TWEET, AND NOT THAT CARTOON BIRD

Twitter is the new thing to do. I mean, everybody's doing it (except me I guess). Railbird Central informed Packers fans that Nick Barnett has an account on the site that encourages you to let people know what you're doing. Athletes like Charlie Villanueva and Shaquille O'Neal have become well known for their use of Twitter. Villanueva "tweeted" during halftime of a Bucks game vs the Celtics. O'Neal recently tweeted, "Anybody in portland touches me rt now will get two tickets I'm at redstar cafe," and later updated fans that "100 people n the prtland area just came for tickets wow portland twitterers r niiiiiice." Clearly, fans pay attention to this. Nick Barnett has been using his to update fans of his rehab progress and also, like O'Neal, just the general "where are you" or "what are you doing." This morning, Barnett tweeted "Going to meet capers today I'll tell you guys later what I think." And after really looking into Twitter for this post, I can guarantee I'll be checking back with Barnett later to see what he thought of the new Defensive Coordinator.

VIDEO OF RYAN MOATS SAGA

As many football fans have heard the story already, Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats was pulled over by a policeman outside of a hospital while his mother-in-law took her last breaths. The video of incident was either leaked or released onto the internet, and I came across it on Yahoo! Sports' Shutdown Corner blog. This cop disgusts me and should be fired immediately, and he should never be given a chance to be in a position of power like this again. Racist pig. Check the video here. See more about this story here.

PRESEASON OPPONENTS ANNOUNCED

Yesterday, the NFL released the 2009 preseason schedule. The Packers schedule is quite peculiar to me. In order, they host the Browns and Bills, then travel to Arizona and Tennessee. Why would the NFL schedule the Browns and the Cardinals during the preseason if they were already set to square off during the regular season? Also, why does the Pack have to travel to Arizona TWICE now? Their regular season match-up is going to be in Glendale as well. While I'm not a professional athlete and I can't speak from experience, I'm sure the miles add up over time. In 2007, when the Packers went 13-3, they flew just 10,738 miles during the regular season (fourth fewest in the league), and that was more than a 6,000 mile drop off from their 8-8 season in '06. While it's clear that more than the traveling contributed to the different seasons' outcomes, I'm sure it had its impact.

BRIAN BROHM GETTING SOME FACE, OR WORD, TIME ON PACKER BLOGS

Both Cheesehead TV and Ol' Bag of Donuts have posted about Brian Brohm over the past couple of days, and Adam over at OBOD does a great job trying to look into Ted Thompson's thought process behind choosing Brohm in last years second round. CTV links to Adam's post, but gives a bit of their own insight as well.

Going into the 2008 draft I thought that Aaron Rodgers had a good chance of being a solid NFL quarterback, but with only one game of experience, I was nowhere near confident enough to rest the full future of the Green Bay Packers on his shoulders. When Ted Thompson took Brohm in the second round, I was ecstatic. Just a year earlier, if he had left Louisville after his junior season, he was being considered as a top 10 pick in the draft. Here are his stat lines from his three years as the primary starter for the Cardinals:

Sophomore: 68.8 completion percentage, 2,883 yards, 19 TD 5 INT - missed 2 games, injury
Junior: 63.4 completion percentage, 3,049 yards, 16 TD 5 INT - missed 3 games, injury
Senior: 65.1 completion percentage, 4,024, 30 TD 12 INT

Yes, Brohm struggled during the 2008 preseason, and that caused him to lose out the number two QB position to Matt Flynn. But as CTV points out, "Brohm was in with a bunch of second and third level guys against a lot of number ones, while Flynn was in against scrubs almost exclusively." I find it hard to believe that a player like Brohm, who was always considered a great NFL quarterback prospect in college, with the tools and size (6'4", 228) that he has, showed his true abilities last season. Although his teams' success tailed off after coach Bobby Petrino left Louisville, what Brohm himself did in his senior season under a new head coach was quite remarkable. With all-do-respect to Matt Flynn, I expect Brohm to come prepared to camp in '09 and win back the number 2 QB position.

WHY I'VE AGAIN BEEN SO QUIET

Again over the past week, my posts have become few and far between, but I promise it has been for good reason:



That is now what you'll find when you search my name on ESPN.com. While I continue to pursue my undergraduate degree, I get busy with school and classwork quite often, especially when I am in the process of producing, shooting, and editing stories for ESPN. So forgive me, I was spending my time well and being productive, and I may have a few more to show in the near future. But check those out, and back to Packers blogging!

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.