The WSJ Needs to Stick to Business

Everyone else has had their take on the Brett Favre situation, so it's only fitting that Allen Barra of the Wall Street Journal had one as well. It was a steaming pile of poo, but it was a take nonetheless. It pisses me off when jokers like this have a massive platform. This guy clearly just tries to be controversial, he's not very good at formulating arguments, but because he's in the Wall Street Journal, millions of people are reading this and thinking "Hmm, he makes a good point."

I have to break this one down, because it's such a joke.

It would have been refreshing if at least one of the worshipful media folk at the press conference had replied, "Well, actually, Brett, you're here because after months of vacillating on your retirement and putting the Packers through hell -- and forcing them into using a valuable draft pick on an extra quarterback because they didn't know whether you'd be playing for them this season -- you tried to bully them into either making you the starter or trading you to a team of your choice. Like a prima donna, you put your own desires ahead of the welfare of the organization to which you professed loyalty. Now you've been dumped on one of the NFL's most desperate franchises because no one else wanted you."

1) Unless the Packers are full of crap about drafting BPA, they would have taken Brohm anyway. Nobody forced them to draft him. They could have signed a vet to be the backup.

2) After the Packers made it clear he wasn't going to start there, why should he have put the team ahead of his own interests? (If you believe Favre) The Packers told him "Playing here isn't an option." So what's he supposed to do? Stay retired just so the Packers aren't put in an uncomfortable situation? They were looking out for their own interests, he was looking out for his.

3) Saying "no one else wanted you" is incorrect, but why worry about facts.

It would be if Brett Favre were as good as Joe Montana. Mr. Montana won four Super Bowls and was arguably the greatest quarterback in football history; Mr. Favre has won just one Super Bowl and is probably the most overrated, or at the very least overhyped, quarterback in the modern NFL.

It's nice that he provides, ya know, some data to back his assertion that Favre is the most overrated/overhyped QB. (For the record, Mike Vick had a strangehold on that title before getting put in jail.) It's also nice of him to leave out the fact that Favre has never played with a Hall of Famer on offense, while Montana had one of the best supporting casts in history. And that Montana played pre-salary cap when it was easier to keep a great team together. Not to take anything away from Montana (because he clearly was amazing and I agree that he's arguably the best of all-time), but it's insane to say "OMG Favre only won one Super Bowl so he's overrated!" Look at what he was working with for most of the last decade. It wasn't Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Brent Jones, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman and a ridiculous OL....

Let's strip the Brett-to-the-Jets deal of the illusions the media has wrapped it in. What we have is a 4-12 team that has signed a 38-year-old quarterback who, though he made something of a comeback last season, hasn't otherwise finished in the top five of the league's passers since 2001. (In 2006 he was ranked 25th; in 2005, 31st.).

A 4-12 team who signed a slew of new players in addition to the 38 year old QB and added Gholston to the defense.

Even if he hasn't finished in the top 5 of league's passers lately, that's using the ridiculous QB rating stat. He's been runner up in the MVP voting twice in that span. Not that the MVP voting is the be-all-end-all either, but I'd use that as a gauge of performance before I'd use passer rating.

From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Favre has thrown 66 touchdown passes and 62 interceptions. If any other NFL quarterback had put up those numbers, his job would be on the line; instead, the New York Jets have chosen to delay the inevitable process of breaking in a new young quarterback -- and in fact have released Chad Pennington, who, according to Kerry Byrne of the Web site Cold Hard Football Facts, is "maybe the most underrated quarterback in the NFL."

So you've got one bad year when he got off to a good start before every player on the offense got hurt (They used like 7 starting RBs that year, including Rashard freaking Lee), one great year, and one mediocre year. But based on his career as a whole, it's pretty clear which of those seasons was a complete outlier.

And if Kerry Byrne said Chad Pennington is the most underrated QB in the NFL it MUST be true! Great support for the argument there. Never mind that in the last 3 years, Pennington has 29 TD passes and 28 picks. Worse numbers than Favre's, even with that one disaster of a season that isn't likely to be repeated. But Favre's job would be in question if he was any other QB and Pennington is the most underrated in the league. Makes sense.

And the delay in breaking in a young QB assumes that the QB of the Future is on the roster. The best bet for the "QB of the Future" on the Jets would be Kellen Clemens, guy with 5 TDs and 10 INTs in his career. Yeah it was stupid to go get Brett Favre. Clearly Clemens is a budding star waiting to take them to the promised land.

But there is also considerable evidence that he is nowhere near, as his admirers claim, the greatest passer ever to play the game or that he even ranks in the top 25. Mr. Favre's trademark has always been productivity over quality. He's been remarkably durable with the daring to throw the ball more than any other passer, but he hasn't always thrown it better. He has never, for instance, led the NFL in the league's passer-rating system, which measures effectiveness with various statistics. (In comparison, Joe Montana led the league twice; Mr. Montana's successor at San Francisco, Steve Young, was first six times, and Peyton Manning three times.)

Now he's not a Top-25 QB of all-time? What the hell? I'd love to see this joker's list. If you want to make the argument that he's not Top-5, I'll listen. I'll disagree, but I'll at least listen. But not Top-25? Even Sal Paolantonio thinks that's jacked up.

And here we go with using the passer rating argument again. The NFL's passer rating system is insane. And using Peyton Manning in support of your argument might not be the best idea (I'll get to that in a minute). But as long as we're considering it to be such an important stat, let's look at a few years:

In 1995, Favre was runner up to JIM FREAKING HARBAUGH! Favre's 38 Touchdowns, 13 INTs, 4400 yards, and 63% completion percentage lost out to Harbaugh's 17 Touchdowns, 5 INTs, 2500 yards and 63% completion percentage. Clearly Harbaugh was the more effective passer.

In 1996, Favre was runner up to Steve Young. Favre's 39 TDs and 13 INTs were pretty clearly inferior to Young throwing a whopping 14 Touchdowns and 6 INTs.

In 1997, Favre finished behind Young and Chris Chandler. 35 Touchdowns, 16 Picks and another MVP were no match for 19 TDs and 6 picks, or Chandler's 20 TDs, 7 picks and 2700 yards passing. Chandler was so good that he QB'ed his team to a 7-7 record that year.

Mr. Favre has probably been excused by fans for not winning a passer-rating title because its formula is so complex most fans don't understand it. However, in the single most important passing stat, yards per attempt (YPA), he has also never led the league and finished as high as second only once (in 1995 with a 7.7 average). Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger currently leads the league in active players at over 8.1 yards per throw.

There are a lot of things that I've defended Brett Favre for, but I've never seen someone rip him for never winning a passer-rating title. I'm sure he would have put that on his list of accomplishments right next to his Super Bowl title, 3 MVPs, and his ownership of every passing record in the books.

I don't deny that YPA is an important stat, but I think he's overrating it here. Ben Roethlisberger is pretty clearly the best quarterback in the league. Except that, uh oh, over three years (before last year when he was great) he had 52 TDs and 43 Interceptions, which means his job should have been on the line according to a few paragraphs ago. Last year, Favre finished behind Matt Schaub in that stat. Yup, it's a clear-cut indicator of how good a QB is.

Also, how arrogant is the first sentence in this paragraph? Pehaps our resident genius would like to come down off his high horse for a minute to explain the system to us mere mortals (without looking it up) and then tell us how it was derived and what we should be able to take from it. Why are we subtracting 30 points from the completion percentage before multiplying by .05? Why do we subtract 3 yards off YPA? Why not 5? Or 2.8? What the hell does it even mean? Surely Mr. Barra would have no trouble explaining this to us all.

Did I miss when a passer-rating title became important? Favre had 16 Touchdowns in the first five games of 1996, more than Young had the entire season. And a better TD/INT ratio to boot. But Young was pretty clearly more efficient. That system is stupid. And only stupid people make too much out of it.

It's true that Mr. Favre holds the all-time record for TD passes (442), but what isn't as well known is that he also holds the record for most interceptions (288). Perhaps the best way of understanding Mr. Favre's effectiveness is to compare him to baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan, who holds the all-time record for strikeouts but also for walks. Everyone concedes that Mr. Ryan was a legitimate Hall of Famer, but with a lifetime winning percentage of .526, no one argues that he was the best ever or even among his own contemporaries.

It's not well known that Favre has the interception record? Favre also holds the record for most wins and has a winning percentage far greater than .526. If Barra doesn't think Favre is better than some of his contemporaries, I'd love to hear the argument. I'm sure it's just as air-tight as the one he's making here. I'd love to see the names on his list of contemporaries that are better.

We've resorted to using different sports. Amazing.

Nor, it must be admitted, has Mr. Favre been a particularly good big game performer. His career postseason is a mediocre 12-10, including an embarrassing 23-20 loss to the underdog New York Giants in the NFC conference championship this past January. On his own home field Mr. Favre was outdueled by the previously unheralded Eli Manning. In fact, as a postseason passer Mr. Favre has never approached the record of the Packers' Bart Starr, who won five NFL championships from 1961 to 1967.

Well if 12-10 is medicore, I guess we have to consider Peyton Manning's 7-7 record downright piss-poor, especially considering he's played with multiple hall of famers on offense for almost his entire career (Faulk/James plus Harrison). He's 3-7 outside of that Super Bowl year, where he was just brilliant in throwing 3 touchdowns and 7 picks. So that's another guy off the list of contemporaries better than Favre.

No career record above .500 in the playoffs is mediocre. This isn't the regular season here. To be above .500 in any single given year, you have to make it to the conference championship game if you didn't have a bye (which requires winning on the road against one of the two best teams) or make it to the Super Bowl if you did have a bye. Think about that for a minute. That's a lofty standard to have a playoff record above .500 for a single year, let alone a career.

Yes, you read that right. This guy actually just wrote that an overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl Champions was "embarrassing". If the loss to the Giants was embarrassing, I guess Tom Brady has some mud on his face as well. And this joker better not even think of calling Romo a quality QB.

The Giants were better than everyone thought, and Favre wasn't really as bad as everyone said he was in that game. He wasn't great, but his numbers compared favorably to every other QB that played that day (even the great Tom Brady threw 3 picks in similar conditions). The difference was that the Giants and Pats had a running game and defenses that stepped up. The Packers had 28 yards on the ground and couldn't get off the field defensively. That's not going to work in January. And if Ruvell Martin catches a pass that's right in his hands for a sure TD or if Brandon Jackson doesn't run into his blocker when he had nothing but endzone in front of him, Favre's numbers look a lot better.

I'm sick of hearing about Starr's 5 titles when people are discussing Favre. Again, I don't want to take anything away from Starr, but for two of those titles he had to win ONE WHOLE PLAYOFF GAME. For two of those titles, he won two playoff games each year. Not to say he would've lost if they played more games, but you can't compare the championship-deciding format back then to what it is now. And again, you can't compare the supporting casts. Those Packers teams were hall-of-famer laden. Favre has never had a future Hall of Famer on offense.

Football historian T.J. Troup feels that Mr. Favre's place among the all-time greats is difficult to assess: "In the modern NFL, the rules favor passing over defense, so statistics alone can't tell the story. Put it this way: Favre has won three MVP awards, but except maybe in 1995, he has never really been the best and not as good as many passers from 'the dead ball era,' like Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr and Roger Staubach were in theirs."

Favre wasn't the best in 1996? Credibility? Fluuuuuuuushed. I'd love to hear who was better that year (or in 95, since that year only gets a "maybe"). Favre had 39 TDs and 13 INTs, despite losing his top receiver for the season in the 7th or 8th game and having his #2 target miss a couple games and then play with a cast on his arm the rest of the year. There were games where they started Don Beebe and Terry Mickens at WR. One-Armed Freeman/Rison/Beebe/Mickens isn't going to make anyone shudder. His left tackle was a journeyman who was plugged in mid-season. But no, he wasn't the best that year. Not even close.

I'm not going to deal with trying to compare him to some of the greats from the past, but for every advantage modern players have with the rules, I'm guessing we could come up with a lot of things that hinder the QBs. Faster defenses, more blitzing (I assume), etc.

It's also worth pointing out that Mr. Consistency here once defended Peyton Manning's playoff record (3-6 at the time) by writing the following:

Four times--in 1999 against the Tennessee Titans, 2003 against the New England Patriots, 2004 against the Patriots, and last year against the Pittsburgh Steelers--the Colts have lost in the playoffs to a team that went on to the Super Bowl. Two of those losses were by just three points. Did the Colts choke, or simply lose to better teams?

I guess it's worth pointing out, then, that half of Favre's 10 playoff losses (Dallas in 93, Dallas in 95, Denver in 97, St. Louis in 01, and the Giants in 07) have come against a team that ended up in the Super Bowl. 4 of the 10 losses have been to the eventual champion.

Fun With Flight Tracking!

Since Rumormongering is what the internets are for, and since flight tracking was so fun and so addicting during the Michigan coaching search, I guess it should be mentioned that there is currently a flight en route from Green Bay to Hattiesburg, Mississippi that should be landing in the next hour or so.

Things are gonna get really interesting, really quickly. My guess? On board is either Ted Thompson or a hitman.

Come on back, Brett! Optimism still reigns around these parts.


No matter what team he ultimately plays for, I'm excited about the prospect of getting to watch Brett Favre play football again. I'd (obviously) very much prefer that he play in Green Bay, but I'd rather see him in Tampa or (gasp) Minnesota than not playing at all. The Packers are fools if they let him go and if they don't start him.

Edit: The image that was previously posted was of the flight as it made its way into Green Bay. The flight to MS was delayed by an hour. Apparently the shipment of crack to be placed in Favre's suitcase was late in arriving. Either that or it was the storms.

The Green Bay Press Gazette has now confirmed that it is Packers Team President Mark Murphy on board. He's going to try to talk Favre into staying away from training camp. Heckuva plan, guys. Maybe if you're lucky, Favre will just hang out until Rodgers breaks something and then he'll take the high road and bail you dumb-asses out.

My Favre Tribute

The first time I heard that Brett Favre was playing for the Green Bay Packers, I cried. I was a huuuge Don Majkowski fan and all I knew was that he was out with a severe ankle injury. This was a few years before the internet took over my life, so I had no clue who the hell this Fav-ray guy was. Where was Tomczak? Where was Anthony Dilweg. Or Blair Kiel? For some reason, the legendary game against the Bengals was on the radio in Detroit. So I listened as Favre led the Packers to a come-from-behind win including a 92 yard drive in the last 1:07. I went nuts when he hit Taylor for that famous touchdown. And spent the rest of the day with a migraine. Funny what you remember...I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner last night, but I know I had a migraine sixteen years ago.

The next week, they played the 3-0 Steelers and Brett Favre made his first career start. I don't know why, but I taped NFL Primetime that night. Over the years, I can't even say how many times I watched the clip of that game. It's finally up on Youtube, and even though I hadn't seen that video in about a decade, I could recite almost every word Berman said, the first time I watched it. The best part is how he says that Majik's injury is of the 2-4 week variety and that they're not sure there's a QB controversy just yet.

Favre took the Packers to a 9-7 record that season, losing the division on the last day of the season and missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker with Washington.

The next year, my dad was on a business trip to San Antonio. He would always bring home gifts for my brother and me. Usually they were just little trinkets from the area or whatever. Cool stuff that kids love. This time, I opened my eyes and he was holding a Brett Favre jersey. I believe he just stumbled across it in the airport. That was one of the best surprises of my life. I'm wearing that jersey right now (luckily it was a size 42 so it still fits to this day...I'm short), and I couldn't help but tear up a little when I pulled it out of the closet today. I've had this jersey since I was 10 or 11 years old. For years, I wore it every single game day (and I'd wear it to school on Monday if they'd win). It's pretty ghetto, looking at it now. Screen printed, five stripes on the sleeves (not the three they currently have), and block letters spelling out the name on the back. But I still love it.

That year, the Packers played the Lions for the division championship the last week of the season. The winner would host the loser the next week in the playoffs. We went to the game and the Lions won. The next week, we were in Ann Arbor for my brother's forensics tournament. Driving back, we were listening on the radio as George Teague ran a pick back 101 yards for a score. We got home for the final moments of the game. I honestly don't remember if I saw the touchdown to Sharpe--part of me feels that game was blacked out in Detroit and that any memories I have of it came from seeing the clip so many times--but regardless, I knew something magical had just happened--even if it wasn't Majikal as I would've hoped, just a year and a half ago.

It's been a helluva ride. I remember Favre getting knocked out with a sprained ankle against the Vikings and coming back to throw 5 TD passes the next week. I was at Laser Quest in Madison Heights (the one on John R), wearing my Favre jersey, of course, when I found that one out.

There was the game against the Steelers where Yancey Thigpen dropped a sure touchdown pass that would've given the divison title to the Lions. Favre came back from a vicious Greg Lloyd hit that had him coughing up blood to throw a big touchdown pass in that one.

The 1996 season was just amazing. I didn't get to see a ton of Packers games early in Favre's tenure, but the schedule worked out just right that I caught something like 16 of their 19 games that year. And that was really about as good as football can be played. That team was nuts. Favre was on pace to break Marino's single season TD record until Brooks, Freeman and Chmura went down in consecutive weeks. Brooks--another favorite of mine (hence the 87 in my screen name...pretty obvious where the 4 comes from)--was lost with a severe knee injury against the 49ers. Don Beebe responded that night and the Packers pulled out a win in one of the best games I've ever seen.

I can't exactly say what my reaction was when Favre threw that touchdown pass to Rison on the second offensive play of Super Bowl XXXI, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the same lines as Favre's celebration. I'll never forget that night--or getting home from school as fast as I could to catch their parade on TV.

There have been plenty of other great moments, but none even close to what happened that night in Oakland after his father's death. We were out at The Arena watching that one and it was obvious from the start that that was a special night. Watching pass after pass miraculously fall into the arms of Javon Walker and Wesley Walls would have to make even the most atheistic person on the planet question their beliefs for just a moment. 300+ and 4 TDs in the first half alone.

He was seemingly Superman. Even though he started 253 straight games, that doesn't mean that he didn't have injuries. At least 2 or 3 times I thought for sure that he was done for the season (His leg injury against Washington a few years back, Dallas this year) but every Sunday, there he was. Coming out to play again, and most of the time doing it extremely well.

Living in Wisconsin for this season has been just amazing. No one saw this team coming and they rolled to a 14-4 record and damn near landed in the Super Bowl. It was a real treat to see all these major milestones fall, especially in the midst of a winning season. More than the wins or the stats, this season was validation that he was still a great quarterback in this league. And after all the crap people in the media said about him the two previous years, that alone made this season special for me. Right, Sal Paolantonio? Douche.

People can debate for years about who is the best QB of all time. In my opinion, it just depends on your criteria. If it's championships, then obviously you have to look at the Montanas, Bradys, Starrs and Bradshaws. If it's a combination of numbers and wins, then Favre and Elway have to be right there. If you view championships as more of a team thing, then Marino is in the mix. For changing the game--or if you're old--then maybe a guy like Graham or Unitas.

Is Favre the best ever? I don't know. He won a Super Bowl, should've won SB MVP (as much as I love Desmond, Favre was the MVP in that game), won 3 straight MVPs, played very well in another, and set every passing record in the books despite never playing with a player on offense that will go to the Hall of Fame. Another ring would have really solidified it in my mind (especially if it came this year) but the truth is that the Packers organization really let him down through the prime of his career. Once Holmgren's ego took him elsewhere, they had the Ray Rhodes debacle, and screwed things up more by making Mike Sherman GM once Wolf stepped down. Sherman was a pretty good coach but he had some terrible drafts and didn't make very good decisions about free agents. I can only wonder what would've happened had Holmgren stayed--or had Ted Thompson been able to take over the team a few years earlier.

Favre is absolutely in the conversation, and beyond that you could get a different answer from everyone you ask. I think he was the best, but I also acknowledge that I'm biased, and that there are a few guys you could make a damn strong case for. He's one of them.

He gets a bad rap for his interceptions. Some were idiotic, no doubt (the one in OT against the Giants was not one of them). But a good number were when the team was trailing and he was just trying to make a play. He didn't care about that stat. He wanted to win. He played recklessly at times, but in addition to causing some picks, it was what made him great (and so fun to watch). He was successful much more often than not. And despite being the interception king, his Int % isn't so different from Elway (maybe .12%) or Marino (.26% or so). Even Manning (who is thought of as one of the best at taking care of the ball) would only average maybe 2.5 fewer picks a season at his Int % and Favre's average number of passes.

For my money, I had more fun watching him than I've ever had watching another athlete. He was one of the most likable athletes on the planet and played with a joy that few others have shown. He won more games than any QB in history. He won a ring and took a pretty average group on offense to great heights. From 1995-1997 he won MVP each year and played the quarterback position about as well as it can be played, without a game-changer around him. And every time the Packers had the ball, I felt that something special could happen. In the later stages of his career I learned to savor every second, because you never know when an athlete of his caliber will come around again. Let alone one who you're lucky enough to have play on your team. I've downloaded every win from the past couple of seasons because I know that years from now, I'm going to want to have those tapes.

I'm absolutely crushed that he retired. I really thought that he would stay around for another year or two with the talent level of the current team. Maybe it's denial, but I wouldn't be overly shocked if July rolled around and he decided that he wanted to come back and play. Even though I think Rodgers will do a good job, I'd be absolutely thrilled if he did have a change of heart. I'm not ready for life without Favre in a Packers jersey, especially when he's still as good as he is.

I understand the reasons for him leaving. I just feel sorry for myself--and the other Packer fans out there--that we won't be able to enjoy watching him play any longer. Every game was a treat, even if he pissed us off sometimes. I knew this day was coming--truth be told, I thought for sure it was coming after the 2006 season (I shelled out a ton of money to be at the last home game that season). It doesn't make it any easier to accept that it's here, though. It's been 16 amazing years, and we're truly lucky to have had him for that long. But it still breaks my heart that it won't become 17.

The other reason that I'm bummed out is that this is just another sign that I'm getting older. I was ten years old when he started his first game. He's played every game from the time I was in fifth grade. I'm almost four years out of college now. I've grown up watching him, and I'm not ready for someone else to be under center. I'm still not used to seeing a "C" on Nick Lidstrom's jersey. Now I have to accept that Brett Favre is retired? Somehow it doesn't even seem fair.

The thing that really got me when watching some of the tributes on ESPN the last couple days was seeing a clip of Favre throwing Driver up over his shoulders and then carry him off the field. It's stuff like that that I'm really going to miss. The touchdown celebrations, yelling "PUT ER IN THE OLD VICE", tackling teammates in the endzone until Holmgren made him stop, the lamest Lambeau Leap of all-time. I really can't believe it's over.

If this truly is goodbye, thanks for everything, Brett. I'll still love the Packers, I'll still love football, but it's never going to be quite the same for me. And you better believe that five years from now I'm going to be in Canton, Ohio.

But I'm still holding out hope, even just a little bit, that he'll have a change of heart and I can put this off for another year. Not that it'll be any easier then.

The excellent blogs Behind the Jersey (it makes me happy when I read stuff like this from opposing fans), Cheesehead TV, and Green Bay, Booze, and Broads have all chimed in on this as well.

Brett Favre retired. Those words hurt even just to type.

Thoughts on Rich Rodriguez and the Sports World

1. There are others who are much more versed in the world of college football. I'm sure the usual suspects will be able to break things down a lot better than I. That said, I can't help but be absolutely thrilled with the outcome to this coaching search--thank you Mary Sue Coleman. Rich Rodriguez is one of the top coaches in the game. He's pioneered an offense that many of the top programs use. He's built West [freaking] Virgina into a kind of sort of national power. And now he's here, to take our offense out of the stone age. As offensive coordinator, he went 12-0. At Tulane. With Shaun King at QB. Read those last 3 sentences again. He made Shaun King the most prolific passer in college football history. It's hard to not get excited about this one. Especially when Terrelle Pryor might follow him to Ann Arbor.

2. I really feel for Les Miles. There have been rumblings that he was still interested in the job, and I believe it. Ironically, if West Virginia hadn't choked on applesauce against Pittsburgh, Miles would probably be our coach, with Rodriguez in the title game. People can say what they want, but anyone who loves this school enough to flirt with it, even with his damn strong football team in the national title game is someone that I will always root for. Beat those Buckeyes, Les.

3. The loss to Pitt will no doubt get brought up by Sparties trying to justify to themselves that this was a terrible hire or that he'll "fit right in". That game doesn't bug me so much. Les Miles lost to Arkansas at home with a chance at the title game hanging in the balance. Same with Tressel's team losing to Ron Zook and Illinois at home. Those two still ended up getting in. But Bob Stoops and the Sooners dropped a game to Texas Tech. Lloyd Carr and company lost to App State. St. Nick and the Crimson Tide lost to a team from Louisiana not named LSU. Urban Meyer lost at home to a ho-hum Auburn team that got beat by Mississippi State. Pete Carroll and USC lost to Stanford. Georgia lost at home to a 6 loss South Carolina team. Mack Brown's Longhorns got blown out at home by Kansas State. It was a weird year.

4. It takes a special play to get me to mention an NFL happening before talking about my Packers, but one happened today. Brian Westbrook, my hat is off to you. For those who didn't see it, the Eagles were up 10-6 on Dallas just before the two-minute warning at the end of the game. Westbrook ripped off a run for a first down and had clear sailing to the end zone. He stopped at the one yard line and took a knee, knowing that they'd be able to run out the clock with Dallas out of timeouts. It was the most heads-up play I've seen in a long, long time. Most players wouldn't have had the awareness to pull it off, and some would've been selfish enough that they would've scored the TD anyway. If there are two things that I'm strongly in favor of in football, they're a) not going for 2 before it's necessary and b) letting the other team score if tackling them means you lose. The latter is hardly ever practiced (or it's not practiced correctly, Mike Holmgren). While I don't think Dallas was trying to let Westbrook score, he was smart enough to pass up the sure TD anyway.

5. I can't wait to hear all the stories about people who lost their fantasy football playoff games because of Brian Westbrook's heads up play.

6. Congrats to the greatest quarterback in history on breaking another of Dan Marino's records, this one, the all-time passing yardage mark. That record came en route to leading the Packers to a 12-2 record, clinching a first round bye. They've got a real shot to come out of the NFC, and I think they can give any AFC opponent a game (and I'm not at all convinced that it's going to be New England).

7. It's amazing to me that after not having a return game since Allen Rossum left a few years ago, it appears the Packers have 4 guys that can get the job done. Koren Robinson gave them great field position all game today and is an ex-Pro Bowler at KR. Tramon Williams has also done well in that role, and took a punt back for a TD against Carolina. Will Blackmon has shown some sizzle on punts, including a punt return for a TD against Oakland last week. And Charles Woodson is solid as well.

8. I really do feel for Lions fans. That team is an absolute disaster, and the city deserves a lot better. It's a testament to the quality of football fans in the Motor City that they continue to show up for games after the crap that Matt Millen has put on the field for the last 6-7 years (not to mention the pre-Millen suckfests).

9. Amir Johnson: 15 minutes, six points, seven boards, three blocks. The other night he had 5 blocks in under 10 minutes. It still blows my mind that he wasn't active for the playoffs last year. No, you're not going to play him 30 minutes or anything, but his energy and ability to create exciting plays could have been the ticket to get the crowd back into a game or gain some momentum. I love Jason Maxiell as well.

10. Another great move by Joe D with the Nazr Muhammad trade. He gets two players he liked, sheds a ton of salary, creates cap flexibility in the future, acquires expiring contracts for if he feels so inclined to deal again, and lands a 7'1" player who was starting as well as a guy who was dropping 20+ a night at the end of last year when he got a chance to play. That's a good move in my book.

11. They said it's a first in team history, but I wonder if it's ever happened where an NHL team has had 2 penalties shots in a game, let alone a period. That was pretty cool for the Wings last night. That team is simply amazing. I still think they need another scorer for the playoffs, but they're playing amazing hockey right now. I'm pretty convinced that no one in the world is better at their job than Nick Lidstrom is at his.

12. I still believe in Beilein but this is hard to watch right now.

13. Congrats to the Michigan volleyball team. They were eliminated in the Sweet 16 by #1 Penn State, but that's the farthest the team has ever made it and the future is bright. Thanks to the outgoing seniors, Katie Bruzdzinski, Stesha Selsky, Sarah Draves, and Lyndsay Miller. Bruzdzinski was a pleasure to watch, and I think she could make a strong case for being the best player to come through our program. I also loved Miller's energy and how happy she seemed to be out there all the time. They're a fun group.

14. I'll get to the hockey point projection analysis hopefully sometime on Monday.

All That Needs to be Said Tonight.....

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