As The Favre Turns

For as long as I can remember the Green Bay Packers have been my favorite NFL team. As far back as the days of Don Majokowski, Sterling Sharpe, and Chuck Cecil. Without a doubt, my all time favorite player, like most life long Packer fans, is Brett Favre. This is what makes this dilemma so difficult for me. I hear all the talk about how selfish Favre is being, and has been over the past few years, with his constant procrastination about whether to play another season or retire, and I just don't get it. I hear everyone say how unfair it is to the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, which is ridiculous.
A lot of the media the past few years has likened the situation to Favre holding the Packers hostage. To me, this is ludicrous. Brett Favre is in his late thirties mind you, and has played in the league for 17 years, while making an NFL record 275 consecutive starts, including playoffs. He has played with multiple injuries, including a broken finger on his throwing hand. To say that it is selfish of him him to want to sit down at the end of a season and see how his body is able to recover from all those years of abuse, is unfair. It would be one thing if the Packers had the number one pick in the draft and passed on a Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer type of quarterback, and then the next day Favre retired, but that's not the case. For the Packers have already drafted highly touted replacements for Favre in Aaron Rodgers and Brian Brohm. it would also be a different story if it was week three and Favre said he wanted to come back and play, but the fact is, training camp hasn't even started yet. The Packers say they have invested all their time this off season to preparing Aaron Rodgers to be the starter, I wonder how much more time they spent with him this off season than the previous. I've heard the offense has changed somewhat. Well, the only way it could have changed would have been to simplify it. Do you mean to tell me they made their offense more complex for a first year starter than it was for a hall of fame quarterback who has won more games, thrown for more yards, and more touchdowns than anyone in the history of the league? Give it a rest Packers, you were one win away from the Super Bowl last year, are you seriously saying you would rather have an unproven Aaron Rodgers than arguably the greatest quarterback of all time? If so, then have the balls to just say it.
A lot of the media also says it's unfair to Rodgers. I disagree. Rodgers has done nothing to prove he is worthy of being a starting quarterback in the league. If anything, Rodgers is lucky to have been a backup to Favre for this many years. Not only has he gotten to learn from one of the best, if not the best, but he also has the best job in the world, Brett Favre's backup, the man never misses a game. I would kill to get get paid the salary of a first round pick and only have to hold a clip board. I just don't get it. If there was ever to be a logo for the NFL, like the NBA has with Jerry West, it would be Brett Favre. Aaron Rodgers time will come, he'll get his chance to prove what he can do, playing behind Brett Favre can only help him. The worst thing that can happen for Rodgers is to start his career as the guy the Packers picked over Favre. Don't get me wrong, I think Rodgers will do fine, but he's no Favre.
I have to say that there has been no worse way for a team to treat a legend than the way the Packers are treating Favre. He is Green Bay. He epitomizes everything sports are about. For the Packers to say they will welcome him as a back-up, is a slap in the face. I always said that I would remain a Packers fan even when Favre retired, but they are quickly losing my allegiance as a fan. While my opinion probably doesn't matter at all to the Packers, I'd pay to see the first time coach McCarthy or GM Ted Thompson went out for dinner in Green Bay after what they are doing to Favre. While I don't know all the facts, I feel I know enough to say that the Packers are in the wrong. At a certain point, a player earns the right to do what Favre is doing.

The Greatest Match Ever Played?

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played a tennis match for the ages this past Sunday at Wimbledon. It's taken me almost a week to gain a true perspective on what I witnessed in the final. In my opinion it was the greatest tennis match I have ever witnessed. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the match, and when I wasn't, I was jumping up and down cheering. It had all the drama anyone could have asked for. Although, I decided to wait a while and let it settle in my mind before coming to the conclusion that it was the best ever. Too many times we tend to live in the moment too much when we witness something great. We tend to immediately declare it the best thing we've ever seen. I find this to be most true in sports. It seems that anytime a Super Bowl ends where a team loses by seven points or less, it is called the greatest Super Bowl ever. Anytime a baseball player makes a great diving catch in deep center field, Sportscenter does a top ten countdown of the greatest catches ever made. I myself have been guilty of this at times, which is why I decided to wait and let this match sink in before writing about it.
If you were lucky enough to witness Roger vs. Rafa on Sunday I hope you appreciate what you saw. It was not only the longest Wimbledon final ever, but the best. Don't just take my word for it, tennis legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg both share my feelings. If you listened to all of the talk shows on the Monday that followed, they agreed as well. Federer and Nadal just may have brought the interest in tennis back to America. That match may end up having the same effect that the Bird vs. Magic NCAA final had on the revival of the NBA. The final had it's highest T.V. rating in eight years. For this to happen though, Federer and Nadal have to maintain this level of play and keep meeting in finals.
There's no doubt that Nadal is getting better and better each year, but he still has to prove he can win at the U.S. Open. Nadal has yet to make it to the final at the U.S. Open or the Australian Open. If he can progress on the hard court the way he has on grass, we may get a third Federer vs. Nadal final this year. If he is able to do so, he may take over Federer as the best in the game. Personally, I can't wait to see how it all plays out.
I really can't understand why there is so much talk about Federer being finished. Do you realize that since 2005 the worst Federer has done in a major is lose in the semis three times, all three to the eventual champion, and lose four times in the final, while at the same time winning 8 majors. If you date back to the year 2004, there have been three years were he was only one major short of completing the year grand slam. I really believe that Federer is just now getting healthy for the first time all year. I think you will finally see him completely healthy at the U.S. Open. I know he's getting to the age were most tennis players start to decline and that's why there is all the talk of him being finished, but ask anyone, other than Nadal, if they would trade the year they've had for the year Federer has, and I guarantee they choose Federer's year.
I really hope Federer and Nadal can both make it to the finals of every major for the next ten years, because after careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that there has been no greater match ever played, and there is no greater rivalry in sports today. It was the two greatest at what they do going at it for nearly five hours. The only thing I can think of that would even compare to it would be if you had Jack Nicklaus in his prime vs. Tiger Woods in his prime, playing in the final group on Sunday at Augusta National. It was great theatre and I hope there is much more to come.

Blazing The Trail 2

I recently received a comment on my last posting about the Portland Trail Blazers and the NBA draft. The person who made the comment strongly disagreed with my prediction that the Blazers, if healthy, would be a top three team in the Western Conference. My favorite part of his argument was that the Lakers and the Hornets were the clear favorites. Funny thing about that, the Lakers had been no better than a seven seed the last three years, and the Hornets hadn't even sniffed the playoffs before this year. Yet, they finished number one and two in the conference last year, did anybody honestly see that happening? This person said that the Blazers would be lucky to finish with a .500 record. Well, they did that last year without Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Jarreyd Bayless, and Ike Diogu. They were also .500 in their conference. To believe that they will not improve on that is idiotic. This person also mentioned the injury problems Oden has endured in his brief career, but at the same time mentioned the fact the Rockets will be bringing back Yao Ming and T-Mac. I can't remember but a handful of games those guys played together last year. T-Mac suffers from chronic back problems and Ming is coming off season ending foot surgery, and is planning to play in the Olympics this summer right after finishing rehab, that will not be a good decision. Oh, and by the way, neither of those guys has ever won a playoff series, and it took a 20+ game winning streak just to get them in the playoffs last year. Personally, I don't see that happening again. Then we come to the Suns, Spurs, and Mavericks. No three teams are ageing faster in the NBA than these teams. And the Nuggets, they play absolutely no defense, and you factor in the trade rumors about Anthony, and how Coach George Karl doesn't get along with Anthony or Kenyon Martin, this is a team ready to com bust internally. I wouldn't be surprised to see them get off to a horrible start and fire Karl. He also mentions how Oden is unproven. No kidding, he hasn't played a game yet. Which is the reason why I said the Blazers have done a good job in putting scorers around him so that all Oden has to concentrate on is playing defense and rebounding, just like Tyson Chandler does for the Hornets. While it can be argued that he was not totally dominant in college, an argument can also be made that the only time he played, while healthy, against legitimate NBA big men was in the National Championship game against Florida, when he dominated Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Chris Richard, and Mareesse Speights. All of who are now in the NBA, with three of them being top 15 picks. Oden was so dominant that Billy Packer predicted he would be the MOP, despite the fact his team lost. While I'm not predicting a championship for the Blazers next year, I do stick by my prediction of a top three seed if their players stay healthy. Remember this, out of the two teams who played in the finals this year, only one made the playoffs last year, and that was as a seven seed. Besides, it's no fun to make the safe prediction.