Ask Vic Causing Trouble

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Packers with an unwise posting about Aldon Smith on Twitter and in their Ask Vic blog.

Writer responds with 2 bad examples and two good ones.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/the-green-bay-packers-oddly-went-after-aldon-smith-this-week.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Hey @49ers, please respond to the @Packers with a picture of Mark Chmura. Or Brett Favre. Or Johnny Jolly. Or Darren freaking Sharper.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) April 17, 2014

[red]

i don't really see where a "shot" was taken at anyone

heres the actual question from the chat

Vic, it seems the Packers place a high emphasis on character during their selection process, as can be shown by the tremendously low arrest rate. This seems like a simple strategy to sustain success, yet, it seems more of a rarity in the NFL than the standard. What other teams are as committed to personal character?

Nobody wants a locker room full of criminals. All teams place a premium on character. Draft picks are too valuable to waste on guys in jail. It’s all a matter of where you draw the line. Some teams are a little more willing to gamble on a guy with some issues in his past. Santonio Holmes was one of those guys, and those issues eventually caught up to him with the Steelers, but not before he won a Super Bowl MVP. Aldon Smith had some red flags when he was coming into the draft, and it might be catching up to him just as it did with Holmes, but the 49ers have gotten a pretty nice return from their investment in Smith. Where do you draw the line? Every team has to answer that question in its own way. George Young said it’s not a game for the well-adjusted, and I am a George Young devotee. I don’t need a locker room full of choir boys. My line has some loops in it.

its a valid question and topic. where is the line? smith has been caught up in some minor mishaps, he's not out killing dogs or people, or raping chicks. so does the distraction of his numerous minor mishaps warrant the team giving up on his talent? or does his talent level force the team to keep him at the risk of future larger mishaps?

vics really not saying taking a shot at smith or the 49ers but asks a general question based on talent level and off field distractions

[RashanGary]

Seemed like a good answer to me, no moral superiority read in by me. He was saying all teams weigh personality into the equation. Sometimes a risk pays off, sometimes it doesn't. I don't know where they got that from, but a picture of Aldon Smith is a touch cocky.

[pbmax]

Its the Tweet, not the Ask Vic answer.

Character Questioned ------> Picture of Aldon Smith in a 49er uniform. On an NFL Team site. That is pretty straightforward.

Why not a picture of Smith in his civvies?

Intended or not, its an absolute negative connection about a fellow NFL franchise by its sister organization. There is a reason they took the Tweet down.

[RashanGary]

I don't think it was fully intended that way. It is a real issue. But yes, if Vic wouldn't make that same headline about Jolly, he shouldn't do it about the 9ers guy.

[mraynrand]

who writes tweets for @packers? Is it solely Vic?

Twitter seems perfectly suited for causing controversy and then hiding behind anonymity (Who wrote that? We are investigating!) - at least for larger organizations.

Vic's response probably should have included Packers instead of other team's problems. Johnny Jolly, Koren Robinson, and (distantly) Chumura and Favre are more relevant than Sharper in describing where the Packer line of character death is drawn.

[Just Jeff]

I wasn't aware of our former QB having any character issues while with GB

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I wasn't aware of our former QB having any character issues while with GB

That's how Miller blew his response. Neither Sharper nor Favre had a string of incidents like this, though Favre did have the painkiller problem.

[red]

That's how Miller blew his response. Neither Sharper nor Favre had a string of incidents like this, though Favre did have the painkiller problem.

favre and chewie terrorized the bars, strip clubs and restaurants of northern wisconsin and the UP in the mid 90's

i know lots of people that reguard favre as a complete piece of shit after running in to him during those escapades

even after he "got clean", he would still get shit faced and carry on like an asshole, but thats something that us packer fans in the area covered up and buried for him so the rest of the world could go on thinking our QB was one of the good guys. favre wouldn't get arrested if he got drunk and tore up a bar, the cops would show up and take him out the back door, and no one would ever hear of the incident.if favre had been caught for drunk driving, he would have been escorted home by the cops, not arrested

in reality favre got away with tons of shit in the 90's, he really was a piece of shit

[pbmax]

favre and chewie terrorized the bars, strip clubs and restaurants of northern wisconsin and the UP in the mid 90's

i know lots of people that reguard favre as a complete piece of shit after running in to him during those escapades

even after he "got clean", he would still get shit faced and carry on like an asshole, but thats something that us packer fans in the area covered up and buried for him so the rest of the world could go on thinking our QB was one of the good guys

in reality, he really was a piece of shit

True, but that wasn't common knowledge outside of certain WI precincts. And outside of painkillers and that goofy 1 on 1 interview he had with Bradshaw where they obliquely talked about trouble that caused in the family, it was his later exploits that made him infamous. Unlike Sharper, there was evidence in Packerland of what would happen later but it was very low key. Deanna had a hand in this by smoothing some of the rougher edges and eliding details of their struggles in her book and media tour. All his previous carousing was bottled into one episode of "here is your suitcase, make a choice" and that confrontation was treated as though it was one and done.

[mraynrand]

FWIW, I hate twitter. For killing language #Newspeak. For turning a generation/society into solipsistic zombies #Addiction. Twitter, I titter (laugh )@you #mocking.

[Smeefers]

I don't see an issue with anything the packers did. Are they not supposed to talk about touchy topics in the NFL? How many other team reporters show green bay in an unfavorable light? You do realize that when they call us cheeseheads that it's an insult, right? This is a non story. It would be worse in my eyes if they'd thrown up a picture of someone who hasn't had very public, very recent off the field issues. Aldon Smith made his bed, he gets to lay in it.

[pbmax]

I don't see an issue with anything the packers did. Are they not supposed to talk about touchy topics in the NFL? How many other team reporters show green bay in an unfavorable light? You do realize that when they call us cheeseheads that it's an insult, right? This is a non story. It would be worse in my eyes if they'd thrown up a picture of someone who hasn't had very public, very recent off the field issues. Aldon Smith made his bed, he gets to lay in it.

49ers didn't buy that bed though. And the fact that the Packers took it down seems evidence that this was a transgression inside the League. You either don't use a picture, use a generic one, or picture Smith in his civvies.

Reporters calling the fans cheese heads isn't the same as a team owned website calling out a player in a team's uniform.

[pbmax]

FWIW, I hate twitter. For killing language #Newspeak. For turning a generation/society into solipsistic zombies #Addiction. Twitter, I titter (laugh )@you #mocking.

Its ridiculous to use as a form of communication, but so were telegrams. Limited and emphasis on brevity to the point of confusion.

But as a wire service, an alert to something larger and more intereting, its fantastic.

[Just Jeff]

An NFL player, getting hammered and hanging out in bars. Please tell me that you just made this up and just don't like our former QB. Otherwise this is just too much to imagine.