FINALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL, BUT GONNA BE A BUSY SUMMER

So it's been over a week since my last post, and I promise to try to not let that happen again this summer. I'm done with school so I'm at home and have already begun working, and I'm going to be a slave to jobs this summer trying to make as much money and do as much as I can to bulk up my resume. I'm glad that this busy week I just had came when it did, so I didn't have to follow up close the Brett Favre situation. As a huge Favre fan, I can't handle it. I even got the point that I said some pretty bad things about him, because I just cannot believe that he is even considering Minnesota. I mean, c'mon, after playing nearly his entire career with the Packers, becoming a beloved icon to Packer fans, football fans, and the entire state of Wisconsin, he wants to cross the borders and wear purple and yellow? Please God, do not let him make this mistake.

Anyways, I'll be bartending a lot this summer as well as trying to bulk up my resume working for a Cape Cod-like summer collegiate baseball league, but I will try to find as much time as possible for the Packers and my blog.

The Journal Sentinel is reporting that Quinn Johnson should step right in as the starting fullback because of his old-school style of bruising lead blocking. The JS also says that B.J. Raji, out of respect for Ryan Pickett, will accept playing the 5 technique, or defensive end, at points during the season, which is good to hear that Raji has some respect. Nick Collins hasn't been present with the team for a while now, but it is not believed to be simply over contract extension issues. Reportedly there is a very serious family situation that is keeping him away, and I hope that everything is alright for Nick and his family. I checked up on Nick Barnett's Twitter recently and, as I have also seen this on other athletes Twitters, he was eating fast food yesterday. Man, if I could afford to eat fast food and still maintain the physical shape and physique that these guys do, I'd die for it. But yeah, not so much.

Well that's about all I have for right now. I'll do my best to post as often as possible. Go Pack go!

FINALS WEEK

Alright well it's finals week now, so expect a slow week from me. I apologize, but I basically have a pretty much impossible paper. Expect things to pick back up possibly later this week or right at the beginning of next week. Let's just spend our week praying we don't have to see Brett in purple. That's all for now.

HAPPY MAY!

Oh, summer is in the air. Yesterday was my last day of classes as a junior undergrad student, and by this time next week, I'll be on my way home to Long Island for a wonderful summer of working my butt off in order to afford school next year. Yesterday, the Packers announced the numbers that all of the drafted rookies will be wearing in Green Bay (via the Journal-Sentinel blog):

90 - B.J. Raji
52 - Clay Matthews
70 - T.J. Lang
45 - Quinn Johnson
69 - Jamon Meredith
94 - Jarius Wynn
33 - Brandon Underwood
59 - Brad Jones

Exciting stuff for those desiring new jerseys. I honestly haven't gotten a new Packers jersey since at least 2002, and I still have the same Starter brand Brett Favre green. My plans, when I actually have the money to do so, is to get an Aaron Rodgers white #12, but who knows when that will actually happen.

Also, the construction of Nitschke Field is getting close to finished. Plans are for it to be done just in time for training camp at the end of July.

The Packers are looking into newly released former Cardinal Travis LaBoy. I think this makes a lot of sense if you can sign him for the minimum or near-minimum. He is coming off of biceps surgery, but in five years in Arizona had 23.5 sacks and could provide better competition with Clay Matthews than Brady Poppinga.

Many people in the Packer blogosphere prefer Mike Maycock of the NFL Network to Mel Kiper and Todd McShay of ESPN, and our favoritism gained validity during the NFL draft. From MJD at Shutdown Corner, "Mike Mayock is the mack daddy of mock drafting." In a scoring system explained on MJD's post, Maycock got 10 out of 32 of the first round picks correct, while Kiper got 8.5 and McShay only got 6.

The first video of Madden 2010 gameplay has been leaked, and I found it over on First Cuts (The Sporting News). This is one of the few video games that I still spend money on, so I was very excited to get to see the new gang tackles in this years game.

Nick Barnett has been a very good and consistent "tweeter." This morning he posted a "twit pic" of his wife on a plane. Quite a funny caption for all of the worries going around about the Swine Flu. "Is my wife parinoid or being safe on plane with the new swine flu?" Actually, it's not really that funny at all. But this is a football blog, I'll stay away from medical issues.

Well that's about it for the morning here on Beers, Brats, and Beating the Bears. I might check back in later this afternoon, but if not, have a great first weekend of May! Hope the weather is beautiful wherever you are.

OF COURSE, IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN THAT EASILY

Yes, that's right, the Jets have released Brett Favre. Yes, he is technically retired, but now what? If he comes back, he is free to go wherever he would want to go (aka Minnesota if interested). I, however, truly believe that he is done. You can probably count me as the lone believer. Some people may argue he doesn't want to go out after having the type of end to a season that he did with the Jets last year, but as I watched him play those last few games, you could tell something was different. The fire was gone, and I'm praying that he is too, as much as I never wanted his career to come to an end. It's been a joy Brett, even last year, but please don't drag it on again.

BEARS DRAFT A ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHAMPION

No, really, they did. Al Afalava was listed in Oregon State's media guide as the team's 2007 Rock, Paper, Scissors champion. Not really much to say here, just a lot of laughing on my part. Hope others enjoy this story as much as I do. Only 137 days until Packers vs Bears on Opening Weekend 2009!

LIST OF ALL NEW PLAYERS WITH THE PACK

Ok so now that I've taken a few days off (it was way too nice outside to be in at the computer all weekend, between 80 and 90 degrees and beautiful, which is rare in Ithaca, NY), I'm back with a list of all of the players that the Packers have either drafted, signed, or have announced plans to bring in for tryouts in the past few days.

DRAFTED (8):
DT B.J. Raji - Boston College
OLB Clay Matthews - USC
OL T.J. Lang - Eastern Michigan
FB Quinn Johnson - LSU
OL Jamon Meredith - South Carolina
DE Jarius Wynn - Georgia
CB Brandon Underwood - Cincinatti
LB Brad Jones - Colorado

SIGNED AS UNDRAFTED FA (10):
T Andy Hartline - Central Michigan
DE Ron Talley - Delaware
WR Andy Brodel - Iowa
WR Kole Heckendorf - North Dakota State
WR Jamarko Simmons - Western Michigan
WR JaRon Harris - South Dakota State
RB Tyrell Sutton - Northwestern
TE Carson Butler - Michigan
WR Patrick Williams - Colorado
OL Evan Dietrich-Smith - Idaho State

INVITED TO TRYOUTS (SO FAR 2):
QB David Johnson - Tulsa
QB Brian Johnson - Utah

I won't say much here, but how "Ted Thompsonish" is that? For the first time in the history of the universe he didn't draft a wide receiver, so he decides to go out and sign 5, yes FIVE, undrafted free agent wideouts. Ya gotta love it.

ATHLETES TWEET

While this isn't directly Packers related, it is something I find to be pretty cool. Recently, I had started trying to find out what athlete's "Tweet", or use the site Twitter. I couldn't find anywhere a list of all of the athletes, until today, when I found AthleteTweets.com. Its homepage updates as each and every athlete included on their list on the right side of the page Tweets. Nick Barnett is the only Packer I have found to date that uses the site, but he does it very often and this is a perfect tool for the athletes to get what they want to say out into the media without anyone altering it.

BEERS, BRATS, AND BEATING THE BEARS LINKED TO ON CHEESEHEAD TV

Yesterday, as I went through my usual list of Packers sources (newspapers, blogs, websites) I came across a post on Ol' Bag of Donuts which stated the same case that I had back in February. Naturally, I commented on their post saying "Thank you for noticing this as well. I thought I was the only one." And I linked to my post. Cheesehead TV later posted on the same topic, linking back to Ol' Bag of Donuts, US!, and the piece on CBSSports that orginally triggered my post on the topic.

I posted a comment back to Aaron of CTV thanking him greatly for linking to my post. As far as I know, this was the first time anyone ever has. I doubt I have had any/many readers at all previous to this, and maybe this link could boost the viewership of Beers, Brats, and Beating the Bears! Thanks again Aaron, and on with Beers, Brats, and Beating the Bears!

THE ODDS ON THE NUMBER 9 PICK ARE OUT

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel included in his SportsDay article today that the odds of who the Packers are going to take with the number 9 pick have been released. B.J. Raji leads the way, followed by Brian Orakpo and Aaron Maybin.

I'M SHAKING IN MY BOOTS

Although it had already been leaked onto the internet because of a mistakenly released toy truck, the new Detroit Lions logo was officially revealed yesterday. I don't know about everybody else, but the the ferocity of the new lion has me forgetting all about that 0-16 season they had last year. I'm even worried that they might win a game. I mean, come on Detroit, it's just like MJD said over at Shutdown Corner.

When you're coming off an 0-16 season, rarely is the logo at the top of anyone's list of concerns. For example, no one in Detroit had this conversation last year:

Fan 1: Man, we went 0-16. We are awful. This franchise is in terrible shape.
Fan 2: I know. And you know what's worse? Our lion logo doesn't even have a discernible mouth!

I will be there when the Packers get their first shot at taking down these new (and improved? no) Lions on October 18th. I hope Aaron Rodgers doesn't fear the new lion like the University of Maryland suggests you should "Fear [this] Turtle."

ON A FUNNY NOTE

I don't know if fans in Wisconsin feel the same way that I do, but growing up in New York, I have a severe hatred of the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick and his dirty cheating ways have made me despise of that entire franchise. Not to mention Josh McDaniel's running a franchise quarterback out of town the second he got to Denver and sending him along to the Chicago Bears. That is why I find this, via FanIQ, absolutely hilarious.

WITH THE DRAFT COMES BUSTS, WITH BUSTS COMES TONY MANDARICH

As we lead into Saturday's draft, ESPN is covering/talking about/rambling about the NFL draft like none other. Figures though, as they will broadcast it live over the weekend. During Sportscenter, Todd McShay gave his most underrated and most overrated players, which naturally segued into a piece about Tony Mandarich, who I had posted about nearly two months ago.

While I was too young to know much of anything about Mandarich, besides the obvious, the piece that Outside The Lines did for Sportscenter was very interesting. Despite the level of a bust that he was, and the many negative things he said about Green Bay and his time there, you have to feel bad for this guy. Check out OTL's story here.