Maxie the Taxi
12-25-2007, 04:15 PM
Deputy Nutz got it right. Pathetic!!
But I’m not talking about the Packers poor showing against Chicago. I’m talking about how my mood swings up and down depending on how a group of millionaires perform on the field every Sunday. Pathetic!
Yesterday I got up at 5AM to work outside all day. It was cold. Not as cold as it was in Chicago Sunday, but I sucked it up and went to work anyway. Why do saps like me who earn peanut wages take millionaire football so seriously? We have no control – absolutely no control -- over the outcome of the game. All we do is sit back on Sunday, watch the Packers win or lose and then brag or bitch to fellow working saps on PackerRats.com. Pathetic!
Who has control of the Packers? Who can really determine whether they win or lose? McCarthy? Thompson? The players? Obviously the players. But it occurs to me that the one player with the most control is a grey-headed good old boy from Mississippi who’s perhaps the greatest player ever to strap on a helmet and who, sometimes, plays like he’d rather be hunting on his rich man's estate down South.
Brett Favre makes $11-million a year to QB the Packers. When he’s on his game, his salary seems like chump change. When he’s off his game, or he’s neutralized by the weather, or by the grey matter between his own ears, it’s…well, it’s a pathetic waste of money.
Brett Favre is not only the best-paid player on the team. He’s the MVP. As talented as this team is, they can’t do it without the man at QB playing like the leader he’s supposed to be.
I didn’t think he played like a leader Sunday. I didn't think he had to. The Packers are talented now at so many positions. But thinking the Packers can win without Favre as a leader is naïve thinking on my part. In the NFL the QB is key to winning or losing. Dallas proved it in the last few years as they struggled with second-rate QB’s and looked pathetic. Then they found Tony Romo and the rest is history.
No matter how talented your team is – even if you’re the New England Patriots – you can’t win it all unless you have a great QB who performs as the team leader consistently, week in and week out. That’s what makes me nervous about this Packers team.
The truth is that the way things stand now the Pack will go as far as Favre will take them. This ain’t speculation. This is reality. Some might say this is putting too much on the shoulders of one man. It’s not. This man is reputed to be the best there is. He came back to play this year voluntarily. He accepted the role. He accepts his $11-million paycheck in weekly multi-hundred thousand dollar installments whether he performs like a Hall of Famer or member of the high school junior varsity.
That said, the most important thing Brett Favre should do is lead the team and that means more than just play QB. I don’t need to hear the team leader at a press conference complain about how cold it was in Chicago or how playing in a warmer clime might be better than playing at home in the cold.
BS! I'd rather hear no press conference at all.
Playing and succeeding in the cold and wind is mandatory for a Green Bay Packer. It’s part of the Packer mystique. As Favre himself says, it was the Packers’ ace in the hole.
More BS!! It still is the Packers ace in the hole...or should be! It has to be. This team needs to suck it up and earn their money like the rest of us working saps. Favre needs to earn his money by leading this team in all weather conditions, especially the cold…period.
Nor do I want to read about our team leader saying he’s turned into something of a loner the older he gets. Favre by circumstance – whether he likes the role or not – is a living legend. He's the single person in the Packer organization that everyone looks up to. He needs to act the part.
Being a leader of a team isn’t the same as being a hero, trying to win the game single-handledly when your team is playing like shit and has fallen two touchdowns behind.
Being the leader of a team means pulling the team together, going back to basics, performing in such a way that you put the rest of your guys in a position to succeed. Being the leader of the team is not coaxing a Hall of Fame performance out of your own aging body, but coaxing a superior performance out of teammates that are looking to you for leadership, not heroics.
I can hear the boos already from my fellow working stiffs. Winning is a team effort, critics will tell me. You’re putting too much on the shoulders of one guy. Really? Brett Favre’s $11-million shoulders are the biggest in the league. He’s man enough to handle the pressure of responsibility. The Packers are 12 and 3. Can anyone honestly tell me that the Packers would be 12 and 3 if Brett Favre were not their QB? He’s the MVP. As such, he’s responsible for 12 wins and, dammit, he’s responsible for three losses. His shoulders should be wide enough to accept this fact of life.
Last Sunday in Chicago the weather neutralized Favre’s arm. But he still could have performed as the team leader. He could have gutted it out and left the heroics to others on the team. A few weeks ago in Dallas, and earlier in the season against the Bears, Favre’s hero-complex neutralized him as a team leader when he decided to single-armedly get the Packers back in the game. As a result, he tried to strong arm the ball into places where no football should be thrown.
As a result, interceptions killed both him and the Packers. Favre is too old for such strong-arm tactics, but he’s not too old to lead by getting the ball into the hands of younger Packer playmakers.
So how will the Packers and this pathetic fan do in the playoffs?
As for the Packers, they will go as Favre goes. Simple as that. Pray for good weather conditions. Pray that the Packers don’t fall more than two touchdowns behind. Pray that Brett Favre doesn’t get that “deer in the headlights” look on the sideline before the game. Pray he’s loose and laughing and slapping his teammates on the butt. Pray that Favre has an end-of-career epiphany and plays in “team leader” mode and not team “hero” mode.
As for me, I’m hoping against hope I never read the word “pathetic” again. During the playoffs I’m going to do the only thing a rabid Packer fan can do: sit back and enjoy Favre being Favre. That’s what all of us have been doing for 17 years. Why change now?
This team, with Brett Favre (hopefully) as their leader and not their hero, is on the verge of history and a storybook ending that would make John Elway’s escapades at the end of his career a few years ago look like child’s play.
How Sweet! Life is great being a Packer fan!
Go Brett!
But I’m not talking about the Packers poor showing against Chicago. I’m talking about how my mood swings up and down depending on how a group of millionaires perform on the field every Sunday. Pathetic!
Yesterday I got up at 5AM to work outside all day. It was cold. Not as cold as it was in Chicago Sunday, but I sucked it up and went to work anyway. Why do saps like me who earn peanut wages take millionaire football so seriously? We have no control – absolutely no control -- over the outcome of the game. All we do is sit back on Sunday, watch the Packers win or lose and then brag or bitch to fellow working saps on PackerRats.com. Pathetic!
Who has control of the Packers? Who can really determine whether they win or lose? McCarthy? Thompson? The players? Obviously the players. But it occurs to me that the one player with the most control is a grey-headed good old boy from Mississippi who’s perhaps the greatest player ever to strap on a helmet and who, sometimes, plays like he’d rather be hunting on his rich man's estate down South.
Brett Favre makes $11-million a year to QB the Packers. When he’s on his game, his salary seems like chump change. When he’s off his game, or he’s neutralized by the weather, or by the grey matter between his own ears, it’s…well, it’s a pathetic waste of money.
Brett Favre is not only the best-paid player on the team. He’s the MVP. As talented as this team is, they can’t do it without the man at QB playing like the leader he’s supposed to be.
I didn’t think he played like a leader Sunday. I didn't think he had to. The Packers are talented now at so many positions. But thinking the Packers can win without Favre as a leader is naïve thinking on my part. In the NFL the QB is key to winning or losing. Dallas proved it in the last few years as they struggled with second-rate QB’s and looked pathetic. Then they found Tony Romo and the rest is history.
No matter how talented your team is – even if you’re the New England Patriots – you can’t win it all unless you have a great QB who performs as the team leader consistently, week in and week out. That’s what makes me nervous about this Packers team.
The truth is that the way things stand now the Pack will go as far as Favre will take them. This ain’t speculation. This is reality. Some might say this is putting too much on the shoulders of one man. It’s not. This man is reputed to be the best there is. He came back to play this year voluntarily. He accepted the role. He accepts his $11-million paycheck in weekly multi-hundred thousand dollar installments whether he performs like a Hall of Famer or member of the high school junior varsity.
That said, the most important thing Brett Favre should do is lead the team and that means more than just play QB. I don’t need to hear the team leader at a press conference complain about how cold it was in Chicago or how playing in a warmer clime might be better than playing at home in the cold.
BS! I'd rather hear no press conference at all.
Playing and succeeding in the cold and wind is mandatory for a Green Bay Packer. It’s part of the Packer mystique. As Favre himself says, it was the Packers’ ace in the hole.
More BS!! It still is the Packers ace in the hole...or should be! It has to be. This team needs to suck it up and earn their money like the rest of us working saps. Favre needs to earn his money by leading this team in all weather conditions, especially the cold…period.
Nor do I want to read about our team leader saying he’s turned into something of a loner the older he gets. Favre by circumstance – whether he likes the role or not – is a living legend. He's the single person in the Packer organization that everyone looks up to. He needs to act the part.
Being a leader of a team isn’t the same as being a hero, trying to win the game single-handledly when your team is playing like shit and has fallen two touchdowns behind.
Being the leader of a team means pulling the team together, going back to basics, performing in such a way that you put the rest of your guys in a position to succeed. Being the leader of the team is not coaxing a Hall of Fame performance out of your own aging body, but coaxing a superior performance out of teammates that are looking to you for leadership, not heroics.
I can hear the boos already from my fellow working stiffs. Winning is a team effort, critics will tell me. You’re putting too much on the shoulders of one guy. Really? Brett Favre’s $11-million shoulders are the biggest in the league. He’s man enough to handle the pressure of responsibility. The Packers are 12 and 3. Can anyone honestly tell me that the Packers would be 12 and 3 if Brett Favre were not their QB? He’s the MVP. As such, he’s responsible for 12 wins and, dammit, he’s responsible for three losses. His shoulders should be wide enough to accept this fact of life.
Last Sunday in Chicago the weather neutralized Favre’s arm. But he still could have performed as the team leader. He could have gutted it out and left the heroics to others on the team. A few weeks ago in Dallas, and earlier in the season against the Bears, Favre’s hero-complex neutralized him as a team leader when he decided to single-armedly get the Packers back in the game. As a result, he tried to strong arm the ball into places where no football should be thrown.
As a result, interceptions killed both him and the Packers. Favre is too old for such strong-arm tactics, but he’s not too old to lead by getting the ball into the hands of younger Packer playmakers.
So how will the Packers and this pathetic fan do in the playoffs?
As for the Packers, they will go as Favre goes. Simple as that. Pray for good weather conditions. Pray that the Packers don’t fall more than two touchdowns behind. Pray that Brett Favre doesn’t get that “deer in the headlights” look on the sideline before the game. Pray he’s loose and laughing and slapping his teammates on the butt. Pray that Favre has an end-of-career epiphany and plays in “team leader” mode and not team “hero” mode.
As for me, I’m hoping against hope I never read the word “pathetic” again. During the playoffs I’m going to do the only thing a rabid Packer fan can do: sit back and enjoy Favre being Favre. That’s what all of us have been doing for 17 years. Why change now?
This team, with Brett Favre (hopefully) as their leader and not their hero, is on the verge of history and a storybook ending that would make John Elway’s escapades at the end of his career a few years ago look like child’s play.
How Sweet! Life is great being a Packer fan!
Go Brett!