Lucky #13

I have never been so happy to be wrong about anything.

Despite my misgivings regarding Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers, they defied all the odds to win their thirteenth championship.

I guess they will have to do some work in the Packer Hall of Fame to make room for the fourth Lombardi Trophy.

And for those of us who can remember what Brett Favre did for us during his years here, don't worry, he will still get to meet President Obama, even if not wearing the green and gold with the rest of the Packers:

G-Force

For all of you Packer fans that are having a hard time dealing with the news today that defensive end Johnny Jolly has been suspended for at least the entire 2010 season for substance abuse, a little picture that might make you cheer up a bit:


Please don't take this as a sign I'm on board the Aaron Rodgers bandwagon, because I'm still not there.

And while on the Star Wars kick, from earlier: This is not the GM we are looking for.

The SuperBowl: The Devil's Playground

From WAOW-TV9:

A national conservative political activist group is urging people not to watch the Super Bowl this year, and instead read a book about politics or history. Mark Dice, spokesman for The Resistance, calls football the "opiate of the masses" and says Americans' obsession with sports is partially to blame for the decline of country.

"Most Americans know more about football than they do about the Constitution or their political leaders," says Mark Dice, who last week posted a video on YouTube showing him gathering signatures on a petition to repeal the First Amendment to prove his point. "People yell and scream at the TV when their team messes up, but they aren't even aware when politicians pass legislation that will cause higher taxes, deeper government dept[sic], or violate the Constitution."

"This Super Bowl Sunday we are urging people to leave their televisions turned off and do something productive like reading a book," he says. Dice suggests that parents ask their children for their civics book or any text book about American history and begin reading it.

"Imagine how fast we could stop the corruption in Washington DC if every weekend, instead of 60,000 people traveling to a stadium to watch a football game, that many people would march outside the capitol," explains Dice. "Unfortunately, professional sports are the opiate of the masses and keep people distracted from what's actually important."

I blame Ted Thompson for creating the whole Favre melodrama, distracting Wisconsin from the good path. Ted Thompson works for Satan!

Not The GM We Were Looking For

Green Bay Packers - Making crappy teams look good since 2005.

Source of picture

My new favorite website - Fire Ted Thompson Now!

Ted Thompson Is To The Packers What Scott Walker Is To Milwaukee County

Well, someone had to say it.

Both were brought in at a time of turmoil with the intention of righting the ship.

Both have not only failed to right their respective ships, but have done their damned best to make them sink.

And both of them are not qualified for the jobs they currently hold.

Q: What's A Buccaneer's Favorite Dish?

A: Cheese melt.

And for all the Brett Favre haters out there, I would like to point out that Aaron Rodgers is on pace for 72 sacks this season, shattering all previous records.

Also, Rodgers threw as many interceptions today as Favre has for the whole season.

I don't blame Rodgers for all of that. He has no protection, like Favre didn't when he was here.

For that, the blame goes to Ted Thompson for not getting the good players. And McCarthy shows that he can't keep the team disciplined.

Both need to go.

Brett Favre Is Too Old And Washed Up

Vikings 38
Packers 26

Favre's QB rating: 128
Rodgers QB rating: 108

Ted Thompson, please start packing your office.

Thanks For Nothing, Ted

Yeah, Favre's real washed up, isn't he?

Next Monday should be real interesting.

Taking Hate Too Favre

Last year, when Brett Favre and Ted Thompson got into their battle of the egos, I opined that the Green Bay Packers sent the wrong guy packing.

Don't get me wrong before I started, Favre most definitely had a role to play in his less-than-glorious departure from the Pack. But it also wasn't anything new from him and the management could have handled their end better, including making it obvious that they booted him out for something other than Favre's behaviors (such has offering him a couple of million dollars in bribe money to stay home and stay quiet).

Now, Favre has been able to manipulate his situation so that he can not only play for the Minnesota Vikings, but also skip the training camp and all of the minicamps. (Favre has made it abundantly clear over the years that he loathes those things.)

A lot of fans and even the sports reporters for the local paper have been griping endlessly since he signed with Minnesota last week. Their complaints have been on everything from his manipulation of the system with his pseudo-retirements to calling him a "traitor" to the Packer Nation.

While I have written that I would rather see Favre ride his lawnmower off into the sunset, and I too felt deep shock at him signing on with the "enemy," I don't have that same level of animosity.

All one has to do is look at the situation objectively. Thompson pushed Favre out, for whatever reason. I still think it was the wrong thing to do, and it has done a lot to turn me off from football for a second year now. But it happened, and it is way too late to go back and fix it.

The Packers moved on, for better or worse (most likely worse - don't let the two preseason games fool you), and have chosen to go with Rodgers, the back up quarterback.

Favre also has moved on. He played for the Jets, and now has been able to finagle his way onto the Vikings. Did he do that to get back at Thompson? Without a doubt. But that is not a sign of a personality flaw. It is just another aspect of his high level of competitiveness.

To be mad at Favre now would be like a guy dumping his girlfriend, and then getting pissed when she starts dating other people, including guys he doesn't like very much. He let her go, and he needs to deal with the consequences of his actions. If he now realized how badly he screwed up, he should just be mad at himself. But to take it out on her would only show how petty he is.

Likewise, true Packer fans shouldn't be mad at Favre. The Pack packed up his stuff, threw it out in Lambeau's parking lot and told him to get out. If he went on to play for one of our rivals, so be it. If you are going to be mad at someone, be mad at the guy who pushed him out and changed the locks - Ted Thompson.

Noooooooooooo!!!

Someone tell me this is a nightmare and will be gone by the morning. Please!


And of course, we know who is to blame. Has there ever been a good Thompson in Wisconsin?

The Future's So Dark, I Gotta Wear Shades

Months ago, I lamented Ted Thompson's decision to trade Brett Favre away to the Jets. I felt that Thompson's job was to put the best team he could on the field, and that meant starting Favre over Aaron Rodgers.

But capper, I was told, you gotta give them a chance. Ted Thompson knows what he's doing, I was told. Aaron Rodgers is the future, Brett Favre is a has-been, they told me.

Mr. Has-Been just beat the previously undefeated Titans yesterday in a perfectly managed game. ESPN reports that the Jets have been buoyed this year by one key factor - Favre. Mr. Has-Been and the Jets are now 8-3 and leading a tough division.

Meanwhile, Mr. Future, eh, not so much. Mr. Future and the Pack are now 5-6, and are only above the winless Lions in a weak division.

Now, don't get me wrong. This loss is not all Rodgers fault, although he sure did his share to contribute to it. No, this kind of miserable showing takes the entire team, including the coaching staff.

All of whom were put there by Ted Thompson.

Can Thompson be charged with high treason for what he did to the Pack?

And as always:

Hitting Midseason Form

For all of you Ted Thompson/Mike McCarthy/Aaron Rodgers devotees out there...

I just want to point out that the Pack is now 4-5 after a pitiful showing in the HumptyDome. Yeah, yeah, the run defense stunk, but the defense still accounted for 17 of the Pack's 27 points which stemmed from turnovers. I didn't get to see the entire game, but could someone please tell me how the Pack gave up two safeties in such short order? Is the honeymoon now over for Rodgers? Is it time for him to put on his cardigan and tennis shoes and go to make believe land?

Oh, and in case you might not have heard, Brett Favre (remember him? Former Packer. Could've and should've played for us this year) led the New York Jets to a 47-3 trouncing of the Rams, including a 40-0 lead at half-time. And they said that the Jets weren't going anywhere this year. Ha!

As an interesting observation though, the Thompson/McCarthy/Rodgers era is good for the economy. Remember how the stores were empty on Sundays during the game? How everyone was at home, at the game, or at a party cheering the Pack? I was at four stores today, during game time, and each one was packed. With no one sitting around the house or wasting time on the Pack, they are out stimulating the economy. Whodathunk anything good would come out of this after all?

And for the true Favre fans, there is another reason to like him. Brett, Deanna, Brittany and Breleigh are bloggers.

What A Game!

Didja see the game today? Brett Favre was already in midseason form. His stats for the day are 15 completions out of 22 attempts for a 68.2% completion rate. He threw two touchdowns and no interceptions.

The first touchdown pass was a 56 yard bomb down the line that caught the Dolphins flat-footed.

The second touchdown pass was on a 3rd and 13 when he lobbed a beaut 22 yards. It was great to see him having so much fun again.

What sucked was he was wearing a Jets uniform. Aaron Rodgers gets his trial tomorrow night. Unfortunately, due to work and family obligations, I won't get to watch much of the game. But I don't think Ted Thompson will be watching much either. He'll be studying this site real hard, especially if Rodgers goes down hurt, or just plays crappy.

And as always:

Not A Good Omen

It feels like the Packer Nation has returned back to the dismal days of the 1980s.

But for the record:

Aaron Rodgers: 9 completions; 16 attempts; 56.3% completion; 58 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Ints.

Brett Favre: 5 completions; 6 attempts; 83.3% completion; 48 yards; 1 TD; 0 Ints.

Rodgers was sacked 4 times, almost through an interception, and couldn't drive it in when the Pack got the ball on the 49ers 8 yard line off an interception by Woodson.

I realize this is only preseason, but to think we could have kept Favre who seems to be back in form with a whole new system and a whole new team...

I don't know if it was WTMJ-TV or if it was the Packer organization, but they showed a montage of clips at the beginning of the game that highlighted a lot of the great names ever associated with the Pack, including Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, etc. Can you guess which big name they did not show. And did the announcers really have to act like apologists for Ted Thompson and Aaron Rodgers during the whole game? It was like listening to talk radio.

And seeing this just hurts. And I want one of these.

A Conspiracy Against Wisconsin?

As I was writing the previous post, a thought occurred to me.

Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy have brought misery and shame to the State of Wisconsin, as well as all of Packer Nation.

Likewise, another McCarthy and another Thompson has also brought more than their fare share of misery and shame to Wisconsin.

Is their some sort of feud with these two families and the State of Wisconsin? Or is this just a giant conspiracy?

Green Bay Sends The Wrong Man Packing

Anyone that has been exposed to a radio, a television, or the Intertubes knows that Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. This is indeed a sad day for the Packer Nation.

I've already stated that both Favre and the Packer management have had their fair share of the blame, but that the lion's share falls directly on Ted Thompson. (That's Ted Thompson, pictured on the right.) After all the hoopla over the past 48 hours, my opinion not only stays the same, but I feel even stronger about it.

Favre is an emotional man. We've known that for a decade and a half. That is part of the mystique, and the reason so many of us in the Packer Nation feel a bond for him. Despite all of the money he has gotten, the records he has broken, the games he has won, the games he has lost, and the times he has acted like a diva, people feel that he is just a normal, average kind of guy. People feel that they can relate to Favre, because he is human like the rest of us.

Thompson, since he has taken office, has made it clear that he is on a mission to create his own legacy, and to do that, he had to remove all vestiges of Ron Wolf's legacy. And of course, the biggest part of Wolf's legacy was the quarterback from Kiln, Mississippi. Thompson has, with each passing year, worked to make Favre feel less and less welcome.

Finally, at the end of last season, Favre, fatigued and hurting from a long season, feeling his age, still emotional from how the last game ended, caved into the subtle and not so subtle pressures applied by Thompson and announced his retirement. This opened the door for Thompson to close the door on Favre. He tried to nail the door shut by shipping off Favre's locker and announcing the retirement of Favre's jersey and setting the ceremony on the opening night of the season.

After having allowed more time to restore his drive, heal the aches, and giving him time to think, Favre started to feel buyer's remorse, and wanted to be reinstated. Thompson would not have any of that, and the epic power struggle ensued. Thompson finally won, and Favre was shipped out to New York.

It took a lot of gall for the Packers management to stand in front of reporters today and tell some tall tales. Like Thompson has no ego. Or even the most outlandish statement of wanting what was best for the team. What hogwash! If they turn away one of the best QBs in the league, and the one that would give them the best chance to win, they didn't care about the team. They only cared about their egos.

In other words, Thompson willfully failed to perform his duties, which was to put the best team he possibly could, out on the field. Murphy failed by not looking out for the franchise. Not only did he willfully agree to let the best player leave but he also allowed a heckuva lot of merchandising money go with him. Look for ticket prices to go up substantially.

Both men should be let go for purposely failing to perform their jobs. And they can take their toady, McCarthy with them. I was never overly impressed with him anyway.

With all that said, and despite the fact that Thompson, McCarthy and Murphy will all probably be around for at least the rest of this season, I will still be a Packers fan. I won't completely boycott them, as some say they will do. Nor will I fully embrace this team, as others encourage us to do. At least not until they prove themselves.

No, I will stay a Packers fan, but I will not be as enthusiastic as I have been for the past sixteen years. I just don't think that they will do very well this year. The odds makers agree with me, as well.

Heck, I suffered through the long famine of the 70s and the 80s. I can survive this as well. I don't think the team will recover this year, nor do I think they will improve until the third year after Thompson gets shipped out.

And with my birthday coming up, anyone wanting to buy me a New York Jets/Favre jersey, I'll be more than glad to accept it.

Clash Of The Titan Egos

By now, every blogger and sports announcer and news show has the latest chapter in the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packer saga. In summary, Favre changed his mind again, and now wants to play. The Packers have said, "Fine, but not with us." Now it looks like Favre will either stay retired, or become active to be traded to another team.

But how did this come to pass, and who, if anyone, is to blame for this fiasco.

Many people are upset with Favre. He has a very big ego, but it is a well-deserved one. He has broken just about every record there is for a quarterback to break, has won three MVPs, has won a SuperBowl and played in another. And who can forget that Monday night game against Oakland, the day after his father passed away.

So, yeah, he has been a bit of a diva, but he has earned that right. To a point. And I think that the last few years of will he/won't he retire business is a small part of manipulation on Favre's part to force the Packers to build a stronger team around him. It's also probably a little bit of the fact that he is getting older, and every season is taking more and more out of him. Most of it, though, was just media hype to get people to pay attention to their TV news shows/radio stations/newspapers.

And for many years, Favre got away with that kind of manipulation. That seems to have come to an end this year. But it's end was foreseeable.

Ever since Ted Thompson became general manager of the Packers, he's made it abundantly clear that he wants to make the Packers "his team," and is trying to eliminate any remnants of Ron Wolf's legacy. Even Favre.

So, he did things his way, and wanted to build up a team that he envisioned. I will say that I personally think that many of his moves stunk, and he has a long history of bad decision-making. Furthermore, he made it perfectly clear, he did not cherish Favre as much as the Packer Nation did. Favre alone was the entire Lombardi era Packers rolled up into one man with a strong competitive nature and a boyish face.

Thompson has not done one thing to make Favre feel like he was still part of the team, gently nudging him towards the door. I'm sure Thompson was silently jubilant on the day that Favre told the world he was going to retire. This gave him the opportunity to once and for all remove any traces of Ron Wolf, and to create his own legacy.

In this ongoing battle between the irresistible force and the unmovable object, it appears Thompson will win. Only time will tell if the cost to his reputation as the man that drove Favre away was worth it.

The only thing for sure, is that due to these battling egos, it is the Packer fans that lose. One small thing that we can console ourselves with is that it looks like the Cowboys' star quarterback will have his "good luck charm" around for quite a while.