Cromulent Avoision

Holy fucking shit. Brett Favre has been (or will be) traded to the New York Jets.

The Jets are an AFC team, which means I can follow them (or perhaps even wear a new jersey*) without feeling like a complete traitor. Look: I won't apologize for wanting to continue to pay attention to Favre and what he can accomplish on the field. As I've said before, that man has provided me with so many memories, it stands to reason that I would want to keep watching for more.

The other reason I'm using to justify that is the fact that the next time the Jets are scheduled to play play at Lambeau** is in 2014. I don't think Brett will still be playing then... but if he is, then upon his return to the Frozen Tundra he'll be starting*** like his 383rd consecutive game.

P.S. My prediction for the Post's headline tomorrow: "Broadway Brett!"

*HA! New jersey! Get it?!
**They will play at The Meadowlands in 2010.
***Even if Brett barely knows half of the plays in the Jets' repertoire by the time Week 1 kicks off, they'd damn well better plan on at least letting him start!

Mindsets Are Overrated

2008-08-05T21:09:00.002-05:00

Today's update is far worse than I had hoped. Looks like it's all about Favre not being willing to give 100% to the Packers -- or at least what Coach Oblio identified as 100%, which involved watching game film on a Thursday night -- and the Packers organization not giving Favre enough of a welcome home for his liking. Holy fucking shit, what a nightmare.

Funny thing is, Jason Whitlock was totally right a couple of weeks ago when he posted this open letter to the main reason why Brett Favre is no longer going to be a Packer, Ted "Twatrocket" Thompson. Read that, then read it again.

Coach said in this afternoon's press conference that Brett was "not in the proper mindset" to be a Packer this season. Brett purportedly said that too many hurtful things were said and too much damage done for him to ignore/forget. I have no fucking idea what that means. I want to know who said what to whom and when, just so I can justify in my own mind whether saying something like that is even remotely defensible. (My bet is it was Thompson, in the library, with the lead pipe.)

Maybe we'll learn more about that in the near future. In the meantime, the fact that this isn't over and happily resolved for Brett, the Packers, and -- most importantly -- the fans just has me feeling really, really sad. The prospect of Favre wearing a new (pewter?) jersey on the field with a team other than the Packers next month just hurts. I just want to shake him and yell, "YOU RETIRED!" I'm having a really tough time understanding how he can feel the way he's feeling about the reception he received by management in Green Bay this week... mostly because it means the same guy who has given me so many amazing memories turns out to be just like any other selfish superstar.

Frankly, given that Thompson is such a colossal knucklefuck, I'd almost like to see him try to stay consistent and just ignore or decline any trades that come across his desk. Put Favre in his old #4 jersey, hand him a helmet, and have him sit on the sidelines unless and until he's needed in a game. Brett, you said you wanted one of three things: 1) Let me play, 2) trade me, or 3) release me unconditionally. I say let him play. As a Packer. Done.

Four More Years?

2008-08-04T08:34:00.007-05:00

I'm breaking radio silence today because this is amazing. Today is the closest we've come to a culmination of all the shit that's been going on with Favre, and I need to comment.

First of all, I can't hate him. Lots of people report that they do now; that they're done with him and his prima donna attitude. Look: He's still easily one of the best QBs out there. According to him, he made a mistake by retiring back in March. Have you ever made a mistake? Ever regretted a decision? Yeah. So leave that alone. Is he blameless? No. It was stupid to give an interview to Fox News rather than work through things using the 'proper channels.' Then again, knowing how badly Ted Thompson has mismanaged things with Favre, I can understand his frustration. I don't hate Favre. I hate this situation. Since July 4th, I have had this pit in my stomach that just roils and twists every time I have thought about this because of all of the endless conjecture and possible scenarios, which necessarily have included talk of a trade from the Packers. That thought has actually made me physically ill.

Yesterday, Roger Goodell accepted Favre's request to be reinstated to the NFL's active roster, and today at noon, the Packers will officially welcome him back... although perhaps "welcome" isn't quite the right word. We'll see tonight at 8:15 what Coach Oblio says, but the news from ESPN is that Favre will be allowed to compete with A-Rodge for the starting QB position. Frankly, there's nothing I'd enjoy more than seeing #4 starting in the Packers' first (nationally-televised!) preseason game against Cincy one week from tonight. It will seem right, whereas watching A-Rodge start and knowing that in a month we'd be retiring that #4 at Lambeau was not going to. I would celebrate, but... well, it'd just be very not right. I'm all for postponing that for as long as we can.

But here's the thing (actually, there are two concerns I have): 1) This won't end up stopping the trading talk. If Favre is competing, he could lose. (Yes, even I can admit that he can fail.) If he does, he could still wind up as a Jet, a Buc, or [gulp] even a Bear or [gag] a Viking. But perhaps even worse, 2) he could win the position... and then wind up playing the way he's supposed to "at his age." Trust me, I want more than anything for there to be one more magical season like this last one was. The problem is, there can't be. The thing that made the 2007 season magical was that it was completely unexpected. This season will already always be mired by the circus that has preceded it. If anything, Favre will feel the need to work all that much harder to win the spot, then feel he has to work all that much harder during the season and wind up with an injury trying to play younger than he is or simply go back to playing slingball and forgetting all of the techniques he was able to perfect over the past couple of years, when he went back to school and really re-learned how to play the QB position. If he sees the job as a gift, he might play like next year doesn't matter and put his team and his teammates in jeopardy. We could be up for another mediocre season... or another 4-win season. If we were going to have one of those in 2008, I wanted it to be because it was A-Rodge's learning curve season, not because Favre didn't take the opportunity to quit while he was ahead.

But look at what I'm doing. It's all conjecture. We can't know what will happen. We have to let it. We have to see what transpires. Again: More than anything, I want Favre to be Superman. I want him to come out playing at the same level as he was able to achieve last year, and then continue to improve. I want the team to rally behind him and want him to do well so they all do well. (I worry that the circus has already soured his teammates' attitudes in that regard.) I want Brett to be the starting QB and talk to the Packers team before the opening Monday Night Football game and apologize, saying it really was stupid what he did, and that in the final analysis it was really just all about the football -- about Packers football -- and that they were going to go out there and leave everything on the field every week and never look back. I want that team to be a team, banded together, running out on that field and mangling their opponents, not coming off the adrenaline rush until an hour after the final gun. I want to be the team of destiny with the seasoned QB not willing to go quietly into the sunset but hungry to go all the way to Tampa on February 1, 2009.

One last thing. A friend said this weekend that if the team was in a position to bring Favre back, that they should really put him through the wringer, practice-wise -- enough so that he wants to quit all over again. I'm perfectly happy with making him earn the position, but not with the intention of breaking him. But if that is what were to happen, god dammit, I want Favre to jump through whatever hoops and barriers the organization puts up and come out of it as though it was just another practice. I want him to be the clear winner, not just so there are no hard feelings, but so that the team moves on and comes as close as they can to forgetting this whole mess ever transpired in the first place. I want Favre at his best, and -- call me a fool for believing it, but -- I honestly believe he can be the best. I want him proving that against the Colts on October 19th by facing Peyton Manning and making him look like a clueless child. BUT, if that does not happen -- if injury, hurt feelings, a trade, or any combination of the above are to occur -- let me remind you (and myself): Aaron Rodgers is a hell of a lot better than the plurality of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL today. He is twice the QB Rex Grossman will ever be, and Grossman was in the fucking Super Bowl two seasons ago.

I can't believe there's a quarterback controversy in Green Bay... that involves Brett Favre.

"Lifecasting"

2008-06-18T22:02:00.004-05:00

I realize I haven't written a word since Brett Favre announced his retirement. One or two of you might have recognized that, too. I was filled with all kinds of emotion about it, and I certainly had blog fodder, but I never did bring myself to respond here. Instead, I grabbed my support system and held tight as we went through all the coping stages together. I may circle back around to this at some point. ...Oh, who am I kidding? We all know I will. Stay tuned.

The newest time-sucker in my life was introduced thanks to some enterprising fellow geeks on a site called Justin.tv. I've been a Woot addict for years. I tune in every night at midnight Central time (no matter where I am, as long as I'm near an Internet connection) and check out what's on the block tonight. Every once in a while, I make a purchase. (My most recent one was two nights ago, when I picked up some new cases for my iPhone.)

But I'm certainly not alone. Dozens to hundreds of other geeks across the land are dialed in to Woot, all of us hitting F5 together at the zero hour. One fellow geek in particular -- we'll call him Mike (because that's his name) -- was enterprising enough to gather the resources and know-how to begin broadcasting live from his home every night fifteen minutes before the new products dropped (the time now known as "a quarter-to-Woot"). He used Justin.tv because that allowed him to connect with fellow Wooters via chat as he broadcast. The result? WootTV. Mike and his viewers gather together and make predictions about what the Woot will be. He has a pickle and drinks a Zija or a Guinness. If it's worth discussing, the latest product is talked about briefly as we decide whether and/or how many to buy. Then sometimes we hang out and play a game of trivia or exercise some other type of foolishness together. It's usually a blast.

So as I kept watching Mike do his thing, I kept thinking, Man, I could do that. And so now I do. Every night at three-quarters-to-a-quarter-to-Woot (a.k.a. $1-to-Woot... or 11pm Central), I broadcast from my place. DeeDee rolls her eyes, but tolerates it. I've worked through most of the growing pains. The only major one remaining (over which I really have no control) is my less-than-stellar DSL connection speed, but for now the solution is to simply 'cast at a lower bitrate. But you don't really give a shit about that, do you?

The point is, I'm 'casting nightly (or just about) now, and I'd love it if you'd stop on by and say howdy. We have fun, and the more the merrier. Come check me out! Don't worry: I'll post some details soon on how best to assimilate so that you don't look like a total n00b, tool, or dicknuckle.

The Best Hometown(s) I Know

2008-02-26T22:42:00.006-06:00

Speaking of childhood homes, Ang sent this to me the other day:

I used to love that "Hello Milwaukee" jingle from the mid-'80s -- reminds me of when I met John Malan at the boat show and he signed a Xeroxed picture of himself for me! -- until about a year after it came out, when I heard the same jingle with different lyrics; but instead of "...Hello Milwaukee! Channel 12 loves you!" it was "...Hello West Michigan! Channel 3 loves you!" (on WWMT -- "We're West Michigan Television!" -- out of Kalamazoo). And then I heard it again in both Atlanta and Chicago, which made me think, among other things, West Michigan? Really?

Apparently, the jingle may have had its origins in Canada.

Most recently, we heard it in San Diego on the Old Town Trolley Tour... which, incidentally, was narrated by the always current and relevant Rich Little.

The same woman appears to have sung all of the jingles. She must have made a fortune in residuals. She and Rich Little probably own an island in the Bahamas together.

Google Street View of My Childhood Home

2008-02-13T23:54:00.003-06:00

View Larger Map

That is just fucking cool. I love Google.

And no, I have no idea who that woman is.

UPSET

2008-02-03T21:10:00.000-06:00

Packers 20 - Giants 23 (OT)

That post title has a dual meaning tonight. It's Super Sunday -- not nearly as super as we'd hoped, unfortunately. That's meaning #1: Over the past two weeks, my disposition has been pretty much summed up with that five-letter word. I've been all over the lower end of the emotional map, actually. Hasn't been too fun. For me or anyone around me.

That all changed just a few minutes ago -- only slightly, mind you, but there has definitely been a palpable change. That's meaning #2: The Giants definitely upset us, but they did something much more important tonight. They just upset the until-now-undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. I kept saying that, if they are going to beat us, they'd damn well better beat New England. I also kept saying that the chances of that happening were absolutely naught. My prediction for the final score of this game was like 56-10 Pats. The Giants just won 17-14. And there were three lead changes in the 4th quarter, so it seemed even way lower-scoring than that. But the point is that the fact that it wasn't Brett and the boys there with a shot at knocking the Pats off their high, conceited horse now hurts just a little bit less.

Our game against the Giants was also a low-scoring affair. It was cold. I think the third-coldest championship game ever played. All signs pointed to Eli Manning not being able to brave the cold, and -- come on -- we're the Packers. The team that plays at a place they call the Frozen Tundra all the time.

But then again, the last time Brett played in cold like this was in the loss to the Bears at Soldier Field. And the Giants had won 9 road games in a row coming into Lambeau. Hm. Yeah, all of the damn stats were conflicting, confusing, and distracting. Perhaps that's what went wrong. Actually, several things went wrong on both sides of the ball, and for both teams. It's just that more went wrong for us than for them. And, actually, in a couple of cases, the shit that went wrong for us was thanks to horrible calls from an officiating crew that had no place working a Playoff game! If the Playoffs' crews are supposed to be the best in the league just like the teams playing in those games... then the only explanation for the presence of Terry McAulay and his boys is that they had something juicy on Roger Goodell. Inexcusable.

The most exhilarating play was a 90-yard TD pass to Double D, who got jammed at the line by Corey Webster but then caught the pass in stride and beat him big time (and high-stepped past the safety) early in the 2nd quarter. One would have hoped it would spark the offense into finally relaxing into some semblance of consistency, but, alas, it didn't work out that way. That play was the longest offensive play in Packers postseason history... but it was also 34% of their offensive output in the entire game. A week after Ryan Grant ran for 201, we only earned 63 more yards than that as a team. Grant ran only 13 times, and ten of those were for two yards or less. Sigh. We couldn't convert 3rd downs -- we were 1-for-10. It led to a choppy-feeling game with no chance to set the tempo.

A roller coaster moment came early in the 4th quarter, when Favre escaped the pass rush but then had his pass intercepted. "Dorsey" had a heads-up defensive play, though, when he knocked the ball out and it squirted right into Tausch's arms. Instead of getting the ball into the end zone for the lead, though, we ended up having to settle for the tying field goal. The defense was just okay. (The Giants' D was impressive.) This was unfortunately one of those games in which Al Harris just didn't play shut-down corner. It was reminiscent of his play in Dallas. Plaxico Burress had a monster game, which meant Eli Manning's numbers looked pretty great.

Even when a couple of things went right -- specifically, Lawrence Tynes missing not one but two field goals, our winning the toss for possession in overtime -- we weren't able to get it together and take over. Another big shoulda'-coulda'-woulda' play came in a 4th quarter punt return, when we knocked the ball out of McQuarters' grasp, but then neither Bush nor Poppinga, both of whom got their mitts on the ball, was able to hang onto it for us. The absolutely most excruciating moment was Brett Favre's last pass in the game -- and, ultimately, the season -- which was supposedly going to Driver but was picked off by Webster. It was only the second play of the extra quarter. Devastating.

But after a couple of weeks, it's a little more tolerable. And after watching the team that beat us go all the way to win the Super Bowl over a team that hadn't lost a game all season, it was even a little more therapeutic. Don't get me wrong, though. It should have been us.

Looking back over this past season, and especially comparing it with the record we managed just two seasons earlier, only two words come to me as a Packers fan: Thank you!

NFC Championship Sunday!

2008-01-20T09:24:00.000-06:00

First, some catch-up:

Packers 33 - Rams 14

I got to watch this one on a widescreen rear-projection TV, but with my in-laws muttering on and constantly razzing me in the background. You know when people know you enjoy something and they deliberately feign interest or condescend with the sole intention of getting a reaction from you? Yeah. Three hours of that. And the first half was enough of a question mark to make each comment cut twice as deep. Luckily, as we've done in several games this year, the Pack came back having made some good adjustments at the half and finished strong. We kept St. Louis scoreless in the 2nd half.

And it was one of Bigby's waxing games. As much as he pisses me off with his missed assignments or cocky attitude or sometimes just being a rookie, I can't throw much hate his way when he has a game like this. Two INTs and several decent tackles made this one of the good games. The interception late in the first half was a momentum-changer that kept the Packers up by three at the half. The other driving force in this game was the special teams play of Koren Robinson and Will Blackmon, who combined for over 100 return yards on just three returns. And if special teams is playing well (OBTW, Crosby was 4-4 kicking field goals), then if either the offense or the defense is playing well, you know the likely outcome. Well, let's leave aside for the moment that on offense we have Brett Favre (after all, even though he passed Marino in total passing yards, he threw two INTs). In this game, the defense stepped up and took over. After two games with no sacks, we got four against the Rams. Nick Barnett had two, and Kampman and Hawk both had one.

Packers 7 - Bears 35

The most remarkable thing about this game was where I was when I watched it -- at the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk at Walt Disney World in Orlando. 50+ high def flat screens, each with a tag underneath them indicating which game would be playing at 1pm. There were a dozen Favre jerseys within my line-of-sight... and two Bears fans.

So we got to commiserate. The weather in Orlando was in the 80s and sunny. Not so in Chi-town, where the winds were whipping and the temps were in the teens. Favre's passes were blowing all over the place. He was 2-of-7 in the first half, so we obviously needed to rely on the running game, which was okay on a couple of plays. The most important one came in the 2nd Quarter, when Dorsey Grant ran 66 yards for a TD. Unlike last week's game, though, the special teams play was HORRID. Jon Ryan ended a not-well-publicized streak of 12 years and 929 punts without a block in the 2nd Quarter... and then followed that up with another one in the 3rd. Not only that, but he dropped a snap and wound up with a 9-yard punt, too.

The most perplexing thing was our defense's lackluster play. The Bears had one offensive play in their playbook: Run up the middle. How could we not adjust and come up with a solution for that one? And how was it that, in the same weather, Orton only had 6 incomplete passes?

I left the Club when Urlacher picked off a deflected Favre pass and ran it back 85 yards to reach what would be the final score of 35-7. 11 minutes remained in the game at that time. They may have beaten us both times this season, but the Bears still suck.

Packers 34 - Lions 13

That's more like it. If the Bears are going to beat us twice, we're sure as hell going to have to own the Lions in both our games against them this season. We rested Double D, the Jennerator, Woody, Kampman, Lee, and Pickett. The last thing we want is injuries going into the Divisional Playoff game two weeks later. (Cut to me worried as both Will Blackmon and Dorsey Grant go out with injuries in this game.) Favre played (the consecutive start streak stays alive at 253), but only for three series... for three touchdowns. He was 9-of-11 for 99 yards and two TD passes, and OBTW a 21-yard run. Then dark horse Craig Nall came in to clean up for the rest of the game. He got to throw a TD pass for the first time in three seasons -- good for him.

The last time the Lions won a game in Wisconsin was in 1991, which means they've never beaten Favre here. Also, our final-game winning percentage is the best in the NFL since 1994 -- we're now 13-1. Right behind us with a record of 11-3 are the Washington Redskins... who beat the Cowboys on this day. Yes, that means if we had beaten the Bears last week we would own home field advantage over Dallas throughout the Playoffs... but I digress.

As we would discover just 14 days later, it wouldn't matter.

13 DAYS LATER...

Packers 42 - Seahawks 20

Holy crap, was this game amazing. It was magical. The snow falling from the sky was the angels spitting their approval down on Lambeau and the Packer Nation -- "cherubim spittle," it was dubbed, willing us to the NFC Championship game. (My video of this trip to follow.) The first four minutes were disquieting, but Brett didn't get desperate -- there was after all plenty of time left on the clock. And he and his young team were deliberate about moving down the field. Young Ryan Grant -- who earned the right to be called by his own name after his performance in this game -- more than made up for his errors in those opening minutes. He ran for 201 yards and scored three TDs, more (on both counts) than anyone in Packers postseason history. Our 42 points were the most ever for us, too. Same for our 25 first downs. It was meant to be.

Never in all of my games at Lambeau have I seen it, heard it, or felt it quite like that. The game a week before that last glorious Seahawks playoff game four years ago -- when we played the Broncos -- was close on the eerie-feel scale. That was the game in the trailing minutes of which the Cardinals had scored against the Vikings to pull within 5 and then gotten the on-side kick with under 2:00 left to play in Arizona. People in the stands were listening to that game on their radios, and you could tell who had a radio by these 'pockets' of activity throughout the stadium. When the Cards would get a first down, little concentric circles of excitement would erupt. We spent quite a bit of time near the end of the 4th quarter turning around behind us to see what the folks in the luxury boxes were seeing on TV. When Arizona got that TD that was ruled a forceout to pull them up by one point against Minnesota, the place went nuts. Then we heard it was being challenged, and it was eerily silent as we awaited word from the radio- and TV-clad fans among us. Once the TD was verified -- I think it was right at the 2:00 warning of our game -- the lid came off and everyone was celebrating the fact that we’d backed our way into the Playoffs and would be hosting another game the next week.

Best of all, check out the sky earlier that evening. We were being smiled upon in that game much like we were in the snow last Saturday. It happened to be 11 years to the day after the last NFC Championship game we’d hosted against Carolina before SB XXXI. The difference in last Saturday’s game vs. that Broncos game was that the feeling was there almost the whole time last week… I mean, minus the first four minutes. I don’t remember sitting down for more than two or three minutes the entire game. Amazing. Almost unbelievable. We said that many times during the game: "Unbelievable." But we do believe. Boy, do we believe.

So today, thanks to the Giants beating the Cowboys, we're mere hours away from hosting one more home playoff game at Lambeau. And it's time for the Packers' Prayer:

Our Favre, who art at Lambeau,
Hallowed be thine arm.
The Bowl will come.
It will be won,
In Phoenix as it was in New Orleans.
Give us this Sunday our weekly win.
And give us many touchdown passes,
But do not let others pass against us.
And lead us not into frustration,
But deliver us to the valley of the sun.
For thine is the MVP,
The best of the NFC, and the glory of the Cheeseheads,
For ever and ever.
AMEN!!!

Go Pack Go!

Breaking News

2008-01-13T19:09:00.000-06:00

I know I have some games to catch up on -- I will -- but this warrants an immediate stop-press.

Yesterday, we rocked it in the snow at Lambeau against the Seahawks.

That got us a place in the NFC Championship game for the first time in ten years.

Today, we were rooting for the Giants to beat the recently less-than-stellar Cowboys so that we could host one more game at the sure-to-be-Frozen Tundra (given that it would be the latest game ever played there) rather than having to travel back to Dallas.

Less than 30 minutes ago, all of the pieces fell into place:

We will be playing in front of our home crowd for the right to go back to the Super Bowl one week from right now.

So there are four teams left in the hunt: Packers, Giants, Patriots, Chargers. Should the highest-seeded teams win next Sunday, it'll be a Packers-Pats rematch in Arizona.

WE DO.