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December 2008 - Posts
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You know of them, you've followed them, you've discussed them so there's no explanation needed so here you go!
My Top Ten Wisconsin Sports Moments In 2008;
1. Bret Favre; retires, un-retires, is traded to the NY Jets
2. Milwaukee Brewers make the post-season for the first time in 25 years
3. The Packers are beaten by the NY Giants in the NFC Championship Game
4. The Brewers trade for CC Sabathia
5. Scott Skiles is hired as the new head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks
6. Tom Crean leaves Marquette for Indiana
7. Brewers manager, Ned Yost, is fired with 12 games remaining
8. Wisconsin Badgers dismal football season culminated by 44-13 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl
9. Ken Macha is hired as the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers
10. UW Whitewater makes it to their 4th straight Amos Alonzo Stag Bowl
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Here we go again? OR Not?
It sounds like Brett Favre is serious about retirement this time. After a dismal stretch that saw the New York Jets fall out of the post-season and their head coach, Eric Mangini, get fired it looks as if Brett’s hanging up his gunslinging holsters for good regardless of the MRI results on his ailing throwing arm.
"I don't think it was one thing," owner Woody Johnson stated about the Mangini firing at a news conference Monday. "We had to go in a different direction. There's nothing specific. It's just a call we made. Hopefully, it's correct." Johnson went on to say that the team’s going to concentrate on wooing Favre back for another year.
Favre, however, while he enjoyed Mangini as a head coach, doesn’t want to learn yet another system, Favre’s wife Deanna, reportedly, isn’t thrilled with living in the New York area, there were some teammates that Favre wasn’t enthralled with and, to be honest, he came back for the wrong reasons.
Favre returned to “stick it” to the Packers. His desire to play for the Minnesota Vikings was very real and when that didn’t come to fruition, his next slice of solace would have been to help the Jets make it into the post-season. After a single TD and 3 interception performance in a loss to divisional rival Miami on Sunday, Favre saw his perfect scenario and desire slip away on the Meadowlands carpet. His one shot at showing up, Packers GM, Ted Thompson had fallen by the wayside. To go through a complete off-season of OTA’s, mini-camps and a full training camp, simply for spite, seems to be too emotionally, mentally and physically consuming for the former 3-time MVP.
Favre was firmly in the “retirement camp” last off-season until Packers President; Mark Murphy offered the former Packers QB $25 million dollars to stay away. That offer ignited the fire in Favre to create a publicly uncomfortable situation for Murphy, Thompson and Packers Head Coach, Mike McCarthy. He certainly did just that.
Favre’s Green Bay heir apparent, Aaron Rodgers, had a very solid season. So much so that the numbers aren’t even comparable;
Rodgers = 4,038 yards passing, 28 TDs, 13 INTs and a 93.8 QB rating while rushing for 207 yards and 4 TD’s
Favre = 3,472 yards passing, 22 TDs, 22 INTs and a 81.0 quarterback rating while rushing for 42 yards and 1 TD
Favre did guide the Jets to a 9 win season after a mere 4 wins the year prior but the expectations were so much higher in New York that you can’t consider this anything but a failure for Favre and the Jets.
Favre down the stretch looked and acted old and just a shell of his former competitive self. If you couple all of this together, it spells the end of a terrific career in the NFL for a sure first-ballot Hall Of Famer. After speaking with sources, it looks as if Favre's ready to call it a career. The one caveat, expressed to me, was that Favre truly likes Woody Johnson, the Jets owner, and Johnson would be the only person capable of talking Favre into coming back for yet another season but that seems very far fetched. If the Jets feel that they can pressure Favre with cash or incentives, I've been told, their mistaken. Favre's appears to have made up his mind.
Favre will, again, announce his retirement; sooner this time rather than later.
Favre Links:
* Now For The Question, Will He Or Won't He?
* Brett's Magic Disappears
* Pennington The One In The Playoffs
* Jets Fire Mangini
* Pennington Wins Out
* Jets Should Dump Favre
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From: Bill of Hurley Wi
Question: Ray Rhodes took a Super Bowl runner-up to 8 and 8 and lost his job. McCarthy has taken an NFC Championship runerup to maybe 6 wins. Why isn't his job in jeopardy?? My opinion is that back then we had a GM with a brain and a team President with a spine.....
The above is a sample of the majority of emails that I have received over the last few weeks. My question is; do you really think about what you write before you write it or are you drinking heavily?
This argument is absolutely ignorant and here's why;
Ray Rhodes had one year. He was 8-8. Ron Wolf stated, time and again, that Rhodes wasn’t what he seemed to be. While he worked tirelessly, he wasn’t organized, he had lost the locker-room and, while a solid defensive coordinator, didn’t seem to be ready to be a head coach in the NFL; thus, the reason why Rhodes never got another head coaching job after he left Green Bay .
By the way Bill (note from above) the Packers were 11-5 the year prior, 2nd in the NFC Central, lost to the 49ers in the Wild Card Game. They were NOT a Super Bowl runner-up.
Mike McCarthy, when he took over, inherited a 4-12 team. He went 8-8 in his first season then 13-3 in his second season with a 1-1 record in the playoffs and an appearance in the NFC Championship game.
That’s why, in my opinion, Thompson and McCarthy will get another year to turn this around.
If you’re going to argue; argue apples to apples, not apples to oranges. You can’t just say because a car is red that it stinks. There are all different types of red cars; you have to take each one on its own merits.
Look at the talent, the circumstances, the effort, the injuries, the progress or lack thereof, the conditioning, the upcoming off-season moves. This is a NFL franchise, you can’t make emotional decisions. I understand frustration, heck I feel it too. You can’t allow your frustration to cloud your judgment. You have to think about what’s best for the organization, the players, the long term future…all of it.
The guy everyone wants to see, when coaching changes are discussed, is Bill Cowher. Have you really looked at Cowher’s record?
1992 – 11 wins – 5 losses
1993 – 9 wins – 7 losses
1994 – 12 wins – 4 losses
1995 - 11 wins – 5 losses
1996 – 10 wins – 6 losses
1997 – 11 wins – 5 losses
1998 – 7 wins – 9 losses
1999 – 6 wins – 10 losses
2000 – 9 wins 7 losses
2001 – 13 wins – 3 losses
2002 – 10 wins – 5 losses
2003 – 6 wins – 10 losses
2004 – 15 wins – 1 loss
2005 – 11 wins – 5 losses (Super Bowl Champions)
2006 – 8 wins – 8 losses
15 years, 11 winning season, 3 losing seasons and one season at 8-8.
He’s a hugely successful coach, there’s no doubt about that, but under the philosophy of a lot of Packers fans, you would have fired him after his 6th season.
I give you these numbers just as a sobering reminder that the NFL is an up and down league. Yet another reason why I believe Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy will get another year to try and correct the issues that have plagued this years version of the Green Bay Packers. I'm not saying that this is a right or wrong situation, I'm simply giving you the facts to make a resonable determination, not a knee-jerk angered reaction.
Think with your heads people!
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The epitome of the Packers season came to an ironic head last night. Special teams gaffs, inopportune penalties, defensive break downs and an offense that sputtered at times when they were needed the most; that’s the 2008 version of the Green Bay Packers. Did you really expect anything different last night? As the Packers lined up for a Mason Crosby 38 yard field goal you knew in your heart of hearts that something catastrophic was going to happen. The Curse of #4? I don’t think so but it’s certainly a starting point for the string of situational miscues that have afflicted Green Bay’s hopes of getting back to the NFC Championship Game.
The bottom line is this, the defensive front has been simply awful this year and special teams, coupled with injuries, have taken their toll on this franchise. Anger and emotions are spilling out of every fan to an almost vengeful crescendo. Packers GM Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy are sighted in the crosshairs by those who were hoping this outcome would arrive so they could wag their finger and say “I told ya so” after the soap opera we witnessed over the summer. While their angst is correct, it’s misguided.
Aaron Rodgers, in his first year as a starter mind you, handled the off field pressures and has performed very well. Not great, but very well. The issues have been the overestimation of interior talent on this roster. Defensively, thinking that an injury-prone player like Justin Harrell was going to anchor your line was ludicrous on Thompson’s part. KGB had clearly past his prime, Corey Williams was jettisoned for $$ and Colin Cole is inconsistent at best. Michael Montgomery and Jeremy Thompson are substandard back-ups at best and are now being relied upon to soak up meaningful snaps. The offensive line has 3 players starting in the middle who were all benched at one point last year for ineffectiveness. What made Thompson think that this team was going to simply get better through osmosis? The cliché, the old adage, the saying…whatever you want to call it, “football is won and lost in the trenches”. It’s a cliché because it’s true.
The offseason needs to consist of a solid draft and a couple of impact free agents that will bolster the line/pass rush. Thompson’s sitting on a small mountain of cash and it’s time to liquidate some of that venture capital. The OTA’s and mini-camps need to focus on regaining attitude and fundamentals along with learning the systems of a new defensive coordinator and special team’s coach (I’m hedging my bets on the coaching changes).
Fans need to realize that firing everyone isn’t the answer. Taking the talent you have, adding to it and cultivating what’s already in your backyard, while adding a few key pieces is the answer. This team isn’t as bad as their record would indicate. That said, they weren’t quite as good as their 13-3 mark of a year ago led us to believe either. This team is somewhere in between. You have to be good, you have to be lucky and you have to be healthy to get into the post-season in the NFL and, right now, the Packers are none of the above.
One more thing, make no mistake about it, Thompson and McCarthy have next year to prove that they’re for real or the villagers may burn down the palace.
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After the Jets were knocked off by the San Francisco 49ers, their second loss in a row, the New York media is starting to question Favre, his late season capability and his age. Here's some excerpts;
There have been moments, dotted across the autumn, when it seemed Brett Favre could defy time, not only in performance but outlook.
There were times - after Arizona, after New England, after Tennessee - when you would have sworn he was 29 again, an impish glimmer in his eye, a bulletproof shield around his body.
And there have been other days, like yesterday, days when you see him limp in the locker room and wonder if he's going to make it to the shower stall, much less the next practice back home in Jersey. It isn't just that he looks 59 in these moments; he simply looks beaten, and hurt, and exhausted.
Just nine days ago, he was a reborn prince, the deliverer of the Jets to heights unknown. Now he looked like a 39-year-old man badly in need of a Bud Light.
CLICK HERE to read the full story.
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