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

Because I got fired up and went long on a couple of different points in the Green Bay Packers links and non-Packers links sections of this week’s Surviving Sunday, I’ll spare you the long, drawn-out intro and get right to it:

Packers News, Notes and Links

  • Folks were all up in arms earlier this week when a report was released highlighting how NFL teams, including the Packers, have received taxpayer dollars from the Department of Defense for various military marketing programs. The original report was light on details, and, in my opinion, reeked of a news outlet trying its hardest to cash in on the OUTRAGE culture that grips a certain segment of folks. The Journal-Sentinel did a little more digging for the Packers’ side of the story. Sounds like most of the funding went toward traditional marketing activities for the military, not “honor our troops” type of ceremonies that every team coordinates. I always find it baffling when we demand that our government behave more like the private sector, then when it does, we get angry. The private sector spends money on marketing and advertising. Our all-volunteer military has to market and advertise to help with recruitment, retention and general goodwill. Marketing and advertising costs money. A lot of it, especially when you’re partnering with the NFL. Yeah, it makes me squirm a bit to think about the Packers not doing “honor the troops” types of activities strictly out of the goodness of their hearts. But it sounds like the vast majority of the dollars were not dedicated to those types of activities. If that’s the case, this story is nothing to get OUTRAGED over.
  • Aaron Rodgers: Packers quarterback, NFL MVP, Super Bowl winner, Celebrity Jeopardy champion.
  • As the years have gone on, it’s kind of become cool to like Jarrett Bush. The guy works his ass off and goes all out on special teams. We still cringed whenever he lined up at defensive back, but we came to appreciate his attitude and take-no-prisoners approach to the game. If Bush is, indeed, done in Green Bay, I’ll miss him. Even though on several occasions I have unleashed a string of profanity that would make Andrew Dice Clay blush following a Bush blown coverage, I grew to respect him and appreciate what he did for the Packers when put into the proper role.
  • Brett Favre doesn’t think Tom Brady was cheating. Never mind that he also said he hasn’t been paying attention to the issue. That hasn’t stopped any red-blooded American from having an opinion before, so have at it, Brett!
  • Luther Robinson will forever be known as the dude who tipped that pass that led to that really awesome Julius Peppers pick-six against the Vikings on a random Thursday night.

Non Packers links and other Nonsense

  • I hate how whenever something like Deflategate happens, there’s a sector of people who try too hard to be contrarians or find some type of gray area on the issue. I’m a gray area guy myself. Most things aren’t black and white, but I think Deflategate is about as clear cut as you can get. The evidence overwhelmingly shows that Brady cheated. Four games is perfectly reasonable for what the evidence overwhelmingly shows Brady did. It doesn’t matter how much you hate Roger Goodell. It doesn’t matter how Goodell has handled past issues of discipline. It doesn’t matter if you think every team cheats and Brady was the unfortunate soul who got caught. It doesn’t matter if you had issues with the NFL’s reasoning for suspending Brady beyond the mere fact that he cheated. It doesn’t matter if you think deflating the football isn’t a big deal and didn’t give Brady any type of advantage. There’s overwhelming evidence that Brady broke the rules and a four-game suspension is more than justified. Period. Don’t overthink it. Leave the overthinking to lawyers.
  • That said, I laughed hard as I was reading this.
  • I just learned that Ric Flair has a podcast this week. WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THIS BEFORE?!?!?!?! Whooooooo!
  • I can’t say enough good things about Dave Koch Sports and his tremendous lineup of Action PC sports management games. If you’re a giant nerd like me, check them out and support a Wisconsin resident and fellow Packers fan.
  • Now what the hell am I going to do at the county fair that I can’t look at the chickens? Seriously, though. This bird-flu thing is a mess. My thoughts go out to the farmers dealing with it. Here’s hoping it gets cleared up soon.
  • \m/ New song from Lamb of God \m/