PRESTON TO THE PACK

My roommate and best friend from college is a HUGE Buffalo Bills fan. So when I heard the Packers were interested in Duke Preston, I immediately went to him for his insight into the former Bill center. His response, and I quote, "When the Bills don't resign a player it is for one of two reasons. Either they can't afford him, or he's so bad that even they don't want him. Good luck." Clearly he feels Preston fits into the latter. Not good enough to be on the Buffalo Bills? Ouch. Many people are high on his combination of size and athleticism, however, so we will see if he can give Scott Wells a run for his money at the center position. He's also a possibility at the guard positions.

STILL PLAYERS AVAILABLE TO FILL HOLES

While Ted Thompson insists that he is confident in the Packers' roster as is, many people still feel that there are holes that need to be filled in order to improve on 2008's 6-10 record. Offensive tackle, the defensive line, and cornerback are three of the main areas of concern, and Jeff Maillet pointed out this morning that there are still many quality free agents who can fit Titletown USA's needs. This includes offensive tackle Orlando Pace (a former number one draft pick), Tank Johnson and Darwin Walker who are slated as defensive tackles but fit the size mold of an end in the 3-4, and Ken Lucas and Chris McAlister who are both aging like Al Harris and Charles Woodson, but could definitely be temporary help for a team that has a chance to win now. Call me crazy for thinking that the Packers can win right now after going 6-10 in '08, but at a majority of positions, the talent is there. If these few holes are filled and the team stays healthy, unlike last season, the Pack is right back in the running for the NFC North.

GET TO KNOW THE POSSIBLE FUTURE

Wanna get to know possible future Packers? ESPN has an assortment of videos that feature many prospects in the upcoming 2009 NFL draft that is now only a month away. Names that have been linked to the Packers that are featured in these videos include Andre Smith, Brian Orakpo, Alphonso Smith, Aaron Maybin, D.J. Moore, and Michael Oher.

THOSE DARNED ACL'S

Two players important to the Packers over the last few years are notably trying to recover from ACL surgeries. Nick Barnett, according to Mike McCarthy, is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a surgery that took place only 17 weeks ago. He suffered the injury in a November 9th game at Minnesota, and while it was originally only diagnosed as a bruise or a sprain, depending one where you read, but the torn ligament ended his 2008 season. Barnett's been spending part of his off-season in Arizona with his family but he has been working hard and his rehab has been progressing very well.

Mark Tauscher is a different story. He too suffered a torn ACL, on December 7th vs Houston. His rehab has not been moving along as well as Barnett's, according to coach Mike McCarthy who has been in constant contact with the Wisconsin alum who will be 32 by the time the 2009 season starts. Coach McCarthy also says he doesn't believe Tauscher would be ready to play before October 1st. This is important because he is currently a free agent, and that leaves a whole at the right tackle spot, at least for the first month of the season if not the whole season if they decide to not resign him. While the team has many young offensive lineman on the roster, none have proven to be ready to start at the right tackle spot. Options include Breno Giacomini, Tony Moll, and possible rookies taken in next months draft.

Other notes on the injury front: Cullen Jenkins is recovering from a torn pectoral muscle and arthroscopic surgery on his ankle. McCarthy says that he is looking good but cannot do everything yet. He would consider it a bonus if he was ready any time before training camp. And finally, oft injured and yet to prove his worthiness of the 16th overall pick in the 2007 draft, Justin Harrell has not been cleared to participate in all physical activities yet, but pain is apparently no longer an issue. 2009 looks to be Harrell's shot at proving he belongs. With the switch to the 3-4, his size at 310 pounds slates him to be a run stopping defensive end, and the lack of depth on the defensive line will give him all of the opportunities he could need to show the organization and fans why he was picked so high two years ago.

MORE REAL FOOTBALL, LESS THIRD STRING QUARTERBACKS LOOKING LIKE STARS

::cough cough:: Brett Ratliff ::cough cough::... According to Shutdown Corner (via the New York Times), this May, owners will vote to lengthen the regular season. Roger Goodell explains this is part of "increasing value" in the struggle to generate more revenue in the current economic times. I like the decision more for the fact that it gets rid of one preseason game, because four is way too many for a few reasons. First, the more preseason games you play, the more likely one of your starters is going to get hurt. Second, with four games, players like Brett Ratliff build up an organization and fan base's hope that he can be a legitimate NFL quarterback by playing four times against third string defenses. Slow down New York, he's still a number 3. Finally, it's just not exciting football, and nobody watches after the first quarter when starters are pulled. The decision to increase the regular season to 17 or 18 games, while it won't go into effect any earlier than 2011, is a whole new issue of its own.

While yes, the NFL could probably make more money by increasing the amount of meaningful regular season games, the history of the game and the players should be taken into account. Many sports record books have been skewed by the increase in games played each season for years now, and the NFL would only be adding to that. Also, football is a very rough and physical sport, and playing up to 22 games in one season (18 regular season, wild card round, divisional round, conference championship, and Super Bowl) could ruin the careers of some of the sports greatest stars. In sport, however, you can never forget that most decisions are made from a business standpoint, so expect by 2011 that teams will be playing these extra one or two regular season contests.

WILLIE DAVIS AND THREE IN A ROW

Cheesehead TV has been putting up videos that they shot during Fan Fest a couple weeks ago, and many have been interesting. Today's brought back some childhood memories, and it also linked to something very interesting that I had never heard before.

As I've stated before, my love for the Packers, both now and when I was very young, is immeasurable. Especially for a kid who has never lived any closer than 875 or so miles from Green Bay (and I've only been that close for college). I had a video that I watched religiously called "Three In A Row" about the Packers teams in 1965, 1966, and 1967. What type of little kid has two thumbs and would care so much about a team that was more than 30 years ago? ::Picture me pointing both thumbs toward myself:: This guy! The likes of Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderly, and Willie Davis were commonplace to me as a five year old. And today's video that CTV posted features Willie Davis. Clearly he is a Packer legend, and CTV mentions that he was the only guest speaker to receive a standing ovation. They also link to an archived section of letters to Lee Remmel, the famed and now retired 62-year employee of the Pack, who mentioned a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association said this of Davis' time with the green and gold, which occurred before sacks were an official statistic: "... Research indicates Davis had in excess of 100 sacks during his 10-year Green Bay career (1960-69), 'possibly more than 120,' including a minimum of 40 over the 1963-65 seasons alone." Also, Davis himself says that Paul Hornung reminded him that he had 25, yes twenty five, sacks in one season.

Wow. Standing ovation for Davis from 875 miles away for this.

WHILE THOMPSON RECEIVES CONSTANT CRITIQUE, NFL USES PACK AS EXAMPLE

Because the Packers are a publicly owned entity, their financial records are open for anyone to see. This leads to the NFLPA using them as an example for how much other teams make, and it appears that the Pack is quite an exemplary franchise. While Ted Thompson continually receives criticism for his offseason strategies (myself semi-included), Fox Sports highlights his way of work.

MORE DRAFT SPECULATION... AND DISAGREEMENT ON MY PART

This morning as I was going through my usual set of Packers links, I realized that on ESPN they had two videos projecting who the Packers would take at the number nine overall pick in the draft next month. While they are between a week and two old, I will say now that I just can't agree with either choice that Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal or Todd McShay of ESPN projects for the team.

First, Wilde was being interviewed for ESPN's First Take and projected Malcolm Jenkins, the cornerback from Ohio State. A few months ago, I could have agreed with this pick. Currently, not so much. Cornerback, if you find a good one, is not that difficult of a position to transition into the NFL at. Especially not as hard as other ones such as offensive tackle, defensive line, and someone trying to learn outside linebacker in the 3-4. These other positions have a big adjustment either due to a change in size and speed of their opponents and completely learning a new position in a new system. Corners don't seem to have such a hard time adjusting in the pros. Al Harris and Charles Woodson still each had good years in 2008, and while I know they are getting old, they proved they can still play, and the corner position can be put on the backburner either until later in the draft or next year. That is why I find it hard to believe that the Pack will take Jenkins at number nine, especially if, as the mock draft that Wilde participated in shows (above), B.J. Raji and Everette Brown are still on the board. Also, Michael Oher, while this mock draft has him already taken, has moved onto the Packers radar as an offensive tackle and he will get the chance this Thursday to prove himself to be a top ten pick at Mississippi's pro day.


Todd McShay disagrees with Wilde. He has the Packers leaning towards my defensive front seven and offensive tackle needs, but he decides to go with Aaron Maybin of Penn State. While his stock was very high during his last season at PSU, his combine wasn't very impressive, and that has dropped his stock on many draft boards. I like that McShay didn't put too much of his own stock into the combine here by still projecting Maybin at number nine, because I agree that the combine has come to be blown out of proportion. However, I see Everette Brown's size advantage over Maybin to aid in his switch to outside linebacker in the 3-4. Also, McShay has Michael Oher still on the board here at number nine, and if he can have a good pro day on Thursday, he can prove himself worthy of the Packers pick.

DAAAA BEARS

Well, the title of my blog is "Beers, Brats, and Beating the Bears" and the Packers will get the shot to do just that on opening weekend in the 2009 NFL season! The Packers have the featured Sunday night game on NBC for opening weekend as they play host to the Chicago Bears. Also, it was announced that they will face the Lions on Thanksgiving in the early afternoon game. That's two primetime games already for the Pack, which means that the powers that be in the NFL and in TV both think that they will be a big draw in 2009. Exciting. This also means I still have a 7 in 15 shot of them having a home game on October 18th! Very exciting!

FAN MEMORIES AND MY PLAN

This morning I was browsing through my normal assortment of Packers sources online. On the Packers official website, there was a link to a feature they will be running called Packer Fan Memories. It's self explanatory. Basically, fans can submit up to 100 words and a picture that tell of their best memories as a fan of the green and gold, and the organization (or the people who run the website) will choose a certain amount of submissions each week to feature on the page. I've only been to one Packers game, and that was at Giants Stadium in 2007 when Brett Favre broke John Elway's career wins record for quarterbacks. This section of the website, however, prompted me to submit my plan that will hopefully result in many memories, a plan that I came up with back in January. I will now share that plan with you, my readers (or lack there of).

Next year I will be finishing my undergraduate degree, so my time in the "not so real world" is coming to an end. I have always enjoyed traveling, especially driving. While I was back home in January I decided that I needed to do something crazy before I have to enter the real world. I've never made the typical college spring break trip, I haven't really made trips to visit friends from high school at the colleges they attend, and I have constantly wondered if I made the wrong decision by not going to a big time school with division one NCAA athletics, ie Wisconsin. My passion is for sports, and I want to work in the sport industry after graduation, and Ithaca, NY and Ithaca College's small-time division three athletics just have not filled my appetite for big time college sports. I knew what my "something crazy" during college would be: A roadtrip to Wisconsin over my four day weekend (Fall Break) in October, praying that both the Badgers and Packers have home games for me to attend in Camp Randall Stadium and Lambeau Field. How would an extremely poor college student like myself pull this trip off (considering I pay for all of tuition, rent, utilities, car insurance, repairs, etc. by myself)? Yes, that's right, piggy banks.

Over my winter break I realized that I had a collection coin banks that I have been accumulating since I was a baby (one was even actually a blue plastic pig with my name surrounded by stars in teal, clearly something I got when I was very young). Another was Mickey Mouse. Another, a Green Bay Packers helmet. I would break all of these piggy banks, count the change, and continue collecting as much change as possible in order to finance my planned trip the weekend of October 17th and 18th.

The next step, once I came up with this crazy idea, was to see if the plan would even work. My break begins on Wednesday the 14th after classes, and it would end on Monday the 19th when classes resume in the morning. I needed to check the team's schedules. Wisconsin's works out perfectly. The 17th is the Badgers homecoming against Iowa. What about the Packers? The NFL doesn't release schedules usually until some time in April, so unfortunately, going to Lambeau is still in question, but I pray every day that the NFL wants this trip to work for me.

So the trip to Madison is a definite, Lambeau is in question, but next was calculating how much the trip should cost and then counting the money I had in those banks.

According to Mapquest, the trip from Ithaca, NY to Madison to Green Bay and back to Ithaca is 1837.79 miles, so I figure about 1900 miles in traveling, through finding places to stay, hopefully with family. The calculated total estimated fuel cost, also according to mapquest, is $169.56 for the 1837 miles. However, I estimate about $225 to be safe (1900 miles, 23 mpg even though my car is supposed to get 25 highway, and gas at $2.75, while the national average is currently much lower). Because my best friend from college has agreed that this is something he wants to experience as well, splitting that in half means about $115 per person for gas. The next step is finding tickets to each game.

Currently on StubHub, the least expensive ticket to Wisconsin's homecoming game against Iowa is $111, which is more than I'd like to spend, but I have vowed to make this trip. While I will work on trying to find someone within my family, or a friend of the family who can get these tickets for cheaper, I need to assume for my own purpose that I will pay around $125 for my ticket. That raises the cost to $240 for the trip. While the Packers haven't actually announced their schedule because the NFL is still sorting them out, if the Packers do play at Lambeau on October 18th, I have looked at the range of the lowest priced tickets for each home game on StubHub so far. They range from $127 to $234. This could therefore move the trip to potentially between $380 and $480. Just like with the game in Madison, I will try to find a less expensive way to find tickets to this game, although I know that will be hard. Adding in food and other assorted costs, the trip should be somewhere between $450 and $550 dollars if paying full price for tickets to both games. But how much do I have set aside so far?

As of the last time I counted the change, I had approximately $450 between the few coin banks I have had. So if I assume I can amass together $50 more through saving all change I get from all purchases I make and paychecks I receive this summer, I can account for $500 to put towards this trip. Here is my breakdown of potential costs of the trip, moving from least expensive to most expensive:

IF WE CAN FIND SOMEONE WITH TICKETS TO BOTH GAMES THAT WILL GRACIOUSLY GIVE THEM TO US: $185-$200.

IF WE CAN FIND SOMEONE WITH TICKETS TO THE PACKERS GAME THAT WILL GRACIOUSLY GIVE THEM TO US: $225-$325

IF WE CAN FIND SOMEONE WITH TICKETS TO THE PACKERS GAME THAT WILL GIVE THEM TO US FOR FACE VALUE: $285-$425

IF WE CAN FIND SOMEONE WITH TICKETS TO THE WISCONSIN GAME THAT WILL GIVE THEM TO US FOR FACE VALUE: $305-$355

IF WE CAN FIND SOMEONE WITH TICKETS TO THE WISCONSIN GAME THAT WILL GRACIOUSLY GIVE THEM TO US: $325-$425

IF WE SPEND FULL STUBHUB PRICE ON TICKETS TO BOTH GAMES: $450-$550

Ah, well, quite a post here. Maybe it will actually spark some interest and attract some readers! Or some help! I think it's an interesting story, but who knows. We'll see! What's most important is that the NFL makes the Packers play a home game on October 18th so this whole trip can come together! Please Roger Goodell, I'm begging you...

NICK COLLINS, TONY GONZALEZ, AND A "TO DO" LIST

So the word has already spread that Nick Collins hasn't shown up in Green Bay for the beginning of the offseason program. That is interesting considering he is currently under contract, and Tramon Williams, who has yet to sign his exclusive rights tender to remain with the team, is taking part in the strength portion of the program. Collins obviously wants the Packers to look into extending his contract now, after a Pro Bowl season in 2008, rather than risking his production going down in the new 3-4 and losing out on money. However, Aaron over at Cheesehead TV doesn't think that signing Collins should be in the top six (that's as far as he goes) of Ted Thompson's offseason priorities. I agree, but think that they should try to get it done at some point, but not rush and overpay because he still needs to prove he will be the same player in the new defense. Resigning Greg Jennings is the obvious choice at the top of Aaron's list, as well as Ted Thompson's according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Moving down along CTV's list at number four is trading for Tony Gonzalez, which Packergeeks has also posted about today. The Packers have been talked about as one of the top possible destinations all along, since the rumors of a Gonzalez trade came about during the 2008 season. Packergeeks says that Thompson should be willing to give up a second rounder for Gonzalez, but I completely disagree. Gonzalez is still a top notch tight end, definitely still in the top 5 in the league. But he is 33 years old, and only has a few more years left in his career. While some help at the tight end position could benefit the offense, with the switch to the 3-4, the defense and bringing in players that fit the new mold is a much greater need. The offensive tackle spot needs to be figured out before we go out and trade a second rounder for a tight end. I wouldn't mind possibly a third rounder, because in the first two rounds we could go for a defensive front seven player and a tackle (or possibly two front seven-ers), but any earlier is paying too high of a price for a position that isn't nearly the glaring need that these others appear to be.