Congrats to Packers Great, Dave Robinson

Packer great, Dave Robinson, will be inducted into the football Hall of Fame, class of 2013, it was announced today.

Robinson was a natural, both athletic and dominant, playing for the Packers (1963-72), and Washington Redskins (1973-74).

Charles Woodson Makes the Rounds at St. Lukes in Milwaukee

Amid the NFL-labor negotiations, we are served an even clearer shot of what kind of guy Charles Woodson is.

We know the 14-year cornerback is among the best who played the game at his position.

And Woodson has leadership qualities that would make everyone from Gen. Patton to Martin Luther King Jr. proud.

Today, Charles Woodson is reportedly making the rounds at the Milwaukee Saint Lukes Medical Center.

Just being Woodson.

Making everyone around him feel good, stronger, in touch with the world.

Thanks Mr. Woodson. You're a good man.

On a side note Mike Spofford has a great piece on the Ten coldest games on the Packers' site. Cool site, you should check it out.

Packers Take Lombardi Home

Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson (21) can't quite make an interception in front of Pittsburgh wide receiver Mike Wallace (17) in the third quarter. But Woodson foiled what looked like a sure touchdown.

Woodson left the game with a shoulder injury suffered during the play and would not return [USA Today], later rallying his teammates at half-time.

New York Giants Sunday

Betrayed? Bewildered?

No, the Packers' corners were incinerated. And the Giants deserve the win.

Have not felt this bad, and awkwardly prescient, since the Bush reelection in 2004.

Life is good though. :)

Time for the words of Nixon’s greatest moment:

Richard M. Nixon's Farewell Speech to the White House Staff

... We think that when someone dear to us dies, we think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer a defeat that all is ended. We think, as T.R. said, that the light had left his life forever. Not true.

It is only a beginning, always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us, because the greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty…

- Richard Nixon, August 8, 1974

Go Giants.

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Green Sunday to Come

Assuming that both the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots advance to Super Bowl 42, one Super Bowl in history offers a parallel to this year's game

And it’s not the Green Bay–New England game from 1997, Super Bowl 31.It’s the LA Raiders-Washington Redskins game from 1984, Super Bowl 18—Black Sunday.

But the LA Raiders dominated the Washington Redskins from the beginning with arguably the best defense to have played the game, with due respect to the 1985 Bears. Final Score: Raiders 38, Redskins 9.The parallel between the two games is the play of the Pack's cornerbacks: Charles Woodson and Al Harris.

Like Raider corners, Mike Haynes and Lester Hayes, Woodson and Harris have the capability of shutting down receivers, freeing up fast Packer linebackers to wreak havoc with the Patriots' running game and pressuring Tom Brady.

Sure, the Raiders' menacing defense was more agressive and homicidally inclined with Matt Millen, Howie Long, and Lyle Alzado leading the way.

But no one can overstate, especially in today's pass-happy game, the capacity of two superior corners to shut down an offence.

Woodson and Harris playing their best on a good Packer defense, combined with the offensive power of the Pack led by Brett, also at the top of their game, may make this year's Super Bowl 42, Green Sunday.

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Lefties for the Pack

Update: Woodson's absence kills us; and that over-officious ref!

Anyway, blew my prediction, but look to the future with confidence.

Madison, Wisconsin
Prediction:

Pack - 34
C-boys - 24

Brett will dazzle even us in Wisconsin tonight [at least those of us who can watch the game; thank you Charter Communications].

But Packers nation, that of the real America's team, lives everywhere.

Among the rare entities in the multi-verse that can unite everybody here from the Wisconsin Assembly Republicans to Madison progressives is Brett Favre. Still the best.

Look for our defense tonight to at least consolidate its reputation as among the NFL's fastest and most-determined.

Miss you, Max.

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Beloved Packers Great Max McGee Dies

Just received an e-mail that Packers great Max McGee died.

Max was Max.

Max used to do the radio play-by-play with Jim Irvin (from 1979-98) and like a lot people in Wisconsin, friends, family and I would turn down the TV so we could listen to "Jim and Max (and later Larry)," even though the sound was not synchronized with the picture.

The knowledgeable Max's humor and mirth combined perfectly with the analytical and good-natured Irvin on the air.

At away games, Max often colorfully described his socializing the local establishments the nights before games, focusing on the people whom he had met and with whom he likely had a few.

Packers are off this week, and a lot of people here who never met Max (though he met many) feel like they lost a friend.
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