Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived

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Surviving Sunday with no Packers football.
Surviving Sunday with no Packers Football

Instead of kicking off this edition of Surviving Sunday with the usual long, rambling dissertation on the Packers or football, I’ll start things off with an important life lesson for our younger readers.

I am 3o years old. I went out last night and could barely get out of bed this morning. Those four 16-oz. Surly Cynics I consumed must have went straight to my head and morphed into a giant hammer, which is now pounding away at my brain.

In four hours, I will be going out again. More Surly will be consumed. Probably some other stuff, too (don’t worry, the “other stuff” is perfectly legal). I’ll likely be going out on Sunday, also.

Thirty is way too old to go out drinking on multiple nights during the same week. I have no idea why I’m trying to pull off three days in a row. I might never recover. My family might have to put me in a nursing home on Monday.

Back in my college days, three straight days of drinking was considered a warm-up for the weekend. Now that I’m 30, it’s considered a death sentence.

If you’re still in college or far enough away from 30 to still enjoy going out and getting crazy, congratulations. Make sure you have fun while it lasts, because when it ends, it ends suddenly.

And the ending isn’t pretty.

On to some Packers news:

Finley, Jennings (M.D., not Greg), and Seat Licenses

  • Jermichael Finley spoke this week and, as usual, he was great. Packers fans tend to get up in arms whenever Finley opens his mouth and I can never figure out what the fuss is about. Finley has personality. I’ll take a player who’s open and honest over a player who has been programmed by the team to just regurgitate cliches and nonsense. As long as Aaron Rodgers is the QB and Mike McCarthy is the coach, I don’t think Packers fans need to worry about a player like Finley disrupting team chemistry or causing a rift with his words. The QB and coach know how to handle a guy like Finely.
  • The competition to replace Nick Collins heated up at OTAs this week, and it looks like M.D. Jennings has gotten off to a good start. It’s only OTAs (where every player looks like a superstar and is the hardest worker in the league), but it is encouraging to read about Jennings’ leadership role at Arkansas St. as the unofficial quarterback of the defense. Half the battle with young players is getting them to learn the plays and lined up correctly. If Jennings can at least master the technicalities of his position before the real action starts, he’ll be in good shape to possibly contribute this season.
  • Reading about the increase in personal seat license fees for Packers season tickets was a real downer. Look, I’m not a communist. The NFL isn’t a nonprofit and its teams have every right to rake in as much money as they possibly can. But don’t you wonder sometimes when all of this is going to end? How long can the NFL continue gouging its fans for every last penny before fans finally say the hell with it? I mean, you have to pay a giant fee just for the right to then pay for the actual ticket to the game! And people actually do it! What if the local grocery store said you had to pay $10 just for the right to walk in the door and buy their groceries? I suppose that’s the Sam’s Club business model, so maybe I’m getting all worked up over nothing.

In case you missed it

  • Donald Driver restructured his contract and appears to be on track to make the team this season. I’m fine with the Packers moving on from Driver, but Colleen over at Pocket Doppler does an excellent job of laying out why Driver should remain a Packer.
  • John Rehor at Eat More Cheese with a thought-provoking take on a new exhibit at the Packers Hall of Fame.
  • Brian Carriveau at CheeseheadTV has a post about Bryan Bulaga staying at right tackle.
  • Erik Walden had some time to think about his life while in jail over Thanksgiving weekend.
  • Kevin McCauley at Acme Packing Co. thinks we all need to calm down about M.D. Jennings.
  • With Driver on the inside track to make the team, Mike McCarthy says the Packers could keep six receivers.
  • Longtime Twin Cities radio personality Dark Star died on Friday. I can remember listening to the Darkman driving home with my dad after little league baseball games. He was a very entertaining and witty character and will be missed. RIP.

Non-Packers thought of the week

I reached my weight-loss goal a couple of weeks ago and so far I’ve managed to not gain any of it back. I finally weigh under 200 pounds for the first time since the Clinton administration. My new goal is to not gain it all back during the Obama administration, which means I need to keep the weight off for either seven months or five years.

 

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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .

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19 thoughts on “Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived

  1. “Now that I’m 30, it’s considered a death sentence.

    …because when it ends, it ends suddenly. And the ending isn’t pretty.”

    Adam, you’re new initials are “RB”.

  2. It’s early but I put the over/under for trades before the season starts at 3 and have a sneaky suspicion Charlie Peprah will be one of them. Capers likes his S’s to be interchangeable esp in this pass happy league and Peprah’s coverage skills are a liability. Nick Collins could cover for his limitations, Burnett can’t. W/ Woodson and Bush as fall backs I think the team will see enough from the “kids” that they go w/ Burnett, Jennings, MacMillian, and one of Levine, Richardson, or Pellerin.

    Adam, hopefully you’ll need to keep the weight off at least 5 years.

    1. If Peprah gets slashed, I don’t know that they keep one of Levine, Richardson, or Pellerin on the active 53.

      I think they’d look at Bush as the 4th guy, Bush is pivotal in GB’s roster decisions, as he’s not only their ST ace; but also a backup CB and S. Bush’s flexibility opens up roster spots, and the spots he opens up might be used for extra D-linemen or OT’s this year.

      Does Levine have any PS eligibility left?

      1. I believe Levine has PS eligibility left.

        I could see them going w/ Bush as the 4th S and 6th CB which would free up a spot for an extra DL or LB.
        W/ this scenario TT bettter stash 2-3 DB’s on PS.

  3. This whole ‘Mike McCarthy says the Packers could keep six receivers’ thing is all over the blogosphere, and seems to be wholly misinterpreted.

    Mike McCarthy addressed the possibility of having 6 WR’s making the roster, that much is true. (although he did NOT bring it up as is oft reported, he responded to a reporter’s question about possibly keeping 6 WR’s).

    He also said they would be “challenged” to do it. That means it’s probably not likely to happen.

    Here’s the snippet from Packers.com:

    ****

    Driver’s return immediately fueled the obvious question as to whether the Packers will keep five wide receivers on their roster, which they traditionally have, or expand that number to six.

    “Great question,” McCarthy said. “Our roster will be challenged as far as six receivers. That’s something you get into in training camp. I don’t think roster spots will be determined here over the next couple of weeks. Special teams will play a big part in which positions are heavier than others.”

    ****

    I absolutely hate how things get twisted (in this case, even by mainstream media like JSO), and then everyone starts reporting the skewed version instead of looking at the original source material.

    1. Oppy, MM also said in the same interview (paraphrasing) “w/ the O we run you could make the case for keeping 6 WR’s.”

      What makes it more likely is due to Quarless’s status they probably go w/ only 4 TE’s so that frees up a roster spot.

      1. You’re right:

        “The way we play, you could make a legitimate argument for six receivers”.

        Now I have to watch his presser again and see how he fits it in with his other comments.

      2. Here’s the link to the presser; question/comment about WR’s is at approximately 1:24.

        http://www.packers.com/media-center/videos/McCarthy-Packers-are-a-more-athletic-team/522ce039-7439-49e6-b246-3c509848fb2d

        He makes a comment about the decision to keep extra bodies at a given position usually comes down to ST… This could either be taken as it probably WON’T be a WR since TE’s and LB’s body types are more suitable for varied ST play, or it could be a tip off that they’re intrigued by Gurley, who “blocks punts like no one i’ve ever seen before” according to Vic Ketchman.

        Or it could just be the much-dreaded “coach-speak” 😉

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    2. Just like the “Nick Perry doesn’t want to play 3-4 OLB” stuff. Of course, he NEVER said that, just that his current experience was at the 4-3DE position, so of course, he would be more comfortable starting out in that scenario.

      1. Yup, same situation.

        It’s stuff like this that also resulted in me getting slapped in the face by Ann Marie Joleski at the ’87-88 underclassman dance.

        I never said that about your sister. It was taken COMPLETELY out of context.

  4. I’m 52 and drink 10-15 jameson/cokes when I go out, and your right, its ugly…….now back to football, I feel that the pass rush and corner play will be better this year over last year. The potential week link will be at safety. If someone can step up and at least play average safety, the D will be much improved. Because the key rookies and second year guys will take few games to solidify on D, I predict the Pack finishing 11-5 in the reg season and will follow that up by playing in the SB.

      1. While I don’t know where Dan’s from, I’m guessing you (Adam) might not be a native Wisconsinite. Perhaps it’s just that I worked in the bar and nightclub biz for a good spell, but it’s not uncommon for WI drinkers to belly up to the bar and knock back around ten cocktails with friends. THat’s not counting the shots, either.

        There’s a reason bartenders all over the nation will often correctly ask “You’re from WI, aren’t you?” 😉

        1. Oh I CAN drink that much and often DO when I’m out and about, but in my younger days, I would be fine the next day and ready to do it all over again. Now it takes me two days to recover and stop hating myself 🙂

          I am not from Wisconsin, but my wife and her family is. I’ve seen Wisconsin drinkers in action several times and they are all much better at it than me.

  5. I think come folks are concerned about Finley’s comments not because they might disrupt the locker room but because they are being interpreted to mean that he’s blaming lack of chemistry for his less-than-stellar performance last year.

  6. Hydration, folks. Have a beer, drink a glass of water. Glass of wine, glass of water. Cocktail? Glass of water. Shot? Water. Get the idea? Works for me, anyway. As long as I remain hydrated I avoid ill effects the next morning even if I overindulge a bit.

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