Sweet(s) Talk. …
Please pat Marcedes on the back
It’s been about two months since the annual NFL Draft took place, and it’s taken me up until recently, to finally wrap my thoughts around the outcome of my beloved Green Bay Packers draft picks. General manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur “shocked” the whole country and the sports world, by trading up to draft Utah State quarterback Jordan Love 26th overall in the first round.
I’ve mentioned this in a prior column, so to not beat a dead horse, I’ll move on to the next “shocking” decision the Packers brass made, or in this case didn’t make: not drafting a wide receiver throughout the entire draft. Or was it actually a “shocking decision”?
To — as my Dad likes to call them, “the talking heads” on the sports talk shows — it was. To draft analytical people in the media, print, television or otherwise, “the Packers made a mistake” or my favorite “Aaron Rodgers is going to resent this pick! He’s going to treat Jordan Love like (expletive) and not mentor him, like Favre did to him!”
Who knows any of this for sure? The answer is NOBODY! Who knows what exactly goes through Aaron Rodgers’ mind at any given moment, over any given personnel decision by the Packers organization? Good question. Rodgers himself comes off as very arrogant and dismissive to some people, me included. Has his level of play dropped off the past four seasons? The numbers (stats) say yes it has. But, there’s no doubt he’s still an effective quarterback.
If anything, the selection of Love will motivate No. 12. It will motivate him to the point, that he’ll do everything he can to not let it become a distraction to himself or the team, like most people are expecting it to. Packers veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis was recently on CBS Sports Radio’s “The Zach Gelb Show,” and had this to say about the team drafting Love:
“You just let it go … The things that you can’t control is water off a duck’s back. Do the best job that you can to control the things that you can control, and let the universe do the rest. Aaron is a grown man. You don’t think he’s ever had to deal with things like that? Whether it be distractions, adversity, it doesn’t matter what it is. He’s a grown man. He is where he is a for a reason. I’m not worried about it.”
Thank you Marcedes! Maybe the “talking heads” and the “keyboard GM’s” who wanted to crucify Gutekunst after the draft will listen to your voice of reason. …
Speaking of Marcedes Lewis, I found a meme on social media showing the his touchdown reception last season at the NY Giants on Dec. 1, was the ONLY TD pass Rodgers has ever thrown to a former first round draft pick. Let that sink in for a few moments…….. That’s right Ted Thompson supporters, your stubborn former GM NEVER drafted — for two different Hall of Fame quarterbacks — a first round wide receiver or tight end. In fact, the ONLY offensive players drafted in the first round since 2005 when Thompson selected Rodgers, are no longer on the team. Tackle Bryan Bulaga, drafted in 2010, signed with the L.A Chargers this spring. Tackle Derek Sherrod, drafted in 2011, appeared in all of 20 games over four seasons with the Green and Gold.
Any of you who want to point fingers at Gutekunst already, despite the fact that from this vantage point, it’s too soon to do so, go right ahead if you feel you must. I’ll continue to use my favorite, overused saying in regards to this subject “Nice Job Ted!” Maybe I should take the advice of the big TE myself…
Earlier this week, I saw a video on Facebook that the Chicago Cubs, like many teams, had an intrasquad scrimmage at Wrigley Field. They had the stadium lights on, the scoreboards lit up and had public address announcer Andrew Belleson announcing in the same manner he would for a game. It was actually pretty neat, especially in a nostalgic place like Wrigley. My favorite part of it, though, was when Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras blasted a moon shot home run, off of OVER PRICED and OVERHYPED relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel. Looks to me like the unorthodox closer is picking up where he left off at the end of last season. Being a Brewers fan, I never thought I would ever enjoy seeing a Cubs player hit a ball into the famous bleachers at Wrigley; there is a first time for everything I guess. …
With the Big 10 and PAC 12 Conference’s decision that was announced on Thursday, to only play the in-conference portion of the their 14 teams’ football schedules, said decision is writing on the wall ladies and gentlemen. The current coronavirus pandemic will more likely than not put an end to the college football season, or fall NCAA sports in general. The Ivy League already canceled all fall sports for 2020, and now this decision by the Big 10 and PAC 12……. This is the beginning of the end if you ask me; maybe I am wrong and it would be fine if I was about this. Only time will tell I guess …
Hard to believe how time flies, how fast years, even decades seem to pass us by. It was 20 years ago this week, that I was on the home stretch of a six-month deployment in the US Navy, stationed onboard the USS Oak Hill LSD51, and we were ported in Haifa, Israel. I remember it being 99 degrees at midnight on the Fourth of July, as I was on a pay phone with my parents, who were seven time zones away at home in Norway, preparing to go to the annual parade, down Main Street in downtown Norway. The hot and muggy weather we’ve had in this area the past nine days or so, brought back that vivid memory. …