Favre Lambeau Beatdown Eve

Favre Lambeau Beatdown Eve

The Ghosts of Lambeau await the return of the star who betrayed them

So this game is now only 13 hours away! Wonder what is going through Favre’s mind right now? There’s no way he’s sleeping? What about Ted Thompson? He’s probably sitting in his basement bar having a scotch or something..taking some Zantac and maybe even some Xanax at this point. Ok maybe he made the right move by not taking Brent back, but tonight…he has to be just dumbfounded that he has to sit in the box S and watch this all play out.

I bet this is a waaaay bigger deal to Packer fans than the actual players in this game. Players all know this is a business and how many have actually sat though countless Sundays screaming at your TV as you watch your team win or lose? Or have rituals on how you watch your team on TV because you actually think your actions have an impact on a football game? And, for some real hardcore fans the outcome of Sunday’s game pre-determines how the week will go…angry and remoreful or happy/awesome.

So that makes me think, its just after midnight in Green Bay…its Halloween and daylight savings time grants an extra hour of drinking in the several dive bars around Lambeau…I wonder how many fights have already happened? Or how many crazy ass packer fans are plotting their actions for the game. From seeing it first hand at run of the mill Packer games,I can only imagine the level of drinking going on tonight. I mean overall, most Packer fans are pretty normal, and wouldn’t resort to physically harming the opposing fans. But jesus, its Halloween and Brett Favre is suiting up in a purple freaking helmet in like 13 hours!

Anyways, the Packers better be insanely pumped up for this game! The D needs to beat the shit out of Favre today since he made fools of them last time.

Here are things to watch during one of the strangest sporting matchups in recent history, even for non-Packer/Viking fans.

  1. Farve – If he’s wearing long sleeved shirt, they’re done.
  2. Packer Fans – Really this whole game is about redemption for Packer fans. I mean the guy we all loved for 16 years is now playing for the Vikings! And he dissed us pretty bad the first game. Is this for real? I mean imagine if Vince Lombardi left the Packers only to come back to Lambeau coaching the Bears? No way, never happen.
  3. TT (Ted Thompson) – Maybe he’ll show some sign of life today every time he’s shown and the announcers talk him up or totally trash him…how about blink twice for once or something?
  4. Ryan Grant – Besides the Packer D, this is the key to the game for the Packers.

Besides all the star players in this game…IE Kampman, Jennings, Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Favre, Rodgers, Jared Allen, etc….in games like these there’s always some no name or other not-so-famous player who comes up HUGE!

For the Packers it could be:

  1. B.J. Raji – They say his ankle has limited his burst but man..come on you’re a top 10 pick! He is a impact player waiting for a big setting to show off.
  2. James Jones – With J Finley and J Nelson out, he needs to step up. I said at the begining of the year that he was going to have a breakout year. Well, ya he was hurt, but time’s a wasting…He has all the physical tools to be an awesome receiver.
  3. TJ Lang – Can he hold up the redneck?
  4. AJ Hawk – showed some life last week, can this continue?

And for the Vikings:

  1. Paymar – He’s the corner stepping in for the injured Wingfield. For sure, Rodgers will test him early.
  2. Loadholt – The Vikings rookie right tackle could make a name for himself if he can hold off a pissed off Aaron Kampmen.
  3. Benard Berrian – Yes he is well known, but he’s been relatively quiet this season. Maybe he’ll burn Al Harris or find a seam against Bigby.

I’m still thinking that the Packers will prevail, they HAVE to! The football gods say so! Hopefully the Refs stay the hell out of this game. McCarthy better not have his head up his ass either. This is by far, the biggest MUST-win game in his career.

And, no matter if they win or lose, will Favre be crying afterwards? What are the odds on that? At least 50/50.

Published on October 31, 2009 10:53 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Favre, Lambeau Field, Predictions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Post Post Favre Hate Mail

This is a week old, but still had to post this from Bill Simmons article on Oct. 8th. He really is in tune to the feeling of most fans in WI. When he was inteviewed after the game it was like I was watching my worst enemy. Like all the memories of him winning a Super Bowl and bringing the Pack back to being a respectable franchise were irreversibly erased. Sort of like in that early 90s movie, Total Recall.

Q: I am 19 years old. I have been a fan of Favre and the Packers since the third grade. I grew up thinking Favre could do no wrong. As a mature 17-year-old, I cried the day he retired from the Packers. I was tolerant of the Jets experiment — even have the jersey to prove it. But what am I supposed to do now? Tonight I watched my childhood hero stomp all over the team and the fans he represented for 16 years. I found myself cursing him for the very same reasons I used to love him. The phony TD celebrations, the smug smiles, the way he hams it up with his new teammates and his new fans. I don’t know how to handle it. I started this e-mail thinking I had something to say about all of this, but I just feel lost. I don’t know what to think anymore … I’m just lost.
–Drew, Bloomington, Ind.

SG: And that’s the part of Monday’s game that got lost. Every Packers fan felt like how a dutiful wife would feel if she stuck with her husband through thick and thin, watched him become a success, then got dumped for a younger trophy wife who also happened to be her archnemesis. Favre failed in the same way Roger Clemens failed when he signed with the Blue Jays in 1997 — his problems with management affected his feelings toward his old franchise, and he did a piss-poor job of letting his old fan base know that he still cared about it. I have written about this before, but I turned on Clemens during his Toronto news conference when he simply refused to acknowledge Boston fans beyond a few generic words. It hurt. I took it personally and decided he was an opportunistic, disloyal, dishonest scumbag from that moment on. And as it turned out, he was.

In Favre’s case, his lack of empathy for Packers fans has been really alarming. I know he plays with his heart on his sleeve. I know he’s a “kid out there” and “having a ball out there” and all the crap. And maybe he’s not a brain surgeon, but he’s smart enough to understand what he meant to Packers fans and the state of Wisconsin, which means he had to understand how it went over after he (A) signed with an NFC North team two months ago; (B) dialed up the finger-pointing and fist-pumping during Monday’s Pack-Vikes game so egregiously that even his biggest fan fron Green Bay couldn’t defend him; and (C) gave that self-satisfied postgame interview in which he never said anything like, “I just wanted to say hi to everyone back in Wisconsin and tell them that this was as strange for me as it probably was for you, but I want you to know that it was just one game — a game that I wanted to win because I’m a competitor and I love my teammates, but still, none of this changes the fact that I love you guys and I always will.” That’s it. That’s all he had to say to Michele Tafoya after the game.

He didn’t say it.

And believe me, I’ve been there as a fan. It’s unforgivable. Especially when you’re under 30 and don’t realize that many of your “heroes” are people who don’t deserve that level of worship, or any worship, for that matter. They just play sports well. They don’t care about you. They care about themselves and that’s it. If this realization hits you at the wrong time in your life, it can be hard. (I know it was hard for me. I took the Clemens thing personally, as witnessed by the fact that I once wrote a column wondering if he was the Antichrist.) So if the Packers fans want to play along, so to speak, then they can’t cheer Favre on Nov. 1. He set the stakes. He made it clear that he’s moved on with his new team and cut all ties to the old one. That means you need to go to Lambeau and boo the living hell out of him. Make him miserable. Rattle him. Flummox him. Do everything you can to get the better of him for three hours. This man does not belong to you anymore, and maybe, he never did.

Published on October 15, 2009 7:40 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Favre Tags: , , , ,

Week 4 Wrapup and First Quarter Review

Week 4 Wrapup and First Quarter Review

With Minneapolis hosting a pretty solid weekend plus of sports – Twins playoff run, Vikings/Packers, Badgers/Gophers –  I thought I’d post this…Probably the best celebration speech of a stadium closing I’ve seen. Kent Hrbek = Boozer.

Since I’ve already blabbed about the Vikings/Packers game, I’ll quickly review the other NFC North matchup then take a look ahead to the next quarter of the season.

Bears 48 Lions 24

The Lions started this game well and it was close at the half. But the Bears were just too strong and eventually pulled away. The injury to Stafford also doesn’t help…and btw, this was the first time I watched him play a bit. He has potential and a good arm. The Bears are playing all around good offense right now, but their D looks weaker than usual. They have beaten last year’s champs (Steelers) but I’m not sure they can maintain this level of play the rest of the season.

First Quarter Review

So after four games the NFC North looks like this…

Vikings 4-0 – They have played a very deliberate game so far this season. And after their big win on Monday, now they seem to be firing on all cylinders. One thing I worry about is there pass coverage…if the Packers were able to get average pass protection it seemed that they had lots of wide open receivers.

Bears 3-1 – Cutler has played pretty good the past three games, this might be the first place team after the second quarter of the season is over.

Packers 2-2 – Not real consistent on defense or offense. Some big time mistakes at the worst times has cost this team at least one loss. They are the youngest team in the league again, how much longer does this last?

Lions 1-3 – Showing some promise with the  new coach and without dumb ass GM.

Looking Ahead

Here are the next games for the top three teams in the North.

Vikings – (@STL, BLT, @PITT, @GB) This is probably the toughest part of the Vikings schedule, if they can come out of this 3-1 or even 2-2 they should make the playoffs. But thats a hard three game stretch against some notoriously tough football teams. The Ravens and Steelers both can stop the run and bring pressure, this will be the real test for Favre this year. Throw in some inclement weather and the Vikings could really slip in this games.

Bears – (@ATL, @CIN, CLE, AZ) Here’s another stretch of games that will show what the Bears are made of…Will Cutler be exposed here? Probably in at least two of these games. If they are able to win two of these games they will be looking good.

Packers – (DET, @CLE, MN, @TB) For the Packers to make a run, they have to win all four of these games. Except for the Vikings game, they should win them all by a wide margin. But that game at Tampa scares me for some reason.

Projected Standings after Q2

Bears 5-3

Vikings 5-3

Packers 5-3

Lions 2-6

Published on October 7, 2009 10:25 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Game Summary, NFC North, Predictions, Videos, lions Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Week 3 Predictions

Packers @ Rams

With the abysmal play last week, you would think McCarthy would have his team fired up this week against the lowly Rams. This is not the same Rams team however, I give them two years and they’ll be a playoff team. I’ve always like Spagnaluo the former Giants D Coordinater. Guarantee he’ll have his team fired up, this is is first home game. But I’m going to have to say that if the Packers line can hold up (even if they have to max protect) and pull out a win. And if Raji plays, look for the D to hold the run with Jenkins and maybe AJ Hawk having a HUGE game.

Packers 26-17

Bears @ Seahawks

Seattle was looking good this year, until Hasselbeck got injured…again. Enough said, man I’m already bored with this game.

Bears 28-16

49ers @ Vikings

This is a hard game to gauge….I mean the niners are my darkhorse team, but I also have the Vikings doing good the first half of the season. If San Fran can hold AP and force the Vikings to pass I see this being a dogfight….since I don’t think Favre can really throw long yet. Although these are the games when Favre surprises folks. Like whenever everyone is questioning is abilities…Fuck it, this is a blow out…no matter how good Frank Gore is…

Vikings 28-10

Redskins @ Lions

This is one of those games where the team that wants to lose it worst, loses. Although I haven’t seen much of the skins this year, I just am not feeling them yet. Lions have some talent but are still real shakey.

Tie 16-16 (Ok I realize this doesnt happen often so I’ll just pick Skins 16-12)

Published on September 26, 2009 9:42 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Predictions Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week Two Picks

Week Two Picks

Will Barnett take off his nerd glasses this week and serve up Ochocinco?

Cincinnati @ Green Bay

This could be a real blowout right from the start, except, unlike most experts, I believe the Bengals are a decent team. They finally have Carson Palmer back and they’ve had an assload of high draft picks so you’d think they’d have some talent spread around.

There’s also the whole side story to this game, Ochocinco coming to Lambeau for the first time going up against is former teammate, Nick Barnett.  Not sure much will come of this, I think the biggest story will be A. Rodgers having a HUGE game, maybe 3 TDs, 300 yards.

So my pick for this week is something like 28-17 Packers. I see them having a slight edge throughout the game and then getting a late score by Driver in the 4th. Packers D again creates turnovers and pressure. I’ll be watching Raji most of this game…and Matthews.

Pittsburgh @ Chicago

This will be one of those hard hitting games between two tough teams. Both have to move on without their leaders on D, but I think they’ll be fine. Especially the well-coached and talent ridden Steelers. One factor that will limit scoring and hopefully doesn’t lead to serious injuries is the brand new turf…

Pittsburgh wins this like 16-13.

Minnesota @ Detroit

Favre returns to Ford field, a place he’s had some amazing games as well as some real head scratchers. (Remember that 1993 game, throwing a INT while laying on his back?)

Vikings again start slow and wear down the Lions late. Look for a little (Cul)pepper in this game.

Vikings 24-20.

Published on September 19, 2009 8:34 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Predictions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday Wrapup – Lovie Gets Pwn’d

Wednesday Wrapup - Lovie Gets Pwn'd

What? You did that to me?

Green Bay 21, Chicago 15

Video of Jennings TD

Last Sunday, the Packers proved something to me. Rodgers can win games and McCarthy will finally take some chances this year.That 3rd and 1 call at the end was well timed. The game was a little sloppy, but similar to the Thursday nighter (TEN@PITT) a few days prior, it was intense and featured lots of crushing hits.

Chicago probably wins this game if you take away Cutler’s 4 picks. But thats what they traded for…

The Packers probably win this game outright they connect on any of the four or so dropped long balls. Especially that one to Jordy Nelson.

But the best part was seeing Lovie Smith’s face after Rodgers connected with Jennings to take the lead. After all these years, the Packers finally gave him a taste of his own medicine. IE winning a game they shouldn’t have at the end

That was priceless.

Winners:

  • Rodgers – Good tablesetter for his 4th Quarter confidence.
  • Pickett/Jolly/Collins – Sign them now!
  • Hester – Legit receiver
  • Ogunlawye – Terrorizing first half

Losers:

  • Packer play calling – Urlacher is out, you have weapons in the middle…maybe try throwing over middle to Finley/Lee or James Jones!
  • Barbre – One more bad game and we may see Gionconni
  • Lovie – (See above)
  • Urlacher – Done

Vikings 34, Browns 20

Watched probably half of this game, but it went basically how the Vikings want to play this year. Heavy doses of their D fronting combined with an offense that methodically moves the ball down the field by running and little flare passes.

Then in the second half, their opponent begins to wear down; opening up Adrian Peterson to break out huge runs. If they can maintain this all season, they will be a formidable opponent and probably in the top 5 of the division. But if you factor in the Vikings history + Favre’s age and recent history + Childress + injuries I doubt that will happen.

Winners:

  • Adrian Peterson – Yes he’s faster version of Walter Payton
  • Josh Cribbs – Solid
  • Chilli/Zygi – For one game Vikings management’s moves look to be right.
  • Percy Harvin – Very promising

Losers:

  • Browns – maybe the worst team in football
  • Favre – its going to take a lot to get out of the loser category in the eyes of many…

New Orleans 45, Detroit 27

Didn’t see any of this game, just the highlights. But looks like the Lions have some life. Let’s see how they handle the Vikings in their house next week.

Winners:

  • Drew Brees – maybe best QB in NFC
  • Lions fans – first game w/o Matt Millen had to feel good

Losers:

  • Lions fans – team still sucks
  • Browns fans – teams still sucks
  • Dante Culpepper – remember he was almost MVP three years ago

Published on September 16, 2009 11:15 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Game Summary, Videos Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

NFC North Predictions

NFC North Predictions

Very likely this packer fan will be living the high life again this January

So here are my season predictions for the coming season in the NFC North.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

Until a couple weeks ago, they had everything goin for them. Flying below the radar, no significant injuries, lots of energy and talent on both sides of the ball. Now you can subtract the flying below the radar part after their lambasting of AZ. And I have a bad feeling the ankle injury to first round pick, BJ Raji might linger for a while.

But again, its all preseason…They have, in my opinion, the best QB in the division and probably the easiest schedule. So my thoughts still stand…as long as the don’t lose one of their key players for significant time..they’ll win this division by at least 2 games. (Key players include:  Kampman, Woodson, Jenkins,Pickett,Raji, Driver, Rodgers,Jennings,Grant). This team did go 13-3 just two seasons ago. Last year they were decimated by injuries on the D side and had to deal with the Favre drawa. Now this year they are very healthy coming in and I’m guessing have the Favre factor working in there favor.

Also, look for James Jones to have a breakout year.

Predication: 11-5

CHI (W)

CINCY (W)

@STL (W)

@MN (L)

DET (W)

@CLE (W)

MN (W)

@TB (L)

DAL (W)

SF (W)

@DET(L)

BAL (W)

@CHI (L)

@PIT (L)

SEA (W)

@AZ(W)

CHICAGO BEARS

This team had some of its hype stolen by GB lately but I think their weakness might end up being their D. And you know cutler will do something screwed up at some point. If they can stay almost 100% healthy and their new guys in the D backfield step up they could challenge the packers but I doubt it.

Prediction: 9-7

@GB (L)

PITT (L)

@SEA (L)

DET (W)

@ATL (W)

@CIN (L)

CLE (W)

AZ (W)

@SF (W)

PHI (W)

@MN (L)

STL (L)

GB (W)

@BLT (L)

MN (W)

@DET (W)

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

Will Favre regain some of that early 90's luster? Doubtful.

Again, I see them starting off pretty good, getting lots of hype and bandwagon latch ons. I mean, I picture lots of cars driving around with those viking flags on them…the ones that those who jumped on the bandwagon in 98 thought they threw away but then realized it was just underneath their timberwolf hat in storage.

There is no way Favre can stay healthy…he is going against every football god this year. I say he is retired/done by end of October. Then its Sage or Tavaras. And there’s also no way that brilliant tandem making up the Williams Wall can maintain injury free another year. Vikings D takes a step back this year..

Prediction: 7-9 (could be 8-8 or 9-7 but out of bias, I have to keep them under .500)

@CLE (W)

@DET (W)

SF (W)

GB (W) – This is where the Vikings bandwagon gets fully loaded. Team spirit awaits!

@STL (L)

BLT (W)

@PIT (L)

@GB (L) – If hes not already done, Favre visits Lambeau as a Viking. Never thought I’d ever write that sentence.

DET (L)

SEA (W)

CHI (W)

@AZ (L)

CIN (L)  – This is the game the MN media turn sour.

@CAR (L)

@CHI (L)

NYG (L)

DETROIT LIONS

Some people don’t even bother when it comes to this team. But for the first time in years,  I think Lions will be better than expected.  I haven’t heard one prognosticator pick the lions to be better than expected. They finally got rid of that D-Bag GM, have some talent, have picked up some new guys on D, and are just plain due. However, due to shear laziness, I won’t give the game by game results.

Prediction: 7-9

Published on September 12, 2009 10:00 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Favre, Game Summary, Predictions Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hornung Bashes Favre

love this..

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090715/PKR01/90715026/1058

Published on July 15, 2009 11:50 am.
Filed under: Favre, Old Packers Tags: , , ,

Have you seen this?

Online access to any 2008 game, man i’d love to watch over and over
the ATL, HOU, and CAR games…
http://www.nfl.com/gamerewind?campaign=Google_GameRewind

Published on December 18, 2008 5:59 pm.
Filed under: Videos Tags: , , ,