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

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Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football
Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football

Brett Favre will not get his number retired by the Packers next season.

That in and of itself is not the story.

The story is why.

The Packers and Favre fear a negative reception from the fans.

“That is an issue,” Murphy said, via ESPN Wisconsin’s Jason Wilde. “He doesn’t want it, and neither do we. He wouldn’t want to come back and get booed. You can’t control 80,750 people. I really think as time goes on, every year that passes, it’s less likely that he would get booed, but that is an issue.”

Exactly Ted. You cannot control over 80,000 fans. So why would waiting until 2015 or 2016 change anything?

What we’ve learned about Favre is that he moves the needle in Wisconsin and among Packers fans. And since 2008, allegiances have shifted. Many will cheer him when he comes back to see his number on the Lambeau Field facade.

However, many will boo. And I know that no matter how long Ted Thompson is willing to wait, those folks will boo because Favre decided to wear the hated purple of the Minnesota Vikings.

Just get it done already. He is getting his bronze bust in the summer of 2016 and the Packers have to retire No. 4 before then. Waiting on the correct time is admirable, but it’s not going to sway anyone at this point.

 

Packers News, Notes and Links

Non Packers links and other Nonsense

  • I never knew there was such a thing as a sex allergy.
  • If you’re ever in Kodiak, Alaska and in need of a haircut, you’re going to pay for it.
  • Harrison Ford turns 72 today. The man that played Han Solo and Indiana Jones attended Ripon College.

 

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Cory Jennerjohn is from Wisconsin and has been in sports media for over 10 years. To contact Cory e-mail him at jeobs -at- yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter: Cory Jennerjohn

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

  1. Packers can’t force Brett Favre to show up to a ceremony he’s too afraid to attend.

    I’m afraid “Get it done” simply doesn’t work in this situation. There’s only one guy who can “get it done”, and he’s the one guy who probably needs to be present to make it happen.

    Yet again, Brett Favre is the one holding up progress, and yet again, there’s people blaming the organization for things beyond their control.

    1. Maybe someone can give #4 a really good pair of earplugs for the ceremony, and then he can pretend 100% of the fans are cheering for him. There, problem solved. Someone cut me a check.

  2. I would like to see Leonhard sign with the pack in case the 2 kids new to the NFL safety position (Dix and Hyde) are not ready or if Burnett falls on his face again or there is injury. Leonhard isn’t the most athletic or is he a game changer, but, he is safety smart, seldom out of position, a sure tackler, he may not win games , but he will not lose a game. This is an upgrade from last year and if nothing else, he would provide leadership, experience, depth and could help Menteur the youngsters. Plus he’s from Wisconsin

    1. I think he’s an emergency contingency plan for the Packers if Hyde/Clinton-Dix prove their not ready and an injury occurs. Given the Packers history its unlikely they would sign him unless a couple of the players among Burnett, Hyde, HHCD and Richardson occurs.

      Signing old vets to be a #4 at best safety, doesn’t match the D and D philosophy. If they need an emergency starter due to injury/performance they might sign him, but not as a backup… They usually sign a young player to develop in a backup role.

  3. As far as the retire Favres number issue, I think there is an obvious and simple solution. Favre needs to make a public statement that says something like this;

    when Packers management were no longer interested in my services and wanted me to carry on with my decision to retire or just move on, I admit that I took it personally, I admit that I took offense and out of emotions, made some decisions that I probably should not have. But, I do want to make clear that at no time during this process did I have any issue with the great Green Bay Packers fan base nor had any intent of upsetting the fans. The fans of Green Bay mean the world to me and have supported me through my Packers career. I would like to apologize to the fans for any residual bad feelings that I have caused.

    I for one was upset with Favre and lost my support for him as soon as he put the Vikings uniform on. I since have thought of all the great moments and the good that Favre has brought to the Packers. We were a losing franchise ,basically, until the Favre era. I would like to see Favres number retired in front of the Lambeau crowd, but not until Favre makes up with the fans. I don’t care if he still holds a grudge against TT or whoever in management, but he drug down the fan base while he was pouting and he needs to reconcile this situation.

    If Favre isn’t man enough to do this, then I don’t care if his number is ever retired. If big Erv was still around when Favre was pulling his yearly retirement routine, he would have slapped Favre. He would not have let Favre sign with the Queens and he most certainly would make him apologize. With out the Packers fans , Favres legend is lost

    1. The question is whether Brett can make himself give that apology, and even if he can, how long it will take him to figure out that it is what he needs to say.

      Over the past 2 years, he’s made up with Aaron and the Packers organization. He’s even made statements about loving the fans. But can he figure out that he needs to tell the fans that he is sorry for what *he* did.

  4. I think the other side of the issue with the Favre ceremony is that Murphy knows whatever game is chosen for the ceremony will be a nationally televised game and he doesn’t want a national audience to hear the home town crowd booing their own greatest QB of all time. That would be embarrassing for the organization, for Favre, and not very representative of Packer fans’ loyalty to the team. Most non-Packer fans who would be watching the game have no idea or could care less about how Favre’s departure from GB went down, so they would be confused and surprised to hear the Lambeau crowd booing their greatest player. Especially since they have probably heard, over the years, how much the Packers are loved by their fans. Favre does not want to be embarrassed but neither does Murphy and the organization. However, I still believe in getting it done and moving on. Go Pack! Thanks, Since ’61

    1. I think it was a smart decision to wait. Except when he wore purple, I was never anti-Favre, but many, many people were. Every year, the number and ferocity of Favre haters have dwindled, so I DO believe that waiting until 2015-2016 will improve the chances that he won’t be (loudly) booed. Sure, there will be some people who will never forgive Favre– that’s their nature, to be unforgiving– but they will be in the minority. Those of us who LOVED watching Favre for 16 amazing years will drown them out with our cheers!

      1. I think the issue is that they need people in the stands to cheer.

        Even if only 5% of the fans there are booing, if nobody cheers the boos are all that the national tv audience will hear.

    2. Very perceptive. Both Favre and the Packers need this thing to go down exactly right.

      1. I hear all kinds of people suggest their “simple solution” for fixing the problem, but nobody seems to consider the simplest solution: Don’t retire his number.

        I’m perfectly OK with people who see it differently, but personally I think that retiring numbers is just kind of a dumb practice to begin with, whether we are talking about Favre or anybody else.

        1. Whether the retire his number or not, at some point he will go up on the Stadium wall and he will return as an alum.

          Putting his number up ought to be a public ceremony that involves him and no one else.

          What kind of franchise and fans do not do that with a HOF player who led the team to a super bowl win?

      2. Actually, NEITHER Favre NOR the Packers really need this thing to go down at all.

    3. There might be a way to mitigate this. It involves Bart Starr and Aaron Rogers.

      If his number is retired, and I said “if” purposely, do it with Bart and Aaron by his side…the SB XXXI winning QB flanked by the Super Bowl I/II and the Super Bowl XLV winning QBs. If there are any boos in this scenario, I think those would be widely scattered and barely audible. Who wants to be seen booing Bart Starr and Aaron Rogers?

      As Since ’61 points out, this event will receive national coverage and the Packers’ organization doesn’t want half of Lambeau booing Brett Favre.

      1. Slim – I like your suggestion of doing it with Starr and Rogers. Go Pack! Thanks, Since ’61

  5. I just feel that if he apologized to the fans that the booing would be minimal and drowned out by the applause. When the whole Farve release thing was going good on , most fans were against it. I for one wasn’t ready for Favre to leave. He brought us to one play away from the super bowl the year before and although I felt that Rodgers could be good, he was unproven and I thought he was injury prone.

    What upset the fans was when he did everything he could to play for our hated rivals and beat the Packers at all cost. Although I think Favre was babyish with his actions with the whole situation, I’m OK if he had animosity towards TT (and maybe some of the Packers brass) and wanted to prove Ted wrong by beating Teds team. I believe that this was the issue at hand. I don’t think Favre was trying to get back at the fans (at least I hope he wasn’t), just management. So if he would just apologize to the fans, I believe most would forgive him and there would be much less boing.

    If Favre can’t at least apologize to the fans that loved him and had his back ( and most of the fans didn’t want him to leave at the time, the fans didn’t make the decision, packer brass did) then I think less of Farve for not being man enough to speak to the people that always had supported, or at least respected ,him.

  6. He doesn’t have to apologize to TT, but he should try to fix the relationship he had with the Packers faithful and that would involve letting them know he appreciated them (and still does) and didn’t mean to drag them into a issue he had with TT. Favre deserves boos from the fans for his actions and needs to address it or he will get booed. The viking rivalry goes way back farther then Favre. What did he expect would happen when he went to the most hated team . He dug his grave , and if he doesn’t care about the fans enough to apologize, then let him lay in it. Don’t come back

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