That's just Favrevolous

As someone who roots for both the Packers and the Jets, this is a strange time for me. My favorite player has been traded from my favorite team... to my second-favorite team.

Sportswriters keep throwing around the divorce analogy when discussing the Packer situation. To carry it out a bit further, it's like your parents get divorced and you're going to keep living with your mom and her new boyfriend, Aaron Rodgers. Your mom seems to be genuinely in love with Aaron but he gives you a weird vibe. It's probably the porn 'stache. Or maybe that time he told you to "get on board now or keep your mouth shut." Awkward!

Meanwhile, on weekends, you'll be staying with dad and his hot new girlfriend, Brett Favre, who wakes up early to make you blueberry pancakes and lets you pick the radio stations and almost never wears a bra.

OK, this analogy is getting a little creepy.

But this trade does leave me with a funny feeling inside.

Objectively, I think it's a good trade for both sides. I thought before the trade the Jets would be a playoff team, probably winning 10 games, thanks to their play fairly easy schedule and revamped offensive line. I think Favre gives them one or maybe two more wins -- and they can't catch New England, but they're a dangerous team in the playoffs. Maybe they lose the AFC Championship game to the Patriots -- undoubtedly on a Favre interception in the final minute. But hey, you live by the Favre, you die by the Favre.

That would mean the Packers get a 2nd Round pick for Favre, which is a great value for a guy you had to trade. And the fact that you got him out of the NFC is a bonus.

I'm not crazy about Rodgers. As I said when this all started, I'd rather trade Rodgers and have one or two more years of Favre, then switch to Brian Brohm. Favre made that impossible, of course, so we have to move on with Rodgers. But that doesn't mean I'm rushing out to buy a No. 12 jersey.

Everyone keeps talking about that great half against the Dallas Cowboys, but remember, that was a Cowboy team with a big lead that had prepared to face Favre, not Rodger the Dodger. Aaron has happy feet in the pocket. The Packers offense is all about timing and routes; that's not going to work if Rodgers is scrambling at the first sign of pressure. I could see the Packers going 9-7, but given the strength of their conference, that might be enough to be a wild card, or even the NFC North title.

Wouldn't it be neat if the Packers played the Jets in the Super Bowl? That'd be the real test for me, wouldn't it? A week ago, no question, I'm rooting for the Packers in that scenario. Now, well... still the Packers, but the devil on my shoulder is hoping Favre sticks it to Ted Thompson one last time.

Yeah, so, in the end, I'm still living with mom and putting up with Aaron. But I'm really looking forward to the weekends.

Ted Thompson plays hard ball

Ted Thompson hasn't ruled out the possibility of Brett Favre playing for the Green Bay Packers this season, but in what he described as a messy situation the general manager remained loyal to Aaron Rodgers as the team's starting quarterback.
-- Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

And people say Brett Favre doesn't like this guy! Thompson sounds like quite the charmer.

If you had "benched for an inferior player" in your "How does Favre's consecutive game streak end?" pool, you might be in for some big bucks.

But although this is the way the story is being reported, let's not take it seriously for a minute. There is absolutely no way Favre comes back as a back-up for Aaron Rodgers. That's just silly.

So what's the point of this? To show Brett who has the hammer. And maybe, if they are exploring the possibility of trading Rodgers, it keeps his value up, at least a little. From Favre's point of view, it gives him the opportunity to say, "I'm still a good guy, I'll do what's best for the team." I'm sure his agent will play that card today or tomorrow. Even if Favre wants to be on another team, he has to do some rehab to his reputation. "Aw shucks I just wanna play football, I'll play linebacker if they need me to do that" is what everyone wants to hear.

But this may work itself out before too long anyway. Rodgers has made Nick Johnson look like Lou Gehrig, with a broken foot in 2006 and a pulled hamstring in 2007. Remember, this guy has never started a game. He's had 59 attempts in four years, almost half of those coming in the Cowboys game, and he's been hurt twice. (Both times oddly coming in weeks after Favre got hurt and was doubtful the following week.)

Would anyone be surprised if the Packers start training camp with Favre and Rodgers "sharing reps," but then Rodgers goes down with a strained oblique or a tweaked groin or Nintendo thumb? Then Peter King can do his huzzahs to the Iron Man and we won't have to hear about Rodgers again until next spring.

Not that I hate Rodgers or anything -- I really don't. I was "on board" when Favre was retired. But if my choice is the grizzle or the 'stache, I'll take the grizzle.

What to do about Brett

For the third straight season, Brett Favre has toyed with the emotions of Packer fans everywhere. Oh, Brett. I don't know how to quit you!

So, what to do in 2008? Frankly, I don't understand this argument that the Packers "owe" the starting job to Aaron Rodgers. Why do we owe anything to A-Rodge? He made a hell of a lot more money than I have since 2005, and we've started the same number of games. As I recall, some people thought Rodgers might go No. 1 in the 2005 draft, other mock drafts had him going anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5 to No. 8. Instead, after a few awkward hours of standing there like the kid picked last in kickball, he went 24th to the Packers. After three years of standing around in a baseball cap (when he wasn't on the trainer's table) and one good relief appearance in a blowout against the Cowboys last year, and now we owe him... what, exactly? Somehow more than we owe Favre?

Also, Aaron's comment about Packer fans -- "I don't think I need to sell myself to the fans. They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut" -- didn't earn him a lot of points, either.

But then there's Favre. He obviously wants to play in the NFL for one more season (at least). But does he really want to be in Green Bay? Or has this been his plan all along, to retire and then unretire as a free agent?

There's two possibilities:

1) Brett wants out of Green Bay and nothing the Packers will do or say will get him to stay and be happy.

2) Brett will come back to the Packers, in which case you have to say screw Aaron Rodgers.

Let's explore Option 1. Can we all agree that in a Favre-less NFL, the Packers are the favorites to repeat as NFC North champs? Yes, we don't know what we have with Rodgers as our QB, but we know the Lions have Jon Kitna, the Bears have Rex Grossman and the Vikings have Tarvaris Jackson. All three of those guys had more INTs than TDs last year.

But if you put Favre on the Bears -- with Devin Hester and their defense -- and they're the division champs. Put him on the Vikings with Adrian Peterson, and they are. (You'd have to get the 1996 version of Favre to help the Lions.)

So I don't see how you let Favre just walk. He's a valuable commodity, first off, and secondly if you let him walk he very likely walks to a rival and maybe takes the NFC North title with him. If it's Option 1 and Brett won't come back, you have to trade him -- the Jets, the Texans, the Panthers, wherever. Favre has a no-trade clause, but the Packers have the hammer -- either agree to the trade, report to Packer camp, or stay retired.

If it's Option 2, and Favre can be convinced to stay in Green Bay for one more season, the answer is obvious: You trade Rodgers.

He's in the fourth year of a five-year contract, so if you bench him in 2008 to sit behind Favre, you figure he's going to be pissed -- and will walk after the 2009 season.

On the other hand, the Packers just drafted Brian Brohm, a guy some people thought would have been the first pick overall if he came out as a junior in 2007. Instead he stays an extra year in college and goes in the second round to the Pack. Now he gets a year of sitting behind Brett and gets thrown into the fire in 2009. Is there any evidence to suggest he'll be that much worse than Rodgers anyway?

Option 2: Favre starts, Brohm learns, Rodgers goes.

Here's hoping.

There are no words...

OK, maybe two: Thanks, Brett.

Damnit. Just damnit.

So when did Eli Manning turn into Ralph Macchio?



How does this suck? Let us count the ways:

• It sucks when your team loses.

• It sucks when your team loses to a team you know you should have beaten.

• It sucks when your team loses to a team you know you should have beaten when you work in an office surrounded by fans of that team.

After every Giant loss I'd heard about how they hated Eli "Fredo" Manning, about how they wanted to fire Tom Coughlin, about how Michael Strahan was a selfish jerk, blah blah blah.

I guess they don't hate Eli any more.

I'm looking forward to next year's 6-10 season so they can all start ripping their team again, but in the meantime I have to endure two weeks of National Public Radio, because there is no way I'm going to listen to Giant fans spending the rest of the month jerking each other off on WFAN. It's going to be bad enough getting hit with the spatter at work.

Gunning down the Cowboys

Who would'a thunk that Eli would be the only Manning playing in the conference championship game?

I guess Tony Romo's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will have to wait, although I don't agree with those who are blaming the loss on him - or Jessica Simpson (or her look-alike). Yes, he threw the INT that ended the game, but the Cowboys had plenty of chances to win this game. The Giants couldn't put the game away in the fourth quarter, having two three-and-outs. In the end, the Cowboys got the ball back with 1:50 on the clock, one time out and 48 yards to go for the game-winning touchdown. I thought for sure we were heading to Texas. But then the Cowboys did an even better job of imploding than the Giants did. Game over.

So don't blame Tony. It's unfair. They lost as a team, man.



As much as I would've liked to avenge our Week 13 loss to the Cowboys, I have to like our chances in Green Bay against the Giants a lot more than another trip to Dallas.

I'm preparing for an onslaught of Eli-Favre comparisons. They both went to school in Mississippi and they're both good ol' boys. Favre married his high school sweetheart; Manning is engaged to his college girlfriend. They'll try to make some kind of "Favre wasn't built in a day" type analogy to Eli. It's funny, when the Giants win everyone loves Eli, but when they lose, he's Fredo Corleone. That's the curse of being a Manning, or a Corleone for that matter. I'm sure Fredo would've found a nice job at his own pace if they'd left him alone, but instead they made him go into the family business.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

I guess Mother Nature is a Packer fan.

After three ugly minutes, the Packers settled down and took care of business yesterday, sending a message with a 42-20 win over the Seahawks.

The Seahawks have a lot of ties to the Packers - coach Mike Holmgren, offensive coordinator Gil Haskell and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck - and if we hadn't knocked them out of the playoffs they'd be the team I'd be rooting for.

It was an ugly first three minutes. You could just sense the sportswriters were already trying to come up with their stories. Hm, should we say the Packers are rusty from their bye week? Or that they're a young team and couldn't handle the post-season pressure? Or maybe they weren't "battle-tested" because they played an easy schedule?

But after spotting them two touchdowns, the Pack roared back. Brett Favre stayed cool, Ryan Grant redeemed himself in a huge way, and Atari Bigby was flying around like a lunatic. It was a great game. Even a vintage Favre "what the hell is he doing?" pass - that stumbling, wobbling, no-look underhanded toss to Donald Lee.



You gotta love it.

Well, that sucked

Last year, the Packers beat the Bears on New Year's Eve and I felt good about it. Yesterday, the Bears beat the Packers and I don't feel bad about it.

Last year's win was meaningless in the big scheme of things -- no matter what happened, the Bears had clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and the Packers had been eliminated from the post-season. But at the time we all thought it was Brett Favre's last game, so it was nice to see him go out a winner. It was nice to finish the season 8-8. And it is always nice to beat the Bears.

Yesterday's loss actually did matter, or at least, could matter. The loss means the Packers can't catch the Cowboys for the No. 1 seed, so if they make it to the NFC Championship game, we'll have to face them in Dallas. Ugh. Of course I'd rather be the No. 1 seed, but at least we now know we can rest everybody next week and we still get the bye. So while I'm not happy we lost, I'm not crying about it either. The Bear fans can celebrate their sweep of the Packers while we're preparing for the playoffs.

Speaking of which... As it stands now, the No. 6 seed will be the Redskins if they beat the Cowboys next week. If they lose, the Vikings are in with a win over Denver. If both lose and the Saints win, New Orleans is in -- but if all three lose, the Redskins are in.

The Giants have locked up the No. 5 seed, the Bucs are the No. 4 seed and Seattle is No. 3. So the sixth-place team -- let's say the Redskins -- will play the Seahawks, while Tampa Bay plays the Giants. If the favorites win, we get to welcome home Mike Holmgren while the Bucs get the Cowboys. Now that they're out of the Packers' division, I don't know much about the Bucs these days, but I'll be cheering like hell for them next month. Jeff Garcia to Joey Galloway! Hoo baby.

Thank you Philadelphia!

For the first time since 4th and 26, I can enjoy Philadelphia Cream Cheese again.

The Eagles pulled off the upset and beat the Cowboys today, and that, coupled with the Packers beating the Rams, ties the two top teams in the NFC at 12-2. Today's win clinched a first-round bye for the Pack; the Cowboys loss means we still have a shot at home-field throughout.

Yeah, by virtue of their ref-aided win against the Pack, the Cowboys have the tiebreaker, so they control their own destiny. We play at the Bears and home against the Lions, while they're at Carolina (on Saturday night) and at Washington.

We shouldn't need any motivation for a game against the Bears, but the Packers should come out flying after they beat us at Lambeau earlier this year. And imagine how fired up the Packers will be on Sunday afternoon if the Cowboys lose against the Panthers the night before?

The good news is we have a shot at home field throughout, which, after watching the debacle in Texas Stadium a couple weeks ago, can't be underestimated. The bad news is we can't rest anybody next week. But hey, that's what the bye week is for.

Despite the final score (33-14) and the accolades for Brett Favre breaking Dan Marino's yardage record, this game was pretty close until about midway through the third quarter, when Favre hit Greg Jennings for a big TD to make it 27-14.

Steven Jackson had a huge game. A couple times I did the fist pump after seeing him get tackled after "only" five or six yards. Marc Bulger also had a better game than it would look in the boxscore, as both his INTs to Atari Bigby were flukey tipped balls. Don't get me wrong, the Packers should have won the game, but it wasn't your usual 33-14 laugher.

So onto next week. Bring on the Bears!

Better luck next time?

I and every true Packer fan woke up this morning with a sore right elbow. Sympathy pains for Brett Favre? Yes, but mostly from throwing the remote at the referees on TV. I'm going to spend the next hour watching Animal Planet and rooting against the zebras.



I can't completely blame the refs, nor the injuries - Favre, Charles Woodson, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila - but obviously both were factors. The game-calling in those first 20 minutes was atrocious, especially when you see how well the dinking-and-dunking was working later in the game. And why did we decide we couldn't run against the Cowboys, even when they were dropping five guys back into coverage? Every play-action, Ryan Grant runs untouched while Favre heaves into double coverage. It didn't make any sense. Not going for it on fourth-and-inches in the fourth quarter also was a dumb call. Yeah, Mason Crosby kicked the figgie and we needed two scores, but I would've gone for it.

But the refs blew three huge calls. Al Harris stripping the ball from Terrell Owens, but no, it was uh... huh. The horrible spot in the fourth quarter that led to the field goal - it appeared Grant had the first down. And the ridiculous pass interference call when Miles Austin whined and whined until a flag came out 30 seconds - literally, if you didn't see the game - after the play ended. All were terrible calls. If just one of them goes our way, maybe the outcome is different.

I guess the news with Favre is as good as we could have hoped - he expects to be back for their next game, which isn't until Dec. 9. As for Woodson and KGB, I expected them to play last night, so who knows.

Worst of all it almost guarantees we'll be back in Dallas for the NFC championship. We have four games left - home against Oakland, at St. Louis, at Chicago, home against Detroit. We could (should?) go 4-0 against that slate, which leaves us at 14-2. But the Cowboys are at Detroit, home against Philadelphia, at Carolina, at Washington. They too could run the table. But maybe they lose one - that still leaves us tied, with the Cowboys holding the tiebreaker. So we need to win out and have the Cowboys go 2-2. Possible, but not probable.

I guess I have to be a Lions fan next week...



Wow, two lions videos in one post. Maybe it's a good sign for Detroit!

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat

As one of those rare Yankee/Packer fan hybrids -- what can I say, I like teams that won a lot before I was born -- it was a mixed night for me.

The Yankees won, of course, to stave off elimination and play at least one more game in 2007. That was good.

The Packers, of course, blew a 10-point lead to lose to the hated Bears to ruin their perfect season.

I know a guy from Philadelphia, so naturally he is both a Phillies fan and an Eagles fan. Last Monday, I asked him if he was up (from the Phillies making the post-season) or down (from the Eagles losing to the Giants).

He thought about it for a little bit, then started trying to rationalize that he was up, but then he just sighed. "Goddamn it! Couldn't they have given me just one day to enjoy the moment?!"

I know a little better now where he was coming from, but I'm up, I'm up. If you told me in July that the Packers would be 4-1 and the Yankees would be in the post-season, I'd be a happy camper.

The Packers lost the type of game they'd been winning the first four games of the season. All the lucky breaks they got to get to 4-0 were here tonight -- for the Bears. Charles Woodson fumbles a punt and it bounces right into the hands of the punter, of all people, and he grabs it just before he slides out of bounds. Brett Favre does some kind of crazy no-look pass and throws it right into the arms of Brian Urlacher. The Bears go up on a touchdown pass that is caught out of bounds, but the officials rule it a push-out and, for god knows why, that's not a reviewable play. And speaking of reviewable plays, Mike McCarthy throws the red flag to challenge a spot, wins the challenge... or not. The announcers never seemed to figure this out. All I know is the officials picked up the ball and moved it back, which sounds like you won the challenge, right? But they didn't move it back far enough for it not to be a first down, so apparently he lost the challenge. In other words, yes, we made a mistake, but no, we didn't.

And then on top of the five turnovers, all those penalties -- 93 yards in penalties, and at killer times too. The Packers racked up 150 more yards of offense, but all for naught.

But at the end of the game, if Donald Driver jumps an inch higher, it's all tied up.

Yeah, so we could be 5-0, but then we could have just as easily lost the Eagles game or even the Giants game, and be 2-3. We're a good but not great team -- a better team than the Bears, but not tonight. Next week we're home against a 3-1 Redskins team that just beat the holy hell out of the Lions. We'll see which was the fluke, the first four or the last one.

As for the Yankees, win tomorrow and send the series back to Cleveland -- where the forecast for Wednesday night is high 50s and rain, not exactly good conditions for midges. Win tomorrow and try again with Chien-Ming Wang against C.C. Sabathia. Hopefully Wang will figure out whatever was wrong with him in Game 1, and hopefully the Yankee batters can figure out why they couldn't put away Sabathia, a guy we had on the ropes more than Rocky Balboa against Clubber Lang.



But unfortunately it was Rocky/Clubber II. Just like Clubber we kept going for the big knock-out punch but swinging and missing.

Before we can start thinking about Wednesday, we have to win tomorrow, and even with Paul Byrd pitching, it won't be easy. We won't have Phil Hughes (3.2 innings, 63 pitches) or Joba Chamberlain (2.0 innings, 38 pitches), which means the bullpen is going to be short-handed tomorrow night if Mike Mussina can't get us through the 6th inning.

Yes, you could say we needed to win tonight to get to tomorrow, but what the fuck, Joe Torre? You had a 5-run lead, why did you send Joba back out there to pitch the 8th? You don't think that was a good time to play sports psychologist with Kyle Farnsworth? Maybe let Russ Ohlendorf get back on the horse after getting slapped around in Game 1? Oh, no, let's burn up Joba. More great work from one of the winningest managers in MLB history.

Of course, Joe has a lot more confidence in Moose than I do, because Joe just loves his veterans. Johnny Damon after the game tonight was asked if it mattered that Torre's job was supposedly on the line tonight and he said something along the lines of, "We'll do anything for Joe." Hey, how about win some games in May and June, Johnny? Those games counted too, you know.

Well, obviously there's only one thing for Big Stein to do before tomorrow's game: Threaten to fire Joe again. Or, better yet, have a sniper in the owner's box with orders to shoot Torre in the head if the Yankees lose. Obviously it's the only way to motivate these guys. Win the game, or your beloved manager dies.

Can't you just picture Joe sitting there with the red dot of a laser sight bouncing over his forehead? Actually, he'd probably have his usual hang-dog look, staring at the ground, mumbling to himself and pounding down the green tea.

Bigelow Tea. Producer of fine quality teas since 1945. "Your bases are covered... with Bigelow Tea."

Go Pack Go!

As you might recall, I'm a Packer fan. But living in Jersey, it's rare I get to see my Packers in action. So while everyone else in the Greater New York Area was bemoaning how bad the Giants looked yesterday, I was loving the green and gold.

Looking at the final score, 35-13, you would think this was a blow-out and the Giants took out a beat-up Eli Manning sometime before half-time. But actually it looked like the game could go either way -- the Packers were losing 10-7 at the half, and it was 14-13 Packers at the end of the third quarter.

But then in the fourth quarter, Favre and Driver hooked up on two TDs two minutes apart to make it 28-13, and then DeShawn Wynn (who?) broke off a 38-yard TD run in garbage time to make it 35-13.

So, yeah, we're 2-0, against two opponents - Philly and the Giants on the road -- that aren't gimmes. But as much as I would like to look at our start through cheese-framed glasses, we've been pretty lucky so far. Heck, we could be 0-2 right now.

We weren't out-played by the Eagles by any stretch, it was a sloppy game that either game could have won. And despite the final score the game against the Giants, it could have been a lot closer or even a loss. Remember, it was 14-13 at the start of the fourth quarter. Favre continues a methodical drive that started from their own 20, with 4:22 left in the third quarter. It was just a perfect drive -- Favre goes 8-for-8, hitting four different guys, and caps it off with a short pass to Donald Lee for the score to make it 21-13. Nice.

But it's still an 8-point game with almost 13 minutes left, and the Packers are kicking off. After that drive I was pretty confident we could hold on, but the outcome was still in doubt. For about two seconds. Because Ahmad Bradshaw fumbles the kick off, there's a scrum, and the Packers come up with the ball. Ninety seconds later there's another Favre TD and now it's 28-13, and it's time to start the parade of cars leaving the Meadowlands.

Now, if the Giants come away with the ball, it's not like they were a sure thing -- on their next possession, Manning threw a ball right into the hands of defensive tackle Corey Williams (who seemed as surprised as anyone in the stadium to catch it). But after the muffed kick made it a 15-point lead, the G-men were in serious trouble.

I love being 2-0, but let's face it, it's the second week in a row where the Packers won a game by coming away with the ball from the bottom of a pile of players. You can say the fight over a fumble is "who wants it more", and I suppose that's part of it, but it's also about luck. The ball is squibbing all around, everyone's got a finger on it, it gets yanked back and forth, guys are biting and pinching and punching, and it's all about who is holding the ball at the moment when a ref throws off enough players to see what's going on. Two seconds earlier or two seconds later, it might be in someone else's hands, and he's the one who "wanted it more."

It's a hell of a way to win a football game and not exactly something you can count on from week to week, especially not for a third week in a row and especially not heading into a game against the San Diego Chargers. But let's hope the defense keeps playing as well as it has been, the offense keeps clicking the way it did in the second half, and that the ball keeps bouncing our way.

I didn't want you anyway... I think

Picture the scene: You're at a crowded bar with your boys watching the game and checking out a cutie sitting with her girlfriends at a nearby table. She catches you looking and you glance away. Then you catch her looking and she glances away. Then, eye contact. Shy smiles.

Meanwhile, your mind is racing: Should you walk over there? Should you buy her a drink? Should you buy her a drink and bring it to her yourself? But then... she stands up! She walks over! She smiles again! And then she... talks to the guy standing behind you. And, even worse, the guy standing behind you is a dick.

So of course you think... I didn't want her anyway.

Now picture that same scenario, only instead of a cutie, it's Randy Moss.

For several months, it's been rumored that my Packers were about to swing a deal for the 30-year-old wide receiver. And I really didn't know how to feel about that.

My heart said, "Randy Moss!" That punk with Minnesota, who every game would dog it for three quarters, then kill us in the final two minutes? But even worse was the mooning incident. How could we even consider trading for a guy who pretended to moon the cheeseheads in Lambeau Field? (My outrage at this incident was later somewhat tempered when I learned that some Packer fans hang around after games to moon the visiting team's bus.)

But my head said, "Randy Moss!" I mean, who is the best wide receiver Brett Favre has ever had? Sterling Sharpe for the last two years of his career (and Favre's first two). Brett also caught the tail end of Andre Rison. Outside of those guys, I guess it would have to be Donald Driver, Robert Brooks or Antonio Freeman. Clearly, none of these guys is in Moss's league. Heck, do you think any of those guys would have ever had a 1,000-yard season with anybody but Favre throwing him the ball?

So while my heart and my head are feuding about Moss wearing the Green and Gold, I hear that Moss has been traded... to the Patriots.

For a fourth-round pick.

Huh.

The Raiders gave up Moss for the 110th pick overall. The Packers had the 112th pick. You would think the Packers could have made up the difference of just two spots by throwing in a later pick, or something. (In fact, the Pack did trade #112, to Pittsburgh, for a 4th and a 6th, #119 and #192.)

Talk about devaluation. Just two years ago, the Raiders gave up the 7th pick overall plus a seventh-round pick and linebacker Napolean Harris to get Moss, who was the 21st pick of the 1998 draft. Now he's worth just the 110th pick? Heck, we got a second-round pick for Javon Walker last year. Walker is just two years younger, is just as much a pain in the ass and blew out his knee in 2005. Go figure.

So. Moss got traded. We flirted a little, he walked over, but wound up talking to the other guy.

What a bitch.

Why am I a Packer fan?

Growing up in New Jersey -- literally about a thousand miles from Green Bay, Wisconsin -- and coming of football age at a time when the Packers weren't very good (Tony Mandarich, anyone?), I have frequently been asked why I'm a Packer fan.

It hasn't been easy. I came of football age in the mid-1980s, the post-Lombardi, pre-Favre years. Over the first 18 years of my life, the Packers had a winning record just three times -- which includes going 5-3-1 in the strike-shortened '82 season, and 8-7-1 in '78. When I was in high school, the Giants were awesome and the Jets were, well, the Jets, but still better than the Packers. Everyone who wasn't a Giants fan or a Jets fan was rooting for the Broncos, the 49ers, the Redskins -- you know, those teams that won once in awhile.

So... why am I a Packer fan? Did I have a crush on Jan Stenerud? Did I hunger for some cheese? Was I conceived at the Vince Lombardi Service Area?

Here's what my mother told me, when I asked her why she'd given me a Packer jacket to wear to elementary school and forced me to endure the taunts of children rooting for better teams.

She used to go to the same diner every morning. So did a guy she hadn't met yet who would turn out to be my father. She asked the waitress if she knew anything about that guy, and the waitress said he just sits at the counter, drinks coffee and reads the sports pages. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.)

So one morning my mother summoned up the courage to sit next to my father at the counter, and saw he was reading a story about an upcoming game between the Giants and the Packers.

She asked him who he thought was going to win, and he said the Giants.

"I bet you the Packers will win," she said. "If the Packers win, you have to take me out to dinner."

"OK," he said. "But what if the Giants win?"

"If the Giants win, I'll take you out to dinner."

She'd really figured out all the angles on this one!

Well, the Packers won, and he took her out to dinner, and eventually, they got married and I was born. A nice little story if it hadn't ended a few years later in a bitter divorce and the John Hadl trade.

Apparently, in the divorce settlement, in addition to the house and custody of the kids, my mother also retained the Packers, which she then passed on to me. And eventually, I got to root for #4, so the story has a happy ending after all.

There is a post-script, however.

This year I brought the story up to my father, who confirmed, yes, it is basically true. Except for one little detail.

He remembers it as a college football game.

"I think it was Rutgers vs. Villanova," he said.