Monday, December 16, 2013

December 15, 2013:  Packers 37 Cowboys 36

An unlikely inspiring comeback enters the annals of Packer folklore and inspires a comeback blog post from me.

I want to praise the Packer fans at Texas Stadium aka the AT&T Whatever aka The Jerry Jones Football Palace.  After the Sam Shields interception, the Packers, Cowboys, and Packer fans around the world heard you.  The celebration down the sideline had an unstoppable feeling, didn't it?  Tramon Williams definitely heard the fans, trusted his gut, and came up BIG on the next interception.

This didn't happen on Thanksgiving Day.  The Lions beat the Packers like an old rug for four quarters.  Some offered immediate emotional condemnations, but Clay Matthews said, "it wasn't just one thing, it was a little bit of everything".

Enjoy the Packers and our other great traditions this holiday season in Wisconsin and throughout the Wisconsin diaspora.


Sunday, December 5, 2010

End of Blog: 2009 A Year After

This entry concludes my diary of the Packers 2009 season. Almost a year later, much has changed on the field and off for both me and the Packers. The Packers continued their improvement in pass protection and Aaron Rodgers has made progress in not taking so many sacks. The passing attack is formidable.

The Farve led Vikings brief domination of the Packers resoundingly ended this year, but the scrappy Bears have a one game lead. The Packers lose games they have no business losing so they are a work in progress.

The Packers can't run the ball and the debate is on as to how much is coaching and play calling, and how much is player talent. How much is the offensive line to blame and are any of these running back pick up short yardage? I'm of the opinion that all these factors are in the mix, but I haven't watched enough to have a strong opinion on the allocation of blame.

Poor old Brett threw another game ending pick in the playoffs last year. Despite having a great year with the Vikings last year, you can see how injuries and age are taking their toll this season. I think if the Vikings had Randy Moss last year, they would have gone all the way. That would be a fun debate to get McGinn, Christl, et al. to comment on. I'm bias and haven't made a detailed comparison, but some day I want to look at the 2009 Vikings vs. the 2007 Packers.

A few of our old favorites may have played their last game for the Packers. Al Harris who played with a torn spleen is on the IR as is Mark Tauscher who saved the offensive line and last season from disaster. Meanwhile, Clay Matthews has become the most exciting defensive player since Reggie White.

On a personal note, I have secured safe harbor on the job front at least for now. The current austerity craze is making unemployment worse. Some people act like we have the highest taxes in the world and are oblivious over the where the wealth has gone. Many academic economists say that the money has gone up the food chain, and my personal observations also support this.

Government is not “just like your household budget”. The world is more complex than that. Yet it seems to me that many people want to buy into explanations of the economy that are less complex than football games. Friday’s job report showing unemployment up from 9.6% to 9.8% with the public sector continuing to shed jobs, should tell us something. Whatever conclusions you come to, make sure you challenge your assumptions and listen to smart people who are not being paid for their opinion.

Thank you for reading this and good luck to you and the 2010 Green Bay Packers.

End of Blog: Packers 2009

This entry concludes my diary of the Packers 2009 season. Almost a year later, much has changed on the field and off for both me and the Packers. The Packers continued their improvement in pass protection and Aaron Rodgers has made progress in not taking so many sacks. The passing attack is formidable.

The Farve led Vikings brief domination of the Packers resoundingly ended this year, but the scrappy Bears have a one game lead. The Packers lose games they have no business lossing so they are a work in progress.

The Packers can't run the ball and the debate is on as to how much is coaching and play calling, and how much is player talent. How much is the offensive line to blame and are any of these running back pick up short yardage? I'm of the opinion that all these factors are in the mix, but I haven't watched enough to have a strong opinion on the allocation of blame.

Poor old Brett threw another game ending pick in the playoffs last year. Despite having a great year with the Vikings last year, you can see how injuries and age are taking their toll this season. I think if the Vikings had Randy Moss last year, they would have gone all the way. That would be a fun debate to get McGinn, Christl, et al. to comment on. I'm bias and haven't made a detailed comparison, but some day I want to look at the 2009 Vikings vs. the 2007 Packers

On a personal note, I have secured safe harbor on the job front at least for now. I think the current austerity craze is making unemployment worse. People act like we have the highest taxes in the world and are oblivious over the where the wealth has gone. Many academic economists say that the money has gone up the food chain, and my personal observations also support this.

Many people think that our wealth has gone to China because of their boom in manufacturing. That doesn't explain the real estate bubble, sub-prime lending, mortgage backed security, credit default swaps, and the looming student loan bubble. China is a nation state actor and we are in an age of "global capital". Somebody somewhere is cracking the whip for great returns on investment. Like football the game is played in quarters. I go to the root and ask if the bottom line is corporate governance. Corporations are creates of the state. We give them "limited liablity" for the risks they take, but we ask them to obey laws and pay taxes like people. These are low expectations for our lives and this is not just the pre-season.

Thank you for reading this and good luck to you and the 2010 Green Bay Packers.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Packers Lose Game But Show Heart

Spotting the Cardinals 17 had me thinking the the awful loss to the Rams in 2001. But the Packers came back and got the game into OT. True losers don't fight back like that. This was a memorable team. Have a good year folks.

Good luck also to the rest of you fighting for your jobs and your lives.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Offensive Line Turns Things Around

The line turned things around in the second half of the season. Now they have earned the right to show us they can play playoff football too!

Week 16 - Packers at Cardinals

Despite getting notice my job would evaporate in 12 months, I finished strong enough to earn an
"A" in the class I was taking. The holidays gave me some time to regroup and relax with some cover letters sent in for some promising positions. I also got the interview suit nailed down and recovered from the flu. I can't say I caught up on the five Packer games I missed, but they look like a different team now.

Like my grandfather use to say, "you've got to give credit where credit is due." The Packers offensive line has avoiding setting a new record in surrendering sacks. My hats off to Mark Tauscher and T.J. Lang along with the rest the starters. They looked great vs. the Cardinals today. That was quite a hole they were in so they really deserve a pat on the back.

The other area that I have tried to focus on in this blog has been defensive line play. The Packers have become the #1 defense vs. the run without Ryan Pickett, and he will be back next week. That's along way from where the DL was last year and the first half of this year. I thought B. J. Raji looked good today. I noticed some hard hitting and tackling today from the likes of A.J. Hawk and Atari Bigsby.

With an array of offensive weapons and an Aaron Rodgers who looks more Bart Starr than Brett Favre, the Packers have some reason to think they might win some playoff games. But I think Tony Dungey, has a point when he says that the Cardinals will be a different and rested team next week. But that doesn't mean the Packers shouldn't delight in crushing them this week.

So the Packers could be one & done this year or they might shock the Cardinals at home. We will see, but it was a season of improvement for the Packers either way. So there is a lot to be happy about for Packer fans.

Happy New Year's folks, and let's try to make it better than 2009. And let's cheer this team on and see what they can do in the playoffs!

Go Pack!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Blog Suspended Indefinately

I am suspending this blog indefinitely. Due to the State of Illinois' inability to manage its budget and/or choke down a minor income tax increase, I have to find a new job.

If you live in Wisconsin, you have a great University system. Keep it.

If you live in Illinois, write your elective officials and tell them to leave the Universities alone.

If you don't like public universities, write your own damn blog and have fun trying to pay for the Northwestern or the University of Chicago... oh never mind. If you are in this category, you are not smart enough to get into any of these places.

Go Pack!