Category Archives: Packers

>An Open Letter to Brett Favre: Purple? Say it’s not so!

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>Dear Brett:

I’ve posted about you in the past. On your retirement, on your un-retirement, on the rumors that you traded information with the Detroit Lions, and more. I’m one of many who have watched you grow from young cocky kid to mature team leader.

Now what the H- E- Double Hockey Sticks happened??!!
The young gunslinger attitude, the Three Amigos image with your buddies, the Huck Finn boy next door brand; all were attractive and exciting when you were young. They’re not so cute when you’re turning 40.
Brett, we fans know that there were hard feelings when you tried to come back and your old team had moved on without you. We fans recognized that despite your talent, Coach McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers were already putting the new game plan into play.
Your life has been very public, and your successes usually outweighed your failures. Both fans and foes knew then what we know now: you’re human. Very human. And with human comes the hard word: you’re flawed. For an amazingly talented person, those flaws are hard to face.
What’s to gain by attempting a comeback across the border in Viking territory? Seriously, what’s your goal? Thumb your nose across the St. Croix and the Mississippi? Buy one of the Viking hats with the horns and braids for Deanna? Honestly, she looks a lot nicer in the pink Packers cap. Play in a dome for a change? Hey, we Packer fans think domes are for wimps. You don’t want us to think of you that way, do you?
Wait a minute. Brett, did you think about the fans? I remember you told Greta Van Susteren that you weren’t worried about your reputation. Is that really true? If you insist on this perceived vendetta against your former organization, your reputation will suffer more than you ever imagined. If you run onto Lambeau Field in a purple and white jersey, it won’t be your playing skill they remember. It’ll be the way you turned your back on not only the pros in the offices, but the teammates in the locker room and the fans in the stands.
The fans who made sure Lambeau Field remained sold out with a waiting list longer than the list of ticketholders. The fans who supported you through your treatment for drug addiction. The fans who bought the pink hats (see above) to support breast cancer research – because your wife announced her diagnosis in public.
The fans – Brett, what about the fans? Are you so self-centered that you’ll forget all the people who filled the seats at Larry McCarren’s Locker Room Show on Favre Night? Are you so self-absorbed that you’ll forget all the families who bought jerseys with #4 on them, knowing they’d be timeless?
Peter Pan was cute onscreen as the boy who wouldn’t grow up. It’s not so cute in an adult, no matter how talented. Brett, think this through. Seriously. Think about it.

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>Packer Pride helps the hungry

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>Green Bay Packer fans are proud people. We spend our Sundays (and some Monday nights) wearing green and gold, sporting hats that resemble wedges of cheese, and simply cheering on our team. Win or lose, playoffs or no playoffs, we still identify ourselves with the guys doing the Lambeau Leap.
Green Bay Packer fans take pride in other contests, too. Campbell’s Soup’s Click for Cans is going on right now. Here’s how it works.
Click on “Vote Now” and then choose the contest that includes the desired team. Click on the appropriate helmet (yellow, with a big G), enter the code to prove you’re not a robot, and voila! You’ve voted.
Fans can vote once a day.
The highest scoring teams will receive donations of soup for local food pantries. I drive past the Salvation Army headquarters on my way to work, and the lines and crowds there have grown noticably. Our local food pantry is getting fewer donations even as the requests for assistance increase. My own school’s Adopt-a-Family program is serving fewer families while we’d rather be serving more.
I hope you’ll help the Packers once again win the Click for Cans. But most of all, bloggy friends and acquaintances, I hope you’ll take the time to make a difference. Soup can be a meal for a hungry family. Help those cans get where they’re needed.
For more details on the contest procedure, look here.

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>Life is NFL football; the rest is just details.

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>The Detroit Lions’ coach talked about three ways to face adversity. At 0-15, soon to be a record-setting 0-16 if my Packers have anything to say about it, he ought to know.
The coach suggested that most people react in one of these ways:
1. Remain oblivious
2. Crumble
3. Embrace it

This philosophy applies to public school teaching as well.

1. I worked with a principal who remained oblivious to adversity. When faced with challenges, she would spout her buzzwords of “differentiate” and “test scores” without ever answering the questions we raised. She thought she understood, but she was clueless. Simply clueless.
2. It’s easy to crumble as my workload grows and the pay doesn’t, while public support continues to fade. I may react initially with a feeling of failure and hopelessness, but eventually…
3. I work with a group of teachers and paraprofessionals who embrace challenges. The pressure wears on us daily, but we hold each other up and look for ways to meet the challenges.

With a week off between Christmas and the New Year (my equivalent of a Bye week), I can rest and get myself psyched for going back to school. I brought home a little work, but not a lot. I decided to be realistic and not overload my schoolbag. I’ll feel more productive if I complete the small stacks of paper in the bag rather than just make a dent in a larger pile.

Minor injuries? In teaching, that’s more likely to be illness. I had my flu shot, and so did Amigo. It’s the season for keeping hand sanitizer on my desk and encouraging kiddos to wash their hands frequently. And if this preventive maintenance doesn’t work, there’s always the red substitute folder beside my desk.

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>Preparedness: but for what?

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>Over supper we talked about expanding garden again. If we do, we could take in another 10 feet by 8 feet. What would we (I) plant there?
I’m talking about adding asparagus to the garden, but the area may not be wet enough. I’ll look into it. Peas will do better if I place them better. Beans, well, if I get the right seeds, we’ll be in luck. I picked up herb seeds already; hope they last through the winter! I have a new planter that will hang on the deck so the fresh herbs are easily accessible for cooking.
Then there’s my desire for a rain barrel and a second compost bin…

But why? That’s the question. There’s an election coming up in two days, a Packer game today, and Major Test Season starts in school on Tuesday, too. I don’t need to deal with the garden until spring. Well….

The outcome of the election will have a huge impact on our economy. Before the new president even takes office, I predict wild fluctuations on Wall Street and major losses in retirement accounts. No, it’s not what I want, but what I want doesn’t matter. Reality is what matters.

If the economy goes (ever farther) in the dunk tank, my job will become harder and my salary will lag. We in the public sector sometimes enjoy job security; not this time. Our salaries, our workloads, and our benefits are all up for negotiation in times like these. Producing a little more of our own food, improving our diet, and saving a few bucks are all important.
The county has already cut garbage pickup to small businesses. Small companies who used to get garbage and recycling picked up by the local govt. now have to contract privately for this service. When will our residential pickup be cut back? Compost cuts back significantly on the amount of garbage we put on the curb. If service gets cut to biweekly or if we need to pay extra for it, the additional compost bin might pay for itself, not to mention provide me with material for many blog posts.

Our local water treatment plant has expensive repairs due, all out of warranty. This will cost big $$$ that will be reflected in our quarterly water bills and our annual property taxes. a rain barrel (or two!) will cut back on our use of water for the garden and lawn, and contribute to keeping that bill down.

Facing reality isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Planning ahead to make the garden a significant factor in our lives, not just a fun hobby, could be a very good move.

Oh, yes. I mentioned the Packer game today. There’s always a Packer connection. I’m not making my own cheese, but I do grow Packer Beans. 🙂 Aaron Rodgers, get out there and earn that new contract extension!!

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>Brett, Brett, Brett. What now?

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An Open Letter to a Talented Quarterback, a Confused and Conflicted Soul

Dear Brett:

When you announced your retirement, you must have wondered how you’d fill the hole left empty without the NFL, without the Green Bay Packers. You ended up back on the field in a different shade of green, no gold. Tough interviews in public, statements that hurt from both sides. The trade happened, and the saga was over.

Or was it?

Turning your back on your former organization and burning a few bridges caused pain on both sides. But intentionally assisting the opposition? Sleeping with, er, text-messaging the enemy? I hope the rumors are just that — rumors. I sincerely hope the unprofessional phone calls and lengthy tutorials didn’t happen, that they were blown out of proportion or, better yet, are completely untrue.

Brett, you are a valuable person, win or lose, playing or not. If your old team wins, it’s still to your credit. Remember, Aaron Rodgers learned from the best.

Please, Brett, get help, and get it now. Before you tarnish that reputation beyond repair.

Sincerely, Daisy
A concerned and caring fan

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>Doing the Research on the Region

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>In my part of the Midwest, it’s considered acceptable to wear green and gold to work if it’s a Packer game day.
In my neighborhood, people dress in their team colors from head to toe, whether the team is winning or losing.
We cheer for hot dogs and bratwurst running around the warning track of a baseball field, and grab for a camera if they wander through our line of sight before a game.
The saying, “If you don’t like Wisconsin weather, wait a day” reminds visitors that we Northerners take pride in our abilities to tough it out in almost any amount of snow and cold. Teachers teach metaphor through the use of the term Frozen Tundra to describe Lambeau Field.
But does this really tell who we are, what we’re like, the personality of our distinctive locale? Maybe it would it be more effective to tell you about making a homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella cheese from the farmers’ market, walking out to the garden on a beautiful fall day to pick a green onion and green pepper for toppings, and then serving it as we watch the noon kickoff.
Either way, Sunday afternoon football is an important part of our lives. So is weather. Gardening, farming, and buying the local products and produce are important, too.
When I talked with author Nicholas Sparks, I asked about setting for his novels. As he responded I felt like I could see and feel the images of the places he described. I asked him about the research involved in successfully placing a novel in a particular setting, and he told me that in general he doesn’t have to do much research because “…in every novel that I’ve written I have been to the town that I’ve described. And of course as a novelist I feel free to take certain liberties when I need to because I’m a novelist and I can do such things.” I call it literary license or creative freedom, Nicholas, so I’m with you there.
He reminded his listeners and readers that “it’s just part of…living in the south and writing about the south. And it’s the way people tell stories, it’s just the way it is down here. It’s a very different world in some places. I live in a small town that I swear hasn’t changed much in 30 years. I mean it is, people walk places, it’s very hot and muggy, you’ve got the Spanish moss hanging from trees, kids running around barefoot. It’s very much like it, it’s like a place stuck in time. And whenever you’re in rural areas of the south it is, of the south, it’s often like that. It’s just, yeah it’s moved up, it’s got the, we’ve got cell phones and the whole bit but the core of the place has not changed. And it is a unique and wonderful place….”
A unique and wonderful place. I feel the same way about my lovely town and neighborhood. It’s changed with the times, it has the old homes, the big trees, and kids on bikes and skateboards side by side with the teens on mopeds; the foam wedge headgear we call cheeseheads side by side with the baseball caps sporting farm advertising; the #4 jerseys in green or gold or pink…let’s not mention the new hue, but I digress. Packer football is as much a part of this unique and wonderful home as the weather.
Absolutely. Real life or novel, this setting has its own character, its own part to play in the story of our lives.

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>Football Season already?

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>You might live in Green Bay Packers country if your local sporting goods store has an entire section marked “Cheese.”


I bought the coaster. It looks so good with my Vince Lombardi mug!

Is that Super Bowl I or the Ice Bowl? I’ll let you decide.

In my part of the country, football season and Back to School go together. Click over to MidCentury Modern Moms for Back to School Week. Don’t look for adorable kindergarteners there; we’re dealing with teens, college kids, IEPs, ACTs, SATs, GPAs, and more!

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>Brett, Brett, Brett.

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An Open Letter to My Favorite Quarterback of all Time

Dear Brett:

Retirement is tough for anyone. For you, one who has given his life, his body, his physical and his mental health to his career, it’s nearly impossible. You’ve done the impossible before, and you can do it again.
Remember when you drove your car around a curve too quickly, bordering on (dare we say it) reckless? You found out that speed limits really respect the laws of nature. Your injuries nearly killed you, but you recovered. You not only played college football again, you played well. Very well.
Your time with the Atlanta Falcons, the team that drafted you into the NFL, wasn’t exactly stellar. In fact, black hole might be a better description. But Ron Wolf took a look at your talent and made a trade that changed history for you and for all of Wisconsin, the state that calls the Green Bay Packers their own.
Substance abuse. Addiction. Rehab.
Playoff success. Super Bowl ring. MVP honors.
Changes in coaching. Changes in personnel, receivers, centers, offensive line, back-ups.
Personal losses. Deaths of close friends and family.
Personal trauma. Your wife’s cancer.
Through it all, fatherhood. Raising two daughters in the shadow of Lambeau Field, with a famous father, and attempting to keep their lives “normal.”

Brett, football has been the center of your life all of your life. High school revolved around football. College revolved around football. After that? Seventeen years of records breaking, numbers falling like dominoes. When you announced your retirement, you must have wondered how you’d fill the hole left empty without the NFL, without the Green Bay Packers. Where will you go each day with no team meetings? No workouts? No training camp? How will you fill your time, your thoughts, focus your energy?

Who are you now?

Brett, you’ve suffered in public so many times. Now you’re suffering again, but this time it’s different. We Packer fans are watching you panic. We’re watching you fall apart, grasping for a cloud that is rapidly evaporating, fading out of reach.

Brett, it’s not about you any more, and that’s central to the panic. Your team, the fearless green and gold, is moving on without you, and you just don’t know what to do.

Please, Brett, get help. Get professional counseling. You have value, with or without a football in your powerful hands. As I mentioned above, you’ve already done the impossible; you can do it again. But you don’t have to do it alone. Retirement is tough for anyone, and much, much tougher on you. Get some help, and get it now. You can retire, and you can retire with class.
Sincerely,
Daisy
A concerned and caring fan

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>Random pictures and the answer to yesterday’s trivia

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Goal –> to keep my mind off staff meeting this afternoon, which could have been worse, but also left a kind of bad taste in my mouth

Goal –> to avoid repeating what others have already said about Favre, and add my own perspective

I wore my Favre Celebrity Softball Game t-shirt to school today. I posted yesterday’s newspaper with its headlines and photos outside my classroom door along with two rather trivial Favre posters. The posters attracted a lot, and I mean a lot or attention from students. One was the Milk Moustache ad from right after Super Bowl XXXI. He looked like such a kid! No gray, no grin wrinkles, all clean-shaven, big grin. The other poster was an ad for Wisconsin’s champion cheeses. Favre is sitting surrounded by big wheels of various cheeses and flashing that big “I can’t believe they pay me to do this” grin. The students kept asking if the autograph on the poster was authentic. No, it isn’t. It was mass-produced along with the advertisement.

Both posters were discussion-starters, though. It was fun talking with kids who have been alive less time than Brett has been playing football. Oh, my goodness, that sounds scary! But it’s true. There is a whole generation of fans — no, two generations of fans! — who remember only one quarterback on the Packers.

So just for fun, here are a few you won’t see on ESPN.

–warming up before a game on a sunny day

— staying warm during a game on a very snowy day

–and the answers to yesterday’s question. If the picture is too small to read, the numbers retired by the Green Bay Packers are 3, Tony Canadeo; 14, Don Hutson; 15, Bart Starr; 66, Ray Nitschke. Not pictured here: 92, Reggie White. Soon to be added: 4, Brett Favre.

photo credits all go to Husband, who had the opportunity to photograph some memorable moments while working weekends 🙂

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>Forgive me while I ramble on a green and gold theme

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>Yes, the news came out today. It’s official.
We knew he couldn’t play 4-ever, but we hoped. We cheered “One more year!” one more time, and hoped he heard us. Fans all over wore the green and gold and sported their #4 jerseys. They’ll wear those forever. It’ll be a classic jersey, since there’s not a chance in the NFL that another Green Bay Packer will ever wear number four again. It’ll be up there with 15 and 66 and only a few more. For ten trivial points — can you name the two players I just identified by number? For bonus points, can you name the other GB Packer players whose numbers have been retired?
My husband emailed me this morning as it unfolded. Apparently one of the big networks broke the news, but it hadn’t been independently confirmed yet. Minutes later, after a phone call to the team’s PR department, his station also aired the story.
I announced it to my class shortly after receiving the email. Many of my little darlings are also fans, and they were shocked and surprised. Consider that they’ve never known Green Bay with another quarterback; Ironman Favre was always, always, there.
He livened up the game with his gunslinger attitude and his dramatic play. He made mistakes, but he more than made up for them. For a southern guy, he sure played well in the cold. I’ll never forget the time he blocked on a running play and got called for a personal foul: unnecessary roughness. A quarterback? Only Favre.
He faced major personal tragedies while in the public eye, and handled them with class. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his childhood home. His wife developed breast cancer. His father died the night before a major game on national television. He battled addiction to a prescription painkiller. He faced fair-weather fans who said he was washed up, too old to play well.
Through it all he continued to inspire fans and foes alike. Anyone who couldn’t laugh when he instigated a snowball fight on the sidelines had to be a bah-humbug or a Seahawks fan. But when he came running out of the tunnel, the crowd roared.
I have many memories, including watching him lead the team to victory in Super Bowl XXXI, being in the same (large) room with him when he appeared on Larry McCarren’s Locker Room show, and rejoicing in his many records established and re-established.
What can I say? Good luck, Brett Favre, the Packers won’t be the same without you. And neither will Wisconsin. Thanks for everything — and mostly, thanks for the memories.

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