Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived
Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football.
If I was creating my own perfect media universe to feed me information on the Green Bay Packers, here’s what it would look like:
Play-by-play announcer: Wayne Larrivee. No explanation needed. I could listen to Wayne all day — even if the Packers were losing by seven touchdowns — and still get enjoyment out of the game.
Color commentator: Mike Mayock. I used to have Cris Collinsworth ahead of Mayock, but not any more. Mayock made those boring Thursday night games on NFL Network tolerable last season. I’ll take substance over style from my color commentary each and every time.
Sideline reporter: Doris Burke. Ok, I’m cheating a little bit. Those of you who watch Burke work the sideline and conduct in-game interviews with coaches during NBA games know why I choose her, however. She takes the job seriously and actually tries to tell the viewer something that doesn’t insult his/her intelligence. Her questions are always light on fluff and high on substance.
Studio host: Trey Wingo. Doesn’t need catch phrases or tired schtick to be effective.
Studio analysts: LeRoy Butler and Mark Tauscher. Both guys have ties to the Packers, are extremely engaging and provide good insight.
Main beat writer: Tom Silverstein. Hard working. In-depth. No frills. Smart. Insightful. Gets a little snarky on Twitter. Everything you want out of a beat guy.
Secondary beat writer: Rob Demovsky. Doesn’t get enough credit because the talent pool of Packers reporters is deep. He’s one of the better ones.
Columnist: Bob McGinn. Years upon years of working with sources and dropping knowledge. He also tends to get people a little riled up, which a good columnist will do every now and then.
Radio talk show hosts: Jason Wilde and Bill Johnson. No need to re-create the wheel. Just keep Green and Gold Today what is already is: A show to discuss the Packers, not rant and rave incoherently like most sports talk radio shows.
Blogger: Jersey Al. One of the originals and still the best.
5 Packers people to follow on Twitter: @PackerRanter: Deep. @jrehor: Passionate. @Aaron_Nagler: NFL. @Packerpedia: Informative. @BrianCarriveau: Dedicated.
That about sums it up. I’m sure I left some good people off, but hopefully they get over it and their feelings aren’t hurt too bad by being left off such a prestigious list.
How would you all set up your ideal Packers media universe to stay up to date and engaged with the greatest franchise in the history of sports?
Packers News, Notes and Links
- Jason Hirschhorn at Acme Packing Company has a great post about Randall Cobb and the upcoming 2013 season. I wrote about Cobb this week as well. The headline I chose for the post leaves it wide open for a Michael Scott “that’s what she said” remark.
- Alex Petakas at ESPN Milwaukee has an interesting profile on Packers rookie WR Charles Johnson. It’s hard to not cheer for a guy to make it when his resume includes a stint at Antelope Community College.
- I have yet to participate in a Google+ hangout (isn’t it basically Skype?), but Eddie Lacy did with the folks from CheeseheadTV.com. Brian Carriveau recaps the occasion here.
- The Packers Tailgate Tour kicked off this week and Alex Green is one of the players participating. With the addition of Lacy and Jonathan Franklin, Green is a bit of a forgotten man. He talks about that and other topics with Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in this story. I had high hopes for Green when he took over last season, but he wasn’t nearly as explosive as I thought he’d be. Sounds like his knee was still hurting, so we’ll see what another offseason of recovery did for him come training camp.
- Aaron Rodgers doing more great things to boost the MAAC Fund’s fight against childhood cancer.
- Seahawks CB Richard Sherman has invited Lance Easley — the clown/ref who was behind the Fail Mary debacle — to umpire his charity softball game. I have to admit, that’s pretty funny.
- Packers president Mark Murphy would like to one day see Brett Favre on the annual offseason tailgate tour. I think that’d be great for multiple reasons: 1) Favre will be welcomed back to the Packers family one day and getting out and mingling with the fans is the best way to continue rebuilding his image; 2) Favre’s image likely will never be totally rebuilt, which could make for some entertaining and awkward moments on the tour; and 3) I’d love to be in the same room as Favre when he starts telling Packers stories from the 90s. Love him or hate him, that would be some great entertainment.
- Need more Favre talk? John Rehor addresses Murphy’s comments on Packerstalk.com.
Non-Packers Links and Other Nonsense
- It’s not every day you see the mayor of a major metropolitan city involved in a crack scandal, with video evidence.
- Ever wonder what happens when a deer crashes through the window of a bus? Wonder no more.
- The Office on NBC came to a close on Thursday. It got pretty bad the last couple of seasons, but all in all, it was a great run (despite forcing Aaron Rodgers to say some terrible lines).
- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has a podcast and it might be the greatest thing ever. The episode where he spends 30 minutes talking about flies is comedy gold.
14 Comments On “Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived”
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Can’t wait until Ron sees your selection of Bob McGinn for columnist…
Who Dat? Giant Piece of Crap Writter Award – He’d be right up there.
I have never agreed with your assessment of McGinn, Ron, but I have always loved your conviction on the matter!
If nothing else, I am consistent. Stuborn? “A rose by any other name…..”
I gotta admit: Sometimes I mention or link to a McGinn story just because I want to see Ron’s reaction 🙂
Something tells me he won’t agree…..
Yeah i love when Wayne says and there is your dagger! And i wish Gus Johnson did more NFL games that dude is exciting to listen to but i do love mayock as well.
can Lacy & Franklin (or whomever?) top productivity of Eddie Lee Ivery & Gerry Ellis who played on quite a hot passing Packer team back when?
I don’t know that I would be able to bump Spoon or Demovsky, but I’d try to find room for Lori Nickel.
Completely under-rated and hardly appreciated, she’s been on the beat forever and actually knows the team, the game, and the players as well as anyone.
She seems to have been relegated to doing personal pieces lately, but she does them well. I think it’s a shame guys like Tyler Dunne have moved into the driver’s seat at JSO- he may more marketable and “refined” than Lori, but he has nowhere near the grasp of the Packers past, present, or future than Ms. Nickel.
Lori is great. I am officially adding a feature-writer category and making her the lead.
Can’t stand Larrivee…pipes in crowd noise, hard to hear what is actually going. I never thought I’d miss Jim Irwin. The dagger line needs a replacement along with “roped down” didn’t know I was at either a murder mystery, bull fight or a rodeo.
For as poor as Jim and Max were during those oh-so-mediocre and even so-so seasons of the late 70s and 80s, they still became somewhat iconic…so much so that something felt wrong when Wayne Larrivee came into the booth.
It’s like exchanging the Friday-night poker game with your buds for a weekend tournament on a regular basis. You know that the poker goes up by a big jump, but there’s still a warm spot for the Friday night crew.
Haven’t lived within radio range since the Jim & Max days. I miss them.
Football on the radio out here in ‘ninerland is somewhat lacking, but the baseball guys are pretty good, a close second to Mr. Baseball.
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