Oh, what a glorious time to be a Packer fan! We are in 1st place in the division and control our destiny for a 1st round bye. We’ve got a home game against da Bears on Thanksgiving night – on national TV, with Bart Starr, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre in the house. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prxh7fS_8MI Congrats to Brett on the retirement of his number 4 … rare recognition as it should be, but well deserved (even though he REALLY pissed me off when he came out of retirement to allegedly play for the Jets en route to playing for the loathsome Vikings … and allegedly emailed a photo of his privates to Jenn Sterger along that route. But, it’s true, time heals all wounds … Coach needs to lighten up and realize that you can take the boy out of Mississippi, but you can’t take Mississippi out of the boy). Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme The Vikings game – What a win. What a confidence builder. Special Teams continue to improve and Jeff Janis’ 70 yard kickoff return makes Coach think we are due for a return TD very soon. The punting and coverage teams were good and Crosby obviously shook off the horrendous kick at the end of the Detroit game going 5 for 5 on FG’s and 1 for 1 on extra points. Defense --- when the Packers crowd the line of scrimmage pre-snap, when the Packers play aggressively good things happen. Adrian Peterson was held to 3 yards total on his 7 first down carries. Putting Bridgewater into 2nd and 3rd and long went a long way toward winning the game. Offense --- When Eddie Lacy plays well, the Packers offense is good… The highlights from Sunday include Eddie Lacy had his first 100+ yard game of the year, and when JC Tretter came in for an injured Corey Linsley, the offensive line never missed a beat. The lowlights include watching Bakhtiari getting beaten like a drum and AR clearly struggling. There were several drops, but A-Rod missed wide-open players and both over threw and under threw a wide open Jeff Janis on his two targets. Coach thinks that AR’s shoulder is a bigger problem than they are letting on and that he is not completely over the yips… ….but a steady dose of pounding the rock will fix that. WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like OK, so the link at the top of this week's column was the famous "That 70's Show" clip about what it's like growing up in Wisconsin 40 years ago as a Packer fan with hot chicks hanging out in your basement and a stoner that your parents welcomed into your home and he's banging your older sister. That's pretty straightforward. But what’s the deal with Happy Days? Remember Richie and Joanie Cunningham’s older brother in the 1st season, Chuck? What ever happened to him? They like wrote him off the script or something with no explanation. Did he move away or die? Sometimes I can’t sleep at night wondering, WTF? I finally broke down and did a little investigating. It turns out that “Chuck” (Gavan O'Herlihy) left for college (and never returned?) and later in real life moved to England and is famously known there as the actor playing Captain Leroy (as in Butler) in "Sharpe's Eagle" (as in Sterling) during which he said his most famous line that's remembered by fans: "Boys, let's load up and do some shootin" (as in Wisconsin deer hunting). No wonder I was so interested in what happened to him. Well, now I know. Should sleep through the night. BTW, Happy Days was set in Milwaukee 60 years ago and the characters were all Packers fans. Aaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy - that's pretty cool. There are no cool shows about Bears fans. Just sayin. And now for something completely different, the Badgers got bent over by the replay booth judge Saturday on their home field. Do four steps followed by a knee to the ground in the end zone with full control of the ball before falling out of bounds not constitute completion of the process? The rule is designed to apply to quick hitting TD pass plays where the receiver is trying to get one foot (college) or two feet (pro) down before falling out of bounds. There is some ambiguity in the rule that leaves room for common sense. For example, if a Northwestern WR catches the ball on the left side of the end zone, runs 30 steps across the end zone holding the ball up to the student section as if to say ‘FU,’ is struck by a snowball on the 31st step, and is shoved by a Badgers DB on the 32nd step, falls to his knee then out of bounds on the right side of the end zone while bobbling the ball as he goes out of bounds, is the TD disallowed by application of the rule? By any stretch of common sense, 4 steps or 32 steps is a TD, regardless of what happens after that or what Matt Millen says. Enter head coach Paul Chryst, who sided with the officials and expressed understanding of the difficulty in interpreting the rule in his Monday press conference (WTF?). Forget moving on to the next game at MN. This season is toast. After handing over the Iowa game twice in the red zone late, losing this game lays to waste anything accomplished this season despite the lack of offensive talent. Winning at MN doesn’t prove anything other than you beat all the bad teams on your schedule, but couldn’t beat two ranked opponents on your home field. Only Joel Stave’s mother will appreciate anything that was accomplished this season. If I’m a player and I see those Monday comments by the coach, I’m beginning to question Mr. Milktoast and whether he has a pair. The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Yep, there's more... Much ado is being made on local media outlets about the upcoming Packers v. Bears game this Thanksgiving night. Let’s get real, Ladies – the Bears don’t stand a chance … they will face an emotionally-charged juggernaut with Favre in the house for the ceremony to retire his jersey (remember what happened when the Packers played at the Broncos on Pat Bowlen night, even though Pat can’t?). Shoot, Favre could probably slip on that dark green shirt with white #4 one last time and throw for 4 touchdowns against this year’s version of the Midgets of the Midway. Thursday night, during halftime at Lambeau, I will take solace recalling the only other number retirement ceremony that I’ve ever watched… It was on another holiday (Halloween), at halftime of a Packers @ Bears game, coincidentally enough. On October 31, 1994, the Chicago weather was so bad that day it was like God him/herself intended to ruin it for the Bears. Poor Dick Butkus (phonetically, that’s hilarious) and Gayle Sayers. NFL greats that – against their will, were acquired by the Bears. It was a Monday Night Football game, and it was a very cold 42 degrees, very windy, and it rained sideways from start to finish. A rain poncho or any other rain gear was of little help. What made the game bearable (no pun intended) for Packers fans (including God) was that the Packers had their way with the suck-filled Bears that night, beating them 33-6. Favre was his usual awesome self, and it was neat to see both teams in throw-back uni’s. Retiring #4 at halftime on Thanksgiving night and also beating the Bears will be another sweet way to let Bears fans know that we have the superior football team (and city), their team truly sucks, they are our bitch, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Amen. Oh, and another timely topic that proves the Bears still suck… With our victory over the Vikings we have confirmation that Mike Ditka’s Packers sweater curse was lifted (he whored himself out for a few McBucks), along with his pants! http://www.break.com/video/ugc/mike-ditka-does-interview-in-his-underwear-1621716 (you gotta watch this until the “end”) Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground Saturday, the Badgers left a hot steaming turd on the 50 yard line. The decimated OL never looked worse than it did this week. Corey Clement was the leading rusher with 20 yards. Stave ran for his life and was sacked for -58 yards. Overall, the Badgers showed little heart and did not inspire much pride from the Badger faithful. The snowballs were not called for but they did reflect what everyone was thinking. The D kept us in it, but the NW offense was not expected to be much trouble. With a smelly -5 turnover ratio and an overwhelmingly rank -26 yards rushing, the Badgers deserved to be blown out. But, the equally aromatic Northwestern team let Bucky hang around. If not for the stench of absolutely pathetic officiating, the Badgers would have actually won. We can now think about which "Who Cares?" Bowl we will be invited to. Personally, I hope for another Central Florida trip; Badgers fans travel well down there and really help the local bar trade. Maybe the lowly Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl is in our future, hopefully against Arkansas. Is there a Poo-Pourri Toilet Bowl? There should be. Bucky would be great for that bowl this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFI_-kJ95vc Hey wait! We have one more game against Minnie for Paul Bunyan's Axe! The Badgers head up to the site of Sunday's Packer romp; Bucky will be “pushing for a road win” and hopefully won’t stink up the place. This one could go either way although we darn well better win. Let's see if Mr. Inspirational (Coach Chryst) can get the team ready. He has the excitability and insightfulness of a toll booth operator who huffed a bowl full before punching in. This could be the Goofs best chance for a rare win in years. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game The Staleys game – What can Coach say? The Bears suck, but their re-tread Coach is for real. The Bears are actually playing pretty well under new coach John Fox. They are not a very talented team, but they are playing disciplined in all 3 phases. For us, in the words of the late, great Al Davis: “Just win baby”.
Classy. Thursday, November 26th, 2015 will mark the 192nd meeting of the Green Bay Packers and the Decatur, Illinois Staleys (who are now the Chicago Bears). Factually, after playing each other for 94 years, the Staleys lead the series by 1 game, 92-93-6. The cumulative score is 3,277 to 3,266. These two teams have played each other more times than any other pair of teams in the league and the scoring difference is only a mere 11 points … Amazing! Therefore, Coach really wants to win by 12 or more points to tie the series and go ahead on total points…but, win or lose, there is on one fact that drives Bears fans crazy. They suck, and they know that they suck … the Bears are second to the Packers in the only statistic that really means anything, the number of Championships won -- and there's been clear separation in that regard especially across the last 50 years. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them
This week we celebrate one of the all-time great Packer quarterbacks. A guy that brought the chance of consistently winning back to Green Bay after the lengthy demise following the Glory Years. Of course I am talking about Don Majkowski. The “Majik Man” revived the Packers’ possibilities of winning games in the late 80’s. He paired up frequently with Sterling Sharpe for touchdowns – often winning games late, which earned the Packers the media’s nickname “Cardiac Pack” because of their exciting finishes. He played well, somewhat consistently, until he got hurt and subsequently lost his job in 1992 to a young talent from Southern Mississippi who did ok for the next couple of decades. Probably the most famous play of Majkowski’s career is “the re-play” highlighted at the 5-minute mark of this awesome 7-minute piece that describes the history of the Packers / Bears rivalry. After further review, the Bears still suck. Check it out – it’s really worth it… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXKXWaexNE I saw the Don lead a 29-16 Packers upset of the Raiders in 1990 at the Los Angeles Mausoleum. He had complete confidence throughout the game and the Packers dominated the favored Raiders on that 87-degree mid-November Sunday. During the game I thought the Raiders fans were going to kill us, so I cheered cautiously (turns out Raiders fans actually maimed a Steelers fan to near death the following week). Before the game we were told by LA’s finest that we couldn’t drink beer in the parking lot. Talk about a WTF! The cops were shocked that we had the gall to even try it – apparently they’d never come across anyone drinking beer in the parking lot before (I suppose they were used to bums drinking Ripple under freeway bridges?), but they were enamored by the cuteness of Wisconsin fans partying before noon in anticipation of the game. They were actually pretty cool about letting us carry out our pre-game ritual, and told us we could keep drinking if we poured our cans of Kingsbury into our red Solo cups so that no one could see it was beer that we were drinking (who would suspect such a thing in LA?). Four months later those cops beat the crap out of Rodney King. But I digress… Don Majkowski’s magic extended beyond the field. I saw photos of him in his city-boy mullet at parties with booze and chicks galore. …Stuff that would make Johnny Manziel blush. He made being a Packer player fun again. Don was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time for Green Bay. …enough to entice Ron Wolf to leave the Raiders and take the reins in Green Bay to start building something special. So, Majik Man, we salute you and what you kick started for us in the late 1980’s – the expectation of winning any game again, and a full house of hot chicks on ladies night at the College Avenue bars in Appleton. Thanks, Play-ya!
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Author"Coach" is the insightful collective brain and funny bone of a few legendary Packer fans who provide everything you need to know (and what Packers beat writers often plagiarize) about the Green & Gold, plus a weekly guest appearance by The Badger Underground. Archives
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