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PackFanRant.com
DISCLAIMER:
I am a Packer fan. I am not a journalist or a football player. My views may be strange, and my english may not be proper. I just want to rant about my favorite team. The greatest team ever to grace a football field: The Green Bay Packers.
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!!! NEXT WEEK: RE-LIVE THE TOP 10 PACKER MOMENTS OF 2002 !!!
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SUPPLEMENTAL
I will be honest. Since I have started watching the Packers whole-heartedly in 1989, I can only remember two times that I walked away from the TV in the middle of a Packer game simply because I felt like anything would be better than watching what was happening. The first time was the 2002 playoffs, when the Packers lost to the Rams, 45-17. I stopped watching with about 5 minutes to go. I couldn’t take it any more. The second time was yesterday. I stopped watching 4 minutes after the 3rd quarter began. I have never had a bad feeling like that before, but I just knew the Packers were not going to come back. I don’t know what it was. It was just painful to watch.
As much as it hurt, and as angry as I was, I have gotten better over the last 24 hours. I tried to put it all in perspective, and it has helped a bit. Maybe it will help you. So take a few deep breaths, sit back, and relax. Don’t close your eyes because you won’t be able to read. You get the idea.
Imagine it is early September 2002. I have come back in time to tell you how the Packers have done over the regular season:
Many bad things happened to the Packers this year. The following people were lost early to midway through the season and did not come back: Joe Johnson, Chad Clifton, Mark Tauscher, David Martin, Najeh Davenport and Buawoh Jue. The following people missed a few weeks due to injury: Mike Flanagan, Vonnie Holliday, Ahman Green, Cletidus Hunt, Gilbert Brown, Nail Diggs, Mike McKenzie, Javon Walker, Terry Glenn, and Darren Sharper. Favre got hurt and had to leave the game against the Redskins midway through the third quarter. Driver hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the Jets game. KGB had his first child, played a football game, and learned that his mother died all in the same day. The Packers used veterans and they used rookies but they could not average more than 3 yards a punt return.
The Packers’ record was 12-4.
Not bad, boys. Not bad at all. –packfan 12.30.02
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GREEN BAY PACKERS NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
It’s that time of year again, the end of the year. Time to look forward to next year, next season, and in the Packers’ case, the playoffs. Also time to make your New Year’s Resolutions. After watching the Packers get better every week, my list of suggestions for the Packers has grown smaller and smaller. Of course, I have a few ideas that the Packers might want to think about for 2003.
Figure out the quarterback situation early. No one, maybe not even Favre, knows what #4 is doing at the end of the season. Hopefully Favre will make his announcement early and stick to whatever decision he makes. If Favre wants to retire after the last game of the 2002-2003 season, so be it. As long as we know pretty soon. If July rolls around and Favre decides he wants to stay home and mow the lawn, the Packers are in trouble. But if Favre announces his retirement - or will to play another season - in February or March, I’m confident that Sherman can find an ample replacement if need be. I wouldn’t expect him to find an equal replacement, unless Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas have their DNA mixed and a 24 year old clone is made. I may be the only person that is thinking this, but whether or not Favre retires, I think the Packers should pick up Jake Plummer.
Get the whole linebacker problem taken care of right away. Nickerson might retire. He might not retire. Either way you’ve got a bit of a problem. The Packers need to find a linebackers coach quick now that Bo Pellini has split for the college ranks. Maybe Torrance Marshall is the answer, maybe he’s not. I have a feeling that there will be a LB drafted early this year, either to take care of the middle or the future of Nate Wayne’s current position. I think right now that Wayne is playing the best football I’ve seen him play, and I love the guy because he’s a Packer, but I just can’t see him starting after next year. Hey, I could be wrong on this one, I hope that I am.
Keep Cletidus Hunt out of trouble. Hunt could be a star. I’m so afraid he’s going to mess something up. Another substance abuse violation or injury or something. If you’ve ever seen him on TV, you don’t have to be a psychoanalyst to realize this guy’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Next year could be his breakout year…if he plays.
Re-sign Vonnie Holliday. I don’t care what everyone thought at the beginning of this year. Yes, Holliday had another year left on his contract. And yes, he held out – for 4 hours. Look, Green Bay promised him that they would restructure his contract going into this year. Things didn’t quite work out. Sherman had to clean up a bit from Wolf’s mess (don’t take this the wrong way – I’m talking about cap penalties and such due to overpaying players like Freeman.) They failed Holliday. But Vonnie took it like a man and came out to practice, and played out the season. I hope the Packers are the team that rewards him.
I’m interested to see what kind of response I get from these comments this week, especially about Holliday. Everyone was ready to give him the boot before preseason. I’m curious to see if many have kept that view or if they have changed their mind after this season’s (and last week’s) performance.
Good luck Green Bay, as you take on the Jets this week. As they say, you control your own destiny, so there’s nobody to blame but yourself if you lose your first round bye. I think you can take ‘em. Don’t forget the whole state of Wisconsin is watching and we believe in you. We know you can win on the road and you might have to. Congratulations on being the only team in the NFL this year to be undefeated at home!
-packfan 12.27.02
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SUPPLEMENTAL
Hey, Merry Christmas everybody! I got exactly what I wanted! A Packer win and a Buccaneer loss! Woo Hoo! It won't be long until playoff time. It's cooooold in January, Warren. You better just hope that the Pack loses this weekend or you'll be in for some frigid weather. Not that you can't win in cold weather. Cold weather just sucks, just ask Brett. I'm sure he was almost hoping you'd win so he could play in 60 degrees and sunny.
Everyone is making a big deal about homefield advantage. Why? Philadelphia and Green Bay are much colder in January than anywhere in the NFC South. Nothing you didn't already know. At least you can simulate warm weather. You can simulate loud crowds. But unless a team is willing to spend millions, or maybe billions of dollars, you can't simulate cold. Nobody likes it. Not even the Green Bay Packers or the Philadelphia Eagles. Maybe as a team, but not individually.
Cold has been an issue since the beginning of football. Even back in the Ice Bowl, Pete Rozelle made a statment that maybe the better team didn't win that day, because it was so cold. Well TOO BAD! You don't want outdoor conditions then play in the Arena Football League (and as the NFL's favorite coach, Bill Cowher, likes to say "Sure, I'd like seventy degrees and sunny all the time, too, but that's not football.") Then maybe the "better" team will win. You don't see the commissioner make a statement every time somebody wins in a dome, or in a rain storm, or at night, or when the sun is shining real bright. Maybe the "better" team can handle the conditions better and be able to get the job done despite the conditions it is in. It's not like Green Bay was playing inside the Metrodome when they won the 1967 championship. They were out in the same weather.
And guess what. It doesn't matter if the conditions are great or if they are poor. The only thing that matters in the NFL is winning. And the winner moves on in the playoffs. Everyone knows that going in. So don't give me this "better team didn't win" stuff. You play the game to see who is the better team. And if anyone wants to go toe-to-toe with me on the refs in the Viking game, feel free. I'll squash you like a bug. The better team won that one. I'm just waiting for someone to question me.
-packfan 12.26.02
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***RESPONSES***
Yo
If only Christmass wishes could come true. Right now I'll settle for the Jets not even getting to the runway. Then I would like to take out that Sappsucker myself, not to mension a certain number 37. Alright yes I might be getting a little out of hand,
But Hey, thats my christmass wish.
till next time
-always a packer fan 12.27.02
packfan talkback: You must be referring to Buffalo Bills Fullback #37 Larry Centers, who took out Darren Sharper at the knee. I'd like to believe that he wasn't trying to hurt our only defensive Pro Bowler, but I tend to doubt that when you DON'T EVEN REACH YOUR ARMS OUT AND YOUR TACKLE CONSISTS OF RAMMING YOUR HELMET INTO SOMEBODY'S KNEE!
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YO
What kind of rose colored glasses are you looking through, because I need a pair. Interesting the way Furgy did such a good job and Driver didn't do any better than Glenn does. Fisher did do a good job, Favre too, what a match up with san fran sould be a good game. Sapp, espn, the Nfl and the vikings can take a flying leap as far as I'm concerned. Nice page keep it up.
-Always a pack fan 12.12.02
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