Lombardi Trophy Number Four Arrives in Titletown

The fourth Super Bowl trophy for the Green Bay Packers arrived this week in Titletown.  Brought to Lambeau Field by a Brinks armored car, the trophy will eventually take its place alongside the trophies for Super Bowls I, II, and XXXI.

The Vince Lombardi Super Bowl XLV trophy on the right, the George Halas NFC Championship trophy on the left.

NFL Gives Teams Green Light to Play Ball

The NFL front office has notified teams throughout the NFL that they may resume training sessions, workout programs, etc., following an ending of the recent lockout.  An injunction issued this past Monday in Federal Court forced NFL owners to end the players' lockout, however it took nearly three days for the front office to release the following information to teams:

1. Players will be permitted to use club facilities for physical examinations, rehabilitation and medical treatment, as scheduled by the club.
2. Clubs will be permitted to distribute playbooks, game film and other similar materials to players.
3. Coaches may meet with players for the purpose of discussing any materials distributed to players under item 2 above, as well as the club’s off-season workout program, its schedule of mini-camps, Organized Team Activities (“OTAs”), and other similar matters.
4. Voluntary off-season workout programs, including OTAs and classroom instruction, may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXV of the 2006 CBA and Appendix L.  Participating players will be paid $130 per day, provided the player fulfills the club’s reasonable off-season workout requirements.  Such workouts will count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract.
5. On days during which no official off-season workouts or OTAs are scheduled under item 4 above, nothing shall prevent the club from permitting any player to use the club facility to work out on his own on a voluntary, unpaid basis during normal business hours, or such other hours as may be set by the club, provided: (i) there is no participation or supervision by any coach, trainer or other club personnel; and (ii) the club has first verified that the player has an existing medical insurance policy in place.  Players without such personal coverage should not be permitted to work out at the club facility on an unsupervised basis under this item 5, but may do so under item 4 above.  Unsupervised workouts will not count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract.  This item 5 will apply both prior to and after the commencement of the club’s official off-season workout program.
6. Mandatory and voluntary mini-camps may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXVI of the 2006 CBA.
7. The league office will promptly make arrangements to resume counseling, rehabilitation and treatment activities in connection with the substances of abuse and steroid programs.  We will advise clubs as to when and on what basis testing will commence.
8. Players may participate in club-sponsored charitable and community relations events.
With respect to player transactions (such as signings, trades of player contracts, terminations, tryouts, etc.), we plan to distribute to all clubs, likely tomorrow, a comprehensive set of procedures governing such transactions. This will include the timing for the commencement of the 2011 League Year, free agent signings and other customary player transactions.

Packer Preseason Schedule Set, Preseason Still in Question

The Green Bay Packers’ preseason schedule is highlighted by a nationally televised contest at the Indianapolis Colts, one of two preseason games against 2010 playoff teams. The preliminary schedule was communicated by the National Football League on Tuesday.

Aug. 11-15 (time TBA)
at Cleveland Browns
TV: WFRV/state
Aug. 18-22 (time TBA)
ARIZONA CARDINALS (Gold pkg.)
TV: WFRV/state
Midwest Shrine Game     
Aug. 26 (7 p.m.)
at Indianapolis Colts
TV: CBS
Sept. 1-2 (time TBA)
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
TV: WFRV/state
Bishop’s Charities Game

Whether all or any of these games will actually be played is anyone's guess at this point.  IF the games go on as scheduled, you have to like the Packers' chances of going 4 and 0 in the preseason.

Kickoff Change Official

NFL owners met yesterday and approved a change regarding kickoffs for this upcoming season, whenever that season begins.  All kickoffs will be placed on the 35-yard line rather than the 30-yard line as it has been in the past.

Owners cite player safety as the main reason for the change, and predict an increase of touchbacks from 5% to 15% this year due to the move.  The rule change is scaled down from the rules committee recommendations that included eliminating the blocking "wedge" formation for receiving teams and placing touchbacks on the 25-yard line rather than the 20.  The new rule has received criticism from some NFL coaches and players including Chicago Bears head coach, Lovie Smith.

The Packers would seem to be one of the teams that will potentially benefit from the rule change.  While finishing 30th in kick coverage rankings last season, what Packer fan didn't cringe every time the Packers kicked off during their Super Bowl playoff run?

Aaron Rodgers Front-runner for Madden NFL 12 Cover

Fans are deciding which pro football athlete will grace the cover of Madden NFL 12 this year, with voting beginning today.  EA Sports and ESPN are conducting the contest and have pre-selected one player to represent each of the 32 NFL teams.

The choices are located on brackets much like the ones many of us are familiar with at this time of year.  Apparently EA Sports planned on capitalizing on the March Madness craze when they developed this promotion.

Rodgers is in the overall number 1 seed position, the same location as Ohio State University on the NCAA Tournament brackets.  Sean Leahy of USA Today has also proclaimed Rodgers the front-runner in the competition.  Super Bowl notoriety apparently has its rewards.

The contest pairs players in head to head competition, with the eventual winner to be announced live on ESPN2's "SportsNation" at the end of April.  Time to get out and vote, Packer Nation.  Click on Madden NFL 12 to place your vote.

John Brockington: Pushing a Pen in San Diego?

Ricky Zeller has just posted a great article on John Brockington, a "Where are they now?" piece which can be found on Packers.com. 

I still vividly remember Brockington crashing through defenders at the line of scrimmage and rumbling for big gains.  Also remember placing all of my hopes in him during the 1972 playoff game against the Washington Redskins.  Unfortunately we also needed something resembling a passing game to allow Brockington to be effective.  The Skins stacked the box, he couldn't run, game over.

Today Brockington is a financial advisor and lives in San Diego, California.  The article also shares John's memories of running into a Chicago Bears linebacker named Dick Butkus.  Great stuff and worth a look.

Coaching Changes

In case you missed it with everything else that has been going on in the sporting world and the world in general, the Green Bay Packers have named Edgar Bennett wide receivers coach, Jerry Fontenot running backs coach, Joel Hilgenberg offensive quality control coach, and John Rushing assistant wide receivers/special teams coach.  Head Coach Mike McCarthy made the announcement Friday, February 25, 2011.

Bennett will be entering his seventh season on Green Bay’s coaching staff, having tutored the team’s running backs from 2005-10. He oversaw the development of Ryan Grant, who became just the third running back in team history to eclipse the 1,200-yard mark in back-to-back seasons (2008-09). Prior to that, Bennett spent four seasons (2001-04) as the Packers’ director of player development. 

Bennett, of course, was a fourth-round selection of Green Bay in 1992 out of Florida State, and ranks No. 10 in team history with 3,353 rushing yards over five seasons (1992-96) and continues to hold the franchise’s single-season record for receptions by a running back with 78, set in 1994.

While initially the switch seemed rather odd considering Bennett's background, could it be that he is being groomed for greater coaching responsibilities in the future?  Offensive coordinators need a wide grasp of the offense.  Whether that is something that eventually happens in Green Bay or somewhere else, it is fairly clear that this was more than just a lateral coaching move.
 

Hello Packer Nation

It would seem that now is the wrong time to begin a new blog focused on the Green Bay Packers.  The same could be said about any other N.F.L. team for that matter.  With the current lockout situation and continued uncertainty as to when or even if this year’s season will get underway, starting a writing project about a team that may well go into hibernation seems somewhat odd.

Upon further review it strikes me that current situations in this country as well as globally would make this endeavor seem even more ludicrous. Sons, daughters, husbands, fathers, wives and mothers are off to war in other lands.  High gas prices, increasing inflation, scarce job markets, unstable (at best) real estate markets, investment portfolio values rising and falling like yo-yos in the hands of five-year-olds have nearly everyone on edge.

People are dying from earthquakes, tsunamis, famine, and disease.  Nuclear reactors are blowing up.  Honeybees are disappearing.  So are polar ice shelves and polar bears. Many other animal species are facing extinction at alarming rates.  Alaska is enjoying unseasonably warm winters while places in Mexico have endured below freezing temperatures for the first time in recorded history. It is all just a little too apocalyptic for my liking, making my new Packer blog seem all the more trivial.

As I was contemplating all of this the other night, I had an epiphany.  When I review my life, I can find very few constants.  Friends change.  Lovers change.  Addresses change.  Desires change.  Values change.  Political views change.  Musical tastes change.  Movie tastes change.  Hairstyles, hairlines, waistlines, eyesight, and nose hair…everything seems to change.

I realized the other night there are very, very few things that have been a “constant” in my life.  Changes, both good and bad, are everywhere, yet I can really only come up with six things that have remained constant since the time of my childhood.  One of them is my love for the Green Bay Packers.

I have been a fan since moving to Wisconsin from (gulp) Chicagoland in 1968 when I was five years old.  I was a fan before I could read or write.  I was a fan before man walked on the moon, before we got our first color TV, and before the Beatles broke up. I’ve been a fan nearly twice as long as I’ve known my wife of 21 years, and we had a very long engagement.  It’s a rather sobering realization.

Perhaps that is why, even in the midst of worldwide tragedies, personal struggles and even an N.F.L. lockout that my interest in the Pack has not wavered.  It’s a constant in my life amidst all of the chaos the rest of my world brings.

And so despite, and perhaps to spite, all of these other things, I say, “Go, Pack, Go!”