San Francisco 49ers, the Packers gave up a playoff record 579 total yards, succumbing to a team that went on to claim the NFC Championship but eventually lost the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens at an eventful game in New Orleans.Three months later and an ocean away, another "football" team, British soccer club Manchester United, had a different story to tell. On Monday, April 22, 2013, Man Utd claimed their 20th league title, beating Aston Villa 3-0 to win the English Premier League Championship.  yadda yadda yadda [clip]

Then we get to the money shot (pun intended) --

You may recall how, Green Bay announced in December of 2011 that it was opening up its team to new buyers, offering to sell up to 880,000 Packers shares to the public for $250 apiece. Well, less than a year later, Man Utd decided to open itself up to public ownership as well, holding an initial public offering of its stock at an offer price of $14 a share. Eight months later, those Manchester United shares sell for nearly $18 apiece -- a 28% gain. Not bad ... but get a load of how Packers shares have performed. Since their third public offering back in 1950, shares of the Packers have increased in price 10,000 times, from a split-adjusted price of $0.025 per share, to the 2011 asking price of $250. That looks like a pretty hefty profit. It looks like the Packers are outperforming Man Utd. But looks can be deceiving. Okay that's enough

The article goes on to make the point that Packer fans can't sell their stock for a profit thus....... the Man U stock is actually worth more..... 10,000 times more.

They totally miss the point of the Packer stock.

NOBODY WANTS TO SELL THEIRS!!!
People bought that stock not as an investment but rather, to become the fan/owner of their very own pro football team. Die hard fans that brave -17 degree weather to watch a playoff game. True Blue (or green and gold) fans that spend their hard earned money on Packer paraphinilia, tickets, Directv, etc. Packer stock is handed down from generation to generation.

Heck, each and every fan that bought stock back in the 1950's and in 2011 new darn well they weren't "investing" for their financial future. They were investing for the future of the Green Bay Packers.

That's called loyality.
That's called devotion.
That's called Green Bay Fans 1 - Man U Fans nil

FULL ARTICLE on Manchester United versus Green bay