Here’s why: I don’t want a guy leading my team that won’t associate with players, who looks [...]]]> Just read the ESPN: The Magazine (seriously, could the title of that magazine be more self-serving?) profile on Aaron Rodgers for the fourth or fifth time. And every time I read it, I come away liking the guy more.

Here’s why: I don’t want a guy leading my team that won’t associate with players, who looks at his backups like they’re sharpening pitchforks (read the story; you’ll know who I’m talking about). I want a guy leading my team that refers back to his college classes about how to identify which players need to be motivated and which ones need to be kicked in the rear. I want a guy leading my team that goes out of his way to invite players and their wives over to his place, serves them dinner, engages in something called “Dude Time” (trying not to conjure up too many images there), and says, ‘Hey, I’m one of you guys. We’re going to win together.’

The first few times I saw Rodgers, I had the same impression of him that many of you probably did: Cocky kid, bad body language when his receiver doesn’t make a play, seems kind of brittle, has happy feet, needs to shave. Now, all of those things are gone, except maybe the happy feet. Blessedly, the mustache is gone.

But Rodgers was learning how to lead at the time. He seems to have it figured out now. He commands respect because he knows how to be the player everyone looks up to without being the player who looks down on everyone. He’s one of the Packers, yet he’s the guy who makes everything go. He gets it. In his final seasons, his predecessor didn’t.

Every time I put that story down, I walk away saying, “I freaking love Aaron Rodgers.” Maybe not more than Favre in his heyday – yet – but I’m gaining a great deal of respect for what he’s about. That’s the kind of leader I want to root for.

–Gene Bosling

The NFL suspended the Packers’ defensive tackle, who was one of the team’s best linemen last year, for at least the 2010 season for violating its substance [...]]]> For quite a while, we’ve been wondering when the NFL would hand down its somewhat-inevitable suspension of Johnny Jolly amidst the defensive tackle’s legal troubles. Well, it came today.

The NFL suspended the Packers’ defensive tackle, who was one of the team’s best linemen last year, for at least the 2010 season for violating its substance abuse policy. The suspension stems from Jolly’s 2008 arrest for allegedly possessing 200 grams of codeine outside a Houston club. The trial is ongoing, and Jolly could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“Johnny is a good player that loves everything about the game of football,” Packers general manager Ted Thompson said in a statement. “We appreciate the contributions he has made to the Packers the past four seasons. His focus and priorities now lie elsewhere — our thoughts are with him during this difficult personal time. As this is a league matter, the team will have no further comment.”

What does this mean for the Packers in 2010? It thins a defensive line rotation that couldn’t afford to lose much. The Packers will probably start Ryan Pickett, B.J. Raji and either Cullen Jenkins or Mike Neal, but their depth isn’t terribly impressive beyond those players, and Pickett, Raji and Jenkins all bear some injury risk. If ever there were a time for Justin Harrell to show up, this would be it.

–Gene Bosling

Before that, though, we’d like to play a little game with you guys and gals, the OBOD faithful.

Don’t like games? What if I told you there was a free t-shirt [...]]]> So, again, training camp is still a little ways off. And fear not – we’ll have a boatload of pre-camp coverage here at OBOD soon enough.

Before that, though, we’d like to play a little game with you guys and gals, the OBOD faithful.

Don’t like games? What if I told you there was a free t-shirt in it for you?

You’re interested now, aren’t ya?

We’ve teamed up with the fantastic folks at BrentFavre.com – “The Packers Blog Born From Treachery” – for a little mid-Summer trivia contest.

Before we get to the particulars, some words about BrentFavre.com. Its name is taken from you-know-who, but really, the site is about much, much more than that. Those guys offer more than enough about the current Green Bay Packers and they do it all with a nice mix of humor, insight and intelligence (and make sure to check out their interview with “Life After Favre” author Phil Hanrahan, one of OBOD’s favorites). They are definitely worth an add to your list of Packers blogs to visit daily. I mean, we’ve certainly added them to our blogroll, so why wouldn’t you?

Now, on to the contest.

Again, it’s a trivia contest: “Name that Packer.”

It will involve two players, one current and one former. The hints we give you will be, frankly, extremely vague at first. The longer the contest goes on, the more in-depth the hints will become. We won’t tell you which type of player will be first – it could be someone current or someone from the past. That’ll be up to you to figure out.

But if you are able to figure it out, you’ll receive a nice prize: A shirt from Sconnie Nation. The first winner will receive a “The Mighty Clay” shirt. The second winner will receive a “We’ll Never Forget You Brent” shirt. Once you win, we’ll contact you to get your shirt size and other information. And you also get a mention on our site…so you’ll have that going for you, which is nice.

Oh yeah, there’s one more catch – we’re only giving the hints via our Facebook and Twitter pages. So if you want to get in on it, you’ll have to add us there. Sorry, there’s just no other way.

The first hint will be revealed Wednesday morning, with subsequent hints going up throughout the day (if necessary). If no one gets it correct Wednesday, we’ll just keep going until we get a winner.

Everyone ready?

-Chris Lempesis, Adam Somers and Gene Bosling

I was watching one of NFL Network’s many, many Top 10 shows today — something about the [...]]]> I’ve resisted griping about this issue for a long time, since one of the first things they teach you in communications classes is to recognize biases and how they corrupt perceptions. But I’m going to go with it anyway.

I was watching one of NFL Network’s many, many Top 10 shows today — something about the Top 10 college football factories of all time — and it was like every player they showed was doing something against the Packers. I mean, Shaun Freaking Alexander, who went to Alabama and played for Seattle, only meeting up with the Packers a few times, got all of his highlights in the 2004 NFC Divisional Playoff Game. Really? He ran for 45 yards on 20 carries in that game. Three chip-shot touchdowns don’t do much for me.

Now, the Packers got their share of highlights, too (a few of Reggie from Tennessee, Starr and Hutson from Alabama, one shot of Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson each from Michigan, and one – or one more than there should have been- of A.J. Hawk from Ohio State). But if you’re going to show two Heisman winners from Michigan who had their best NFL moments with the Packers, is it too much to ask to get more than one shot? And one of Paul Hornung? One? The Packers should get some love in these things because they’ve had great players. That’s the point of them.

And this just scrapes the surface of the issue. Every time I see a highlight clip from the Vikings, it’s against the Packers -especially now that they’ve got ESPN’s favorite son. I might be totally wrong on this, but I see one team after the next getting feted by ESPN and the like with highlights of things they did against the Packers.

Is it because Green Bay has the smallest media market in pro sports, and theoretically the least to offer the New York media types? Maybe. But this is a national – nay, international – fanbase, and while Green Bay itself is tiny, the entire state of Wisconsin is watching every week. It’s one of the three or four marquee franchises in the league. Having seen enough New York media members look like they’re going to be sick every time they have to step outside the Big Apple, slighting Green Bay makes sense. Because why would anyone leave New York for the cold, snowy cow towns in Wisconsin? Oh, what’s that? Vince Lombardi would?

I have no data to prove any of this, and I apologize for the fanboy rant vibe of this post. The frequent visitors to OBOD know we don’t roll like that very often. But I’ve talked to enough Packers fans who are bugged by this trend that I wanted to throw it out there.

You know what we need? A Packers lobbying firm to count how many positive and negative images are shown of the Packers during a given week, kind of like they do with poltical ads during an election.

I’d love to hear from some others who have seen the anti-Packers bias on highlight shows. Unburden your soul. We’re here for you. Or tell me I’m completely wrong; that’s fine, too.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Good talk. Thanks.

–Gene Bosling

That’s right: OBOD is now on Facebook.

Our page, which just launched…well…a few minutes ago, is something we’re pretty excited about. It will be similar to our Twitter page - right down to the profile photo – and we’re hoping it serves as yet another cool compliment [...]]]> So, it took a minute, but we finally did it.

That’s right: OBOD is now on Facebook.

Our page, which just launched…well…a few minutes ago, is something we’re pretty excited about. It will be similar to our Twitter page - right down to the profile photo – and we’re hoping it serves as yet another cool compliment to what we bring you guys and gals on our site.

We’ll provide links, news, random opinions and, yes, maybe even some photos (trust us – we’re hot).

And if you wondering whether or not we’re going to post those photos of Adam, myself and some friends signing “Hey Jude” karaoke-style at a bar in Green Bay the night before the season opener against the Bears last season (we might have been drinking), I can only say that I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Again, check us out here. We sure would appreciate it. And we promise that there will be no mention of farms or mafia wars.

-Chris Lempesis, Adam Somers and Gene Bosling

Growing up as a Packer fan, as many of us did, I would listen to Jim Irwin and Max McGee every weekend (most of [...]]]> I had no plans or premonitions to write this before this afternoon, until I started poking around the Web. And I just felt the need to state publicly: I love Wayne Larrivee.

Growing up as a Packer fan, as many of us did, I would listen to Jim Irwin and Max McGee every weekend (most of the time with the sound down on the TV so as to avoid John Madden and Pat Summerall’s fawning over the Cowboys – or whichever other opponent was in a bigger TV market than Green Bay). I still remember Jim and Max’s tearful sign-off after the loss to the 49ers in the 1999 NFC wild-card round (OWENS! OWENS! OWENS!  Jerry Rice fumbled). And I remember when the Packers named Larrivee, the former voice of the Chicago Bears, to replace Irwin.

Really? The guy from the Bears? The guy who’d done play-by-play for the Chicago Bulls all those years, and was better-known as a basketball guy? He was going to be the next voice of the Packers?

Well, 11 years later, I couldn’t be happier with the decision the Packers made.

Larrivee is one of the most insightful and professional broadcasters in the game, at a time when too many teams are looking for histrionic carnival barkers in the broadcast booth. He’s a measured commentator with a classic voice, who throws in just enough home-team slant to keep us fans happy without coming off like a shill.

And as I’m sitting here in early May, the thought of Larrivee’s exuberant “TOUCH-DOWN!” call makes it seem like fall’s no so far away.

OK, enough of that. Maybe it’s just because it’s May and I’m pining for September, but that was the most fanboy-ish thing I’ve ever written, and I promise to stop. Or, you might say, put a dagger in it.

But seriously, we’re lucky as Packers fans, aren’t we?

–Gene Bosling

My take: Well, it’s official. He’s playing next year, and just needed the proper excuse to skip training camp. He’d be able to rehab in plenty of time, but if you hem and haw a little longer, have [...]]]> Brett Favre apparently needs ankle surgery to play in 2010, according to this report from ESPN’s Ed Werder.

My take: Well, it’s official. He’s playing next year, and just needed the proper excuse to skip training camp. He’d be able to rehab in plenty of time, but if you hem and haw a little longer, have the surgery in, say, June, he’s got the excuse to skip training camp. Now, surgery is never an easy proposition, but does anybody really believe that Favre won’t play? He’s addicted, he’s going to do whatever it takes and with this, he’s got a perfect reason to skip camp — especially since he wouldn’t talk about the prognosis or how long it might take to recover.

He also has a couple choice phrases in the e-mail he sent to Werder comparing his one year in Minnesota to his entire career in Green Bay.

This guy is a piece of work, isn’t he?

–Gene Bosling

Thanks to my dad for the brilliant catch. Now, the Star Tribune has been through a host of layoffs lately, so this could be a casualty of a thinner copy desk. But I don’t know — there might be a larger, more nefarious and more delicious plot at work here.

For one, it harkens back to [...]]]> This.

Thanks to my dad for the brilliant catch. Now, the Star Tribune has been through a host of layoffs lately, so this could be a casualty of a thinner copy desk. But I don’t know — there might be a larger, more nefarious and more delicious plot at work here.

For one, it harkens back to this.

Enjoy — and spread the humor.

–Gene Bosling