Posted on 06/06/2005 9:05:16 AM PDT by Asphalt
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- This is my AFC prediction column, and you're probably wondering: What is that weird dateline doing on the AFC prediction column? Well, I came to Wisconsin over the weekend to take the temperature of Brett Favre and gauge his readiness for a 14th season in Green Bay, so it just happens to be where I am right now.
Favre interlude: The Packers QB holds an annual benefit softball game in this little suburb of Appleton, Wis., a 30-minute drive from Lambeau Field. He does it here because this is where the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Midwest League Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, play in a nice little venue called Fox Cities Stadium.
Favre looked good. Said he weighs 224 pounds and just finished a five-week, five-day-a-week workout regimen with former Notre Dame strength and conditioning man Ken Kroener down in Mississippi. The Packers paid for the training because they think Favre needs to be in better condition to withstand the rigors of an NFL season than he was last year. Which Favre, basically, confirmed. "People made a big deal of this," he told me, sitting at a locker in the Timber Rattlers' spartan clubhouse, "but I do feel better. This time last year, I hadn't really done anything."
Favre's conditioning program included stretching, body-weight lunges. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
yep
i believe so....
I hope so...
Hell I wish they were releasing him...
I hope you weren't trying to say that southeastern fans don't take their football seriously. People get off for work in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee on signing day and sit outside the the athletic association building to watch the whiteboards that list when a recruit has signed with the school.
College football reigns supreme in the southeast. With UGA, GA Tech, Clemson, Auburn and South Carolina so close, many of the "real" football fans just aren't going to fit both of the games in.
If a pro team sucks for a long time, a lot of people just aren't going to attend the games if they have other football options.
Which is why dome teams falter in the post season without home field advantage.
Did you catch the little rant Winslow Sr. went on the other day?
Tee Martin's backfield consisted of Jamaal Lewis, Travis Henry and Travis Stephens.
Peyton Manning didn't lose those games, Phil Fulmer did.
As a faithful Patriots fan for 35 years....I fear the Colts this season. Unless Belechick has some other magic up his sleeve, Manning and Company will be ready for the Pats by years end. If they aren't, then they haven't the character I think they have.
It was on of those rare moments in pro football that fans still discuss decades later.
Of course, Cowboy fans have their own crosses to bear. There's Bart Starr's quarterback sneak, and Dwight Clark's "The Catch."
If they aren't willing to go watch a bad football team play in bad weather they aren't serious, at least not about that level of football. As you point out the south east really ruled by college and even high school football, that kind of makes them fair weather fans when it comes to the NFL. Can't say as I blame them there's a lot of good college and high school football played down there, no reason to pay more for worse. But within the NFL compare them to the NFC North (formerly NFC Central), teams that have had long stretches of serious sucking and not much difficulty getting butts in the seats regardless of the weather. I think for some of those years there was a large body of fans who took pride in being demonstrably tougher and more dedicated to football than their team.
What about Tom Brown picking off Meredith in the 1966 NFL title game?
If they couldn't beat us last year with our decimated secondary then they've got even less of a chance this season.
New England is a safe pick, but anyone who puts their hopes on the Vikings knows how that will turn out.
You sound like a Viking fan. I say this because it sounds like me every year. They're like the GOP, you just know they're gonna do something stupid.
Well they've got the Colts at home at night in early November. There's a good chance the weather will be on their side. And by the playoffs the weather will definitely be on their side.
It's not really a matter of being ready. Part of their problem in the playoffs against the Pats last year is that they were very much ready... for the game Belichick called earlier in the season. I'm not really sure how a finese football team gets truly ready to play against a smashmouth team outdoors on grass in nasty weather. I doubt in this off season Dungy is going to completely re-invent the team to make them play something other than finese football, and in the end what it's going to boil down to for the Colts offense is watching the Pats offense run dink and dunk 7 minute drives against that mediocre Colts defense. And with the way they're spending money on the offense there's no way the Colts D will be anything but mediocre for the next 4 years or more.
Now that you've clarified what you meant, I agree. For 20 years the Falcons just seemed so clueless that it turned off the fans. The locals were used to football being played at a championship level in the high school and college ranks in the southeast so it was very distrubing to see a clueless and inept professional franchise.
Instead, the locals preferred to follow the Cowboys, Steelers, Dolphins and Raiders.
This is true of almost any team though. The Patriots fans are everywhere now, but where were they in they late 80s to mid 90s?
The Bears games in Chicago are a tradition but professional football in Chicago has been played a lot longer than in many other cities. The Bears also have a rich history - many younger teams like the Falcons just don't have a rich history to build on.
It's going to be interesting to see if they'll be able to keep Freeney when his contract runs out.
Some of it's history, some of it's just general team loyalty. I never heard the Pats having a hard time getting butts in the chair, but New England (Boston really) sports fans are long suffering, they're used to supporting bad teams with no chance of a championship. And a lot of it is the area, Chicago is a general sports town, as long as management doesn't completely screw up anybody there can sell out. Denver is an NFL football town, the Broncos will always sell out. The south east runs strong in football, but not NFL football, that makes for fair weather fans. Arizona has no true sports tradition, we're totally fair weather fans for anything at any level.
The Patriots would only draw well when the team was good. It wasn't until the Parcells-Bledsoe era did they start selling out every game. Even if they do go back to being a bad team I think they've established themselves now so they'll still sell out their home games.
I didn't say my prediction made sense. I want that rematch.
We almost had it two years ago.
That was my impression as well. When a team builds a winning tradition, then the fans will keep coming. Teams that have been mediocre forever aren't going to sell out no matter where the team is located.
Denver has been very competitive for the last 20 years.
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