Given Rodgers’ likely Hall of Fame status (assuming his career continues as it is), he may become the last Packer to wear number 12. Which would put him last on this list Madison.com compiled (the asterisks signify players who wore multiple numbers):
George Abramson (G/T), 1925
*Rudy Rosatti (T), 1926
Tom Hearden (B), 1927-28
*Roy Baker (B), 1928
*Dave Zuidmulder (B), 1929
*Arnie Herber (B), 1930
*Frank Baker (E), 1931
*Bob Monnett (B), 1935-36
Zeke Bratkowski (QB), 1963-68, 1971
Jim Del Gaizo (QB), 1973
*John Hadl (QB), 1974
Don Milan (QB), 1975
Brian Dowling (QB), 1977
*Lynn Dickey (QB), 1980-85
T.J. Rubley (QB), 1995
Aaron Rodgers (QB), 2005-present
For much of the NFL’s Super Bowl era, the number 12 used to signify an elite NFL quarterback. Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks numbered 12 include the New York Jets’ Joe Namath, Dallas’ Roger Staubach, Miami’s Bob Griese, Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw, Oakland’s Ken Stabler, New England’s Tom Brady, and, of course, Rodgers. Buffalo’s Jim Kelly never won a Super Bowl, but played in four of them. Super Bowl XXV, in which Kelly’s Bill’s lost to the Giants’ Jeff Hostetler (number15), was the first time a quarterback number 12 lost to a quarterback not numbered 12. (Pittsburgh’s two Super Bowl wins over Dallas was number 12, Bradshaw, beating number 12, Staubach.)
I remember a few of the Packers’ number 12s. Not Herber, but he was one of the few to have played for both the Badgers and the Packers. Herber played quarterback, as did fellow Badger/Packer Randy Wright, but Wright wore 16 for the Packers after wearing 12 for the Badgers.
Bratkowski was Bart Starr’s backup as quarterback, and then offensive coordinator. The former role was useful in the 1965 NFL Western Conference playoff between the Packers and the Baltimore Colts, because Starr lost a fumble that produced a Colts touchdown and was lost for the game due to injured ribs. Bratkowski quarterbacked the Packers to a controversial overtime win, and one week later Starr returned so the Packers could win the first of their three consecutive Glory Years wins.
Del Gaizo was a quarterback for the Dolphins, who were in the process of going to three consecutive Super Bowls in the early ’70s. Del Gaizo was acquired for two second-round draft picks. Del Gaizo did not perform like a draft pick, period, for the Packers, placing himself on the list of yet another stupid Packers player transaction during the Gory Years.
But trading two picks for Del Gaizo didn’t compare to trading five for Hadl in the infamous Lawrence Welk trade — you know, “a-one and-a-two and-a-three.” (Even worse, Hadl came to Green Bay for two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a third-round pick.) Hadl wore number 21 with the Rams, and only wore 12 long enough to get his old number back from a Packer defensive back.
Which brings us to another 12, Dickey, who came to the Packers in exchange for Hadl, All-Pro cornerback Ken Ellis and two more draft picks. (For those keeping score: Hadl cost five draft picks to acquire and two more to get rid of him.) Dickey switched from 10 to 12 after missing an entire season with a broken leg. Once healthy, and when upright (which was an open question because of his porous offensive line and his mobility, which was on a par with the Curly Lambeau statue outside Lambeau Field), he was an effective quarterback in the 1981 through 1983 seasons, when the Packers were — gasp! — a contender in Starr’s last three seasons as coach.
(Trivia note about the 12 before Dickey: Dowling was the quarterback of Yale’s undefeated team in 1968. Yale and Harvard met at the end of the 1968 season, with the game ending in a 29–29 tie. Harvard’s comeback over Yale was characterized in the Harvard Crimson newspaper: “Harvard beats Yale 29–29.” Dowling was also the inspiration for the “Doonesbury” character B.D.)
Rubley has his own moment in Packer ignominy. He was the third-string quarterback in 1995 when, in a game at Minnesota, starter Brett Favre suffered an ankle injury, and backup Ty Detmer broke his finger one play later. Despite that, the Packers were in position to kick a game-winning field goal, until on third down, Rubley audibled out of a quarterback sneak into a pass, which was intercepted. The Packers later lost. Rubley’s NFL career effectively ended with that bonehead decision.
Facebook showed off various people’s quick graphics skills:
And my personal favorite:
To say that the (replacement) officials FUBARed the call and the replay is to engage in gross understatement. The NFL rules state:
Item 5: Simultaneous Catch. If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers.
It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control. If the ball is muffed after simultaneous touching by two such players, all the players of the passing team become eligible to catch the loose ball.
The Green Bay Press–Gazette also reported the officials, if that’s what you want to call them, forced Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers to use a kicking ball instead of a regular football for the two-point conversion attempt that, had it succeeded, would have made the finish different.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King tweeted that it was “One of the great disgraces in NFL history.” I’m sure he’ll have more on this later today.
One of the most fun things for Packer fans following wins over the Bears or Vikings is to read the outraged, or resigned, or disgusted reactions of the Chicago and Twin Cities press corps.
It’s as if the Chicago sports media feels personally offended at a Bears loss, and that the media fully expects the Bears to lose every single game the rest of every single NFL season. You expect that of fans; you do not expect that of media professionals, who should be able to view wins and losses with more perspective, and who get paid the same (assuming they’re full-timers and not stringers) regardless of how the team they cover does.
At least the on-field camera for this nationally televised game didn’t capture Jay Cutler shouting vulgarities at his offensive coordinator. …
The NFL hyped the matchup of Cutler and his Packers counterpart Aaron Rodgers, but he was dreadful against Green Bay again.
With an upgraded offense that was supposed to be ready to match firepower with the Packers, the Bears fired only blanks. …
It will only add to questions for Cutler, who didn’t take kindly to inquiries during the week about why he struggles against the Packers. …
One evaluation is simple: Cutler is not in a class with Rodgers. He was intercepted four times, twice by Tramon Williams, and completed 11 of 27 passes for 126 yards. A 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kellen Davis with 6 minutes, 49 seconds to play was set up by a Tim Jennings interception. Cutler was sacked seven times, 3½ by Clay Matthews, and his passer rating was an anemic 28.2. The offensive line, without the seven-step drops, was overrun. …
Cutler now has a 58.9 passer rating in eight meetings, including last season’s NFC championship game. He has thrown eight touchdowns and 16 interceptions.
The Tribune’s Brad Biggs has 10 things to say, including …
Cutler took seven sacks which is the second-most in his career behind only the nine-sack meltdown in the first half of the Oct. 3, 2010 game against the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J. …
Outside linebacker Clay Matthews had 3½ sacks to give him six for the season and match his output from all of last year. … Matthews was far too much for Webb to handle and when the NFL finishes reviewing the replacement referees, they will see multiple holding penalties that Webb got away with. There was a two-point takedown that went uncalled at one point. …
What is most disappointing is the new playbook that was supposed to create a sturdy pocket for Cutler looked a lot like the old one. Sure, circumstances conspired against the Bears when they fell behind by two touchdowns, but this was ugly all the way around and Cutler isn’t going to be taken to the turf repeatedly and not act out. …
The offensive line is largely responsible for seven sacks and Cutler is to blame for four interceptions for bad mechanics driven in part by ego. When he throws off his back off, as he did repeatedly, bad things can happen. They tend to in bunches against the Packers. …
Did somebody say something about offense? A new, improved, unstoppable, quite possibly otherworldly Bears offense? …
It’s not quite all that you, I and Jay Cutler made it out to be.
The Bears need blocking. They need an offensive line, in the exact way the Bears have needed an offensive line for about 10 years. They don’t need bad penalties and wretched interceptions. There will be games this season in which they’ll get away with some of that. This wasn’t one of them, not even close.
Cutler threw four interceptions and was sacked seven times in a 23-10 loss to the Packers, and it was every bit as bad as those numbers suggest.
There’s a good chance an apoplectic Cutler burst blood vessels in his eyes. In the second quarter, Packers linebacker Clay Matthews blew past Bears left statue J’Marcus Webb and took down Cutler like a rodeo calf. Cutler got up and screamed bloody murder at Webb.
Forget about Cutler’s bad body language issues of last season. That was nothing. The Bears had a crazed quarterback on their hands. He lurched between snapping at teammates and spraying poorly thrown passes all over the field. …
What a sudden, distressing loss of cabin pressure this was from the victory in the opener. After one quarter, Cutler was 1-for-3 for minus-2 yards. As a team, the Bears had zero yards of total offense. That’s hard to do. By the time it was over, Cutler had a passer rating of 28.2. Also hard to do.
You see where I’m going with this: nowhere, just like Mike Tice’s offense. …
Bears right statue Gabe Carimi had a rough night in front of fans who liked him at the University of Wisconsin and positively loved him inside Lambeau Field.
“The protection isn’t what it needs to be,’’ coach Lovie Smith understated. …
In six games against the Packers going into Thursday, Cutler had thrown seven touchdowns and 11 interceptions and was sacked 19 times. That’s called “having a history.’’ This was history repeating itself.
It was as bad a game as the Bears have had with Cutler as their quarterback, though I’m sure I’ve purged some memories just out of self-preservation. …
Cutler had said “good luck’’ at a news conference this week when the topic turned to the Packers’ habit of pressing receivers man-to-man. Cutler liked his odds with the 6-4 Marshall and the 6-3 Alshon Jeffery.
The Packers travel to Soldier Field for a rematch Dec. 16. After what we saw Thursday, there’s only one thing you can say to the Bears.
Good luck.
About the fake field goal (who knew Mike McCarthy had that in his playbook?), the Sun–Times’ Mark Potash writes:
The Bears gave new meaning to the age-old football warning, ‘‘Watch the fake!’’ Thursday night.
That’s exactly what they seemed to do, as the Green Bay Packers’ Tom Crabtree took a shovel pass from holder Tim Masthay on a field-goal attempt and went 27 yards untouched into the end zone for a discouraging touchdown that gave the Packers a 10-0 lead with 1:50 left in the half.
It was a rare mental breakdown for the Bears’ vaunted special teams and coordinator Dave Toub. But it typified a disappointing night of errors and missed opportunities. …
It looked like a minor victory for the Bears — going into halftime down 6-0 after a poor first half marked by negative plays. But long-snapper Brett Goode snapped to holder Masthay, who shoveled a pass to Crabtree, a tight end who burst through a huge hole in the coverage on the right side of the field for the touchdown. The play worked so perfectly that the Packers were celebrating almost as soon as Crabtree got the ball.
For the second straight game the Bears’ offense got off to a disjointed, ineffective start.
This time it never got any better in a pathetic, demoralizing offensive performance that resulted in a 23-10 loss to the Packers that left both NFC North foes at 1-1. …
Cutler was bad, but so were his teammates. He lambasted his offensive linemen during the game and then afterward, when he was asked about it.
“I care about this,” Cutler said. “This isn’t just a hobby for me. I’m not doing this for my health. I’m trying to win football games; I’m trying to get first downs.
“When we’re not doing the little things consistently the right way, I’m going to say something. If they want a quarterback that doesn’t care, they can get somebody else.”
All this means that until the rematch in Soldier Field Dec. 16 …
A few quick thoughts about the Packers, who are picked by one of my favorite NFL writers, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, to win Super Bowl XLVII, and not picked by another, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
First, the defense: The defense will be better. I’m not going to say it can’t get any worse, because a bad defense doesn’t go 15–1 in the regular season. The defense gave up a lot of yards because the offense accumulated big leads, forcing teams to abandon the run and hurl it down the field. The defense also gave up a lot of yards because of the injury to safety Nick Collins, whom the Packers never really replaced. But suffice to say the defense reminded no one of the ’61–62 Packers.
In the most important offensive area, how many points you score, it’s hard to imagine how the 2011 offense could get any better. General manager Ted Thompson made an interesting move by getting a name running back in free agency, Cedric Benson. I’m not sure the offense can get better than it was in 2011, but they may be able to be not as good and still win a lot of games.
I look at the schedule and I see a 13–3 regular season. (For one thing, the Packers’ strength, their pass offense, compares favorably to the weakest part of their NFC North rivals, their pass defense.) That should be enough to get them at least one home playoff game as the NFC North champion. Beyond that … ask me in December. (I can say that because the NFL regular season and postseason are really separate, as the past two seasons have demonstrated, with the NFC’s sixth and fourth seeds winning the Super Bowl.)
Deep in the wilds of the Upper Midwest, Green Bay quietly has recruited a regiment of interchangeable players. The team’s novel idea is to find players—usually linebackers, tight ends or fullbacks—who can play in a variety of formations and situations because they’re virtually the exact same size and weight. The ideal specifications: 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds.
As Packers tight end D.J. Williams explained, only 46 players are allowed to dress for an NFL game. Every team has to cobble together its starters, reserves and special-teams players from those 46. “So if you can have one person doing what three people can do, it may only be 46 people dressed out there but it’s like having 60,” said Williams, who at 6 feet 2 and 245 pounds is roughly the magic size. “It’s a great advantage.” …
The Packers value versatility because it allows the team to save precious spots on the 53-man roster. When you watch Green Bay play, it feels like half the team is 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, since those players fill so many roles.
Williams and Ryan Taylor, both listed as tight ends, said they have lined up at about six different positions so far in the preseason—including at tight end, in the backfield, in the slot and at wide receiver, as well as on special teams. Linebacker Robert Francois, 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, calls his size “on the edge” of every linebacker position. Since most teams around the NFL might view a player this size as a “tweener”—a player either too big or too small for a specific position—these players often can be overlooked by other franchises and end up coming to Green Bay on the cheap.
Francois thinks this preferred Packers height and weight combination is perfect because players are lean enough to play inside or outside linebacker. Then, any of them can rush the passer because they’re big enough to go up against offensive tackles, yet quick enough to cover tight ends and receivers. …
Offensive coordinator Tom Clements said that the team’s 250-pound army allows it to use different personnel groups interchangeably. “Make [the defense] change with us and put different guys in different positions where they might not usually be,” Clements said.
Williams, the tight end, said the Packers can have a deeper playbook because they have more players who are familiar with many roles. Dom Capers, the Packers’ veteran defensive coordinator, said Green Bay employs four linebackers in its base defense instead of the typical three, to have the versatility to match up with any type of personnel the opposition uses.
This helps explain why, despite season-ending injuries to tight end Jermichael Finley and running back Ryan Grant, the Packers simply plugged in replacements and won Super Bowl XLV. Apparently Packers coach Mike McCarthy is smarter than your average bear, or Bear.
Since on a 90-plus-degree day every Wisconsinite thinks about the Packers, you cannot help but be impressed with this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel interview with Packers coach Mike McCarthy:
Q. Having won a Super Bowl, though, and going 15-1 last year, where do you set the bar?
A. I think I said it the first day I was here. It’s always about winning the world championship in Green Bay. I don’t think you ever settle for less than that. Just take a look at last year, 15-1 doesn’t cut it.
Q. So to you, 15-2 last year doesn’t cut it?
A. That’s not what I’m looking for, and it’s not what our players want and that’s really all that matters. If we can stay focused on what the group’s trying to accomplish and continue to do the things that are necessary. We have a blueprint of success for the way we train, but it’s a challenge every year. The team takes on a new face every year. There’s a path out there for us to get to New Orleans and win the championship. It’s our responsibility, and with a little touch of grace from the good Lord, we’ll be able to stay on that path. …
Q. At the 2011 NFL combine, you said one of your goals was to become the No. 1 offense in the NFL and then you went and scored 560 points, the second most in NFL history. What’s your level of pride in achieving that, and can this offense get better?
A. We felt we clearly left a lot of offense on the table (in 2010). There was actually a lot of offense we didn’t even use because of the injuries. That year was clearly the highest of all the years here where things we did in training camp we never even used during the season. So with that being said, I was very confident and I thought the offense was ready for Aaron (Rodgers). Aaron’s been ready for more responsibility, but it’s more is everybody else around him ready, too? And we felt Aaron was ready for more responsibility at the line, and I think it’s been very beneficial to our team. To me, last year was the standard. We set the standard on offense, and that’s what we’d like to hold ourselves to.
Q. So 35 points per game is now the standard?
A. Yep. I like that. …
Q. [Aaron] Rodgers is at almost the identical point in his career as Brett Favre was when you were his position coach here in 1999. Can you compare how it is to coach the two at this particular juncture of their careers?
A. I’m in a different job today, and frankly, I miss coaching quarterbacks. I just have too many responsibilities. The most important thing that I’ve done as far as the quarterback room is make sure the structure and the emphasis was put into place, and I did that my first year here. Tom (Clements) did a fantastic job of carrying that through and now he’s doing that with (new quarterbacks coach) Ben (McAdoo). The only thing is when I look at the quarterback room, I just want to walk over and be sure it’s continuing to be done the right way, because everybody has a certain way they’d like to see a quarterback trained. As far as coaching Brett, he was a lot more accomplished in the offense, so it was a transition. I’d say it’s a lot different. I look at Ben walking in the room now. Ben’s been here. Aaron knew Ben. I was the new guy coming in. I didn’t coach Brett until the first minicamp. To me, it’s a whole different off-season layout. Brett was a great player. He went through a bunch of injuries that year and did a remarkable job playing all 16 games that year.
Q. Have you ever had anybody quite like Jermichael Finley – on and off the field?
A. Oh yeah. He’s not that hard. I’ve had a lot more challenging situations. I think with Jermichael, people are on Jermichael a little bit too hard because he’s the only one that carries himself that way. The guy has a big heart and he means well. He’s extremely competitive and very talented. Everybody expresses themselves differently and obviously his style is very resourceful to the media, and that kind of takes on a different life. But I like him. I enjoy working with Jermichael. And if people didn’t enjoy working with Jermichael Finley, then he wouldn’t be here, and that’s not the case. We think he’s a young man that still has so much in front of him. The only thing I concern myself with Jermichael is I just want to see him stay healthy. But I’ve been around a lot more challenging people than Jermichael. …
Q. Do you ever want [Ted Thompson’s] job, here or somewhere else?
A. No. If I did that job I wouldn’t coach. I don’t think you can do two. I think it’s too much. I think you’d be robbing Peter to pay Paul. You can’t be in two places at one time. I’m a football coach, and I don’t see anything in the near future that’s going to change that. But I’ll also say this: I feel like I have something bigger in my life than being the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. I think there’s something out there for me to do after my time is up. I hope it’s not up for a long time because I enjoy it. But those questions are always answered by someone a lot bigger than you and I. But when that time comes, I do feel like there’s one more big challenge out there for myself professionally.
Q. Most people in this state don’t think there’s very much that’s bigger than where you’re sitting.
A. Well, it’s the best job I’ll ever have. I’ll never have a better one.
Q. You hint about that next challenge. Any idea what that is?
A. No I don’t. I’ll let the good Lord tell me what that is. …
Q. Once July 26 arrives, will you have any type of home / work balance over the ensuing seven or eight months?
A. How do you define balance?
Q. Let’s say seeing your family an hour, maybe two a day.
A. I like to think we have balance here as far as the coaching profession goes. We’re not going to have coaches sleeping here in the office. I can promise you that. I won’t allow that. I’ve done that. I know why it’s happened, but I’m very conscientious of the time management of our staff. I’ve done the sleep in the office thing, or two or three hours of sleep, but you’re not the same guy on the field. The thing I’ve noticed from the old way and the way we do it is I want the coaches fresh. I want them getting home, getting a good night sleep. The most important time you spend is with your players, in your meeting room, on the field and you need proper sleep to get that done. …
Q. You obviously learned something from the loss in 2007. What did you learn from last year’s loss?
A. Really, it takes you right back to the emphasis of the fundamentals. That’s something I feel we do every day, but maybe we had to take a look. Maybe I wasn’t doing it enough. We adjusted some practice things because of it.
Q. That was also one of the most unique weeks leading up to a football game that I’m sure you ever had [with the death of the son of Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin]. In retrospect, how much did that hurt you?
A. Unique is a kind word. I don’t know how you explain that week. It was like getting run over by a truck. That’s a better description. …
Q. What do you want your legacy to be here?
A. That he was a better person than a coach.
Q. In 2010, you went with the ‘Super Bowl or Bust’ theme. Will you do that again?
A. I just don’t believe in the crash and burn theory. I believe in winning and learning. I don’t believe in that other word. I don’t even like to say it. I believe you keep building and keep working at it, keep winning. And as long as they keep giving you opportunities, make the best of it. I’m not satisfied with coming close. I’m going to do everything I can to win the championship and that will never change. And when that does change, I probably need to step out and let someone else take a swing at it.
WFRV-TV in Green Bay had a surprising announcement Tuesday:
WFRV-TV Sports Director Larry McCarren has decided to part ways with WFRV-TV at the end of this month.
Larry has made a significant contribution over his 24 years at the station.
He is a noted authority on the Green Bay Packers and has been named Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year four times.
Larry’s final newscast will be on Friday March 30th. All of us at Local 5 thank Larry for his years of service and extend him best wishes for the future.
I’ve lived in the Green Bay TV market for 18 years. I’m told when McCarren started on WFRV after the Packers cut him in the Forrest Gregg Purge following the 1985 season, he was legendarily bad. He’s still not the most dynamic TV personality, but that’s not why he’s stayed on WFRV for 27 years; it’s because he’s become the name-brand Packers authority on Wisconsin TV. Between his knowledge of the Packers and the NFL and his ability to communicate that knowledge, the man with the dangling left pinky has more TV involvement with the Packers between doing games on radio and WFRV’s “Larry McCarren’s Locker Room” than any other TV sportscaster in the state.
I’m told McCarren is 61, and in some media cases that’s retirement age. But I don’t think he’s retiring. The Green Bay Press–Gazette reports he’ll still be working with Wayne Larrivee on Packers radio anyway.
This is not based on inside information (which I lack anyway as a former Journal Communications employee-owner and employee); it’s merely a prediction, and you know how accurate those can be in my case. (However, I do recall saying during a Marketplace Magazine cover shoot at Lambeau Field in the fall of 1994 that WTMJ radio should hire McCarren to join Jim Irwin and Max McGee on Packer games. A few months later, WTMJ hired McCarren to join Irwin and McGee on Packer games.)
Journal Communications’ WTMJ radio in Milwaukee is the flagship station of the Packers Radio Network. WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee is Your Official Packers Station in the Milwaukee TV market. If you’ve been watching Journal’s WGBA-TV or its digital subchannel long enough, you’ll see a promo that says that WGBA is now Your Official Packers Station in the Green Bay TV market.
WGBA is the only Green Bay TV station without locally based sports anchors. WTMJ-TV’s Lance Allan, Rod Burks and Jessie Garcia do the sports on WGBA from Green Bay. (It’s amusing to flip between channel 4 and channel 26 and watch the same sports anchor simultaneously.) This is not a big deal for Packers, Badgers or Brewers coverage; it is a big deal for local high school or college sports coverage, which is pretty much nonexistent on WGBA, and one big reason WGBA’s news trails badly in the ratings.
There has been speculation that Journal will shut down WGBA’s newsroom and do WGBA’s news from Milwaukee. If that’s what Journal intended to do, they could do that before now; they certainly have the technological capability to do that. (WGBA’s weekend weather segments are also done from Milwaukee.) In some markets, one station produces another station’s newscasts; WKOW-TV, Madison’s ABC affiliate, produces the newscasts for WMSN-TV, the Madison Fox affiliate, and WAOW-TV, Wausau’s ABC affiliate, does the same for WFXS-TV, Wausau’s Fox station.
Whether shutting down the WGBA newsroom was Journal’s plans once upon a time, the new Official Packers Station thing makes me think that that’s not Journal’s intention anymore. WGBA will get significantly more ad revenue by carrying preseason Packers games and other Packer programming, including “The Mike McCarthy Show” and “Inside 1265” at a minimum, in addition to however many Packer games end up on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” WTMJ-TV and WGBA also will be carrying the summer Olympics, which always means a good Journal Broadcast Group revenue year. And this being an election year, you’ve already seen more political ads than you can stand, but not as many as you’re going to see.
Given the revenue bump Journal Broadcast Group generally and WGBA specifically will be seeing in 2012, this would seem to be a logical time to increase McCarren’s work with Journal stations. He will still be doing Packer games on WTMJ radio; he could be WGBA’s sports anchor and contribute to WTMJ-TV’s Packer coverage, as well as other Official Packers Station programming. For that matter, “Larry McCarren’s Locker Room,” or its next iteration, could be beamed to the other Official Packers Stations elsewhere in Wisconsin.
About “Locker Room,” the Tuesday afternoon version of the Green Bay Press–Gazette story was cryptic enough to make you think this scenario is not out of the realm of possibility:
His departure changes the status of “Larry McCarren’s Locker Room,” his Green Bay Packers-related show.
If the show continues, it would be entering its 25th season.
Earlier this month, WFRV management and McCarren said the future of the show was under discussion.
All this may be far-fetched, but Journal Broadcast Group has not been averse to making the big hire in the past. (Or the big purchase, given that Journal is the only in-state media company to own more than one TV station.) When Irwin and McGee announced their plans to retire in 1998, no one would have ever thought that Larrivee, then the voice of the Chicago Bears on radio and Bulls on TV in the nation’s third largest media market, was even a fantasy candidate to replace Irwin. But when the 1999 season began, there sat Larrivee and McCarren in the Lambeau Field press box.
(For that matter, I don’t know that Journal Broadcast Group wants to be this ambitious, but there are NBC stations in Madison, Eau Claire and Rhinelander that probably could be pried away from their current owners for the right price.)
Maybe it’s not far-fetched at all. Tuesday evening, the Press–Gazette added:
“A major factor at the end of the day is I think I belong where most of the Packer stuff is as far as the Packer (TV) network, coach’s show, preseason games and things like that, and that’s moving,” McCarren said. “That’s certainly a factor.” …
“We’re talking, and there’s a mutual interest,” McCarren said.
Steve Wexler, Journal Broadcast Group executive vice president said he couldn’t comment and added “other than he’s obviously one of the great broadcasters in the state, both in TV and in radio.”
It’s also possible the Packers could bring McCarren in house, where he could serve in similar capacity while working for the Packers Media Group, which operates the team’s official website, Packers.com.
Moving between stations seems more common in the Green Bay TV market than in the Milwaukee or Madison TV markets at least. Younger viewers may not recall when Tom Zalaski worked at WBAY-TV, or Tom Milbourn worked at WFRV, or Mark Leland worked at WGBA. But then Zalaski moved from WBAY to WFRV, which pushed Milbourn from WFRV to WLUK and WLUK’s John Vigeland out of TV entirely. (Leland went from WGBA to WLUK in a separate transaction, to use a pro sports metaphor.) For that matter, every commercial station in the Green Bay market has carried more than one network in its history. You have to be, well, my age to remember WBAY as a CBS station, WFRV as an ABC station, WLUK as an NBC station and WGBA as a Fox station. (WFRV and WLUK are both former ABC and NBC stations.)
McCarren’s TV hiring may not happen immediately. The aforementioned switches often came after the anchors’ noncompete clauses, which can be up to one year, expired. But it seems to make logical sense (which, granted, doesn’t always apply on TV) for McCarren’s role to expand on Journal Broadcast Group stations now that he’s leaving WFRV, and, note, by his decision.
Super Bowl XLVI wasn’t a bad game (particularly the finish), but it was missing a team, of course.
Between my overscheduled weekend and my head getting plugged, I lacked motivation to write a Super Bowl column.
Then, while watching (particularly the halftime show, which was a yawner), I wondered what might be the ultimate Super Bowl, which would be in parts, of course.
The broadcast begins with for my money the best NFL theme of all time that few remember:
You need a pregame with the world’s greatest marching band:
The National Anthem:
It begins with a bang, on a certain team’s second offensive play:
Add an unlikely hero, Max McGee, who demonstrated the best way to prepare for a Super Bowl is to be out all night with two women:
A better halftime than Madonna:
How about a kickoff return?
The Minister of Defense:
Another huge defensive play:
The best game-winning drive in Super Bowl history, called by my all-time favorite NFL announcer:
One more defensive stand …
… and a trophy at the end …
… with one more band performance:
The ultimate Super Bowl wraps up with the ultimate NFL Films Super Bowl music from, oddly enough, the Super Bowl V video:
The death of longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno Sunday prompted the Green Bay Press–Gazette to a trip with its what-if machine:
Did you know the Green Bay Packers almost hired Joe Paterno as their head coach?
Really, apparently. After the Packers fired Phil Bengtson after three mediocre seasons, the Packers tried, but were unable, to hire recently fired Los Angeles Rams coach George Allen.
That would have been an interesting hire. Allen was hired by the Rams after a successful stint as George Halas’ defensive coordinator in Chicago. Allen had a Wisconsin connection, having attended Marquette University as part of a U.S. Navy officer training program during World War II. Allen was hired, fired and rehired by the Rams before being the full-time replacement for Vince Lombardi in Washington after Lombardi’s death.
It’s ironic that Allen, whose Bears responsibilities included their college draft, was responsible for the Bears’ drafting three Hall of Famers — Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers. Once Allen became a head coach, his mantra became “The future is now,” and Allen invariably would trade draft picks for veteran players. (Which may not have been the worst strategy for the Packers given their awful drafts of the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.)
Allen was fired by the Redskins, with owner Edward Bennett Williams famously saying, “George was given an unlimited budget and he exceeded it,” and then a third time by the Rams after two preseason games, with owner Carroll Rosenbloom saying, “He got unlimited authority and exceeded it.” So Allen as a Packer probably would not have ended well, although Packer fans would have preferred Allen’s winning 71 percent of his games to what followed.
So after Allen …
… the Packers interviewed four candidates: Bob Schnelker, who had been an assistant under Vince Lombardi and Bengtson’s offensive coordinator; Arizona State coach Frank Kush; Missouri coach Dan Devine; and Paterno.
It came down to Paterno and Devine.
Two members of the executive committee, Tony Canadeo and Dick Bourguignon, wanted Paterno because he reminded them of Vince Lombardi. Both Paterno and Lombardi grew up in Brooklyn and were Catholics of Italian descent. They knew of each other dating to the 1940s, when Lombardi coached high school for St. Cecilia of Englewood, N.J., and defeated Paterno’s otherwise unbeaten team, Brooklyn Prep, when Paterno was a senior. In the ’60s, Lombardi often consulted Paterno about college players. …
Former Packers great Dave Robinson, who played at Penn State when Paterno was an assistant coach, said last year that Paterno told him he would have accepted if the Packers had offered. A Green Bay Press-Gazette story at the time quoted Paterno saying almost as much.
“There are coaching situations that are unique, and this could be one of those,” Paterno said of the Packers. “It’s a great opportunity.”
But not for Paterno. The Packers’ executive committee voted 5–2 for Devine, who had won 27 games in three seasons at Arizona State and 93 games in 13 seasons at Missouri.
Truth be told, neither Paterno nor Devine nor Schnelker nor Kush would have worked out. (The word “Schnelker” later became a four-letter word for Packer fans who blamed Bart Starr’s offensive coordinator for essentially the faults of the Packers’ offensive players.) Devine accomplished two positive things: (1) his 1972 team won the NFC Central (and then lost to Allen’s Redskins in the playoffs), and (2) he hired Bob Harlan as an assistant.
Devine also accomplished, if that’s what you want to call it, one of the most infamous trades in NFL history — the trade of two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks and a third-round pick to the Rams to get quarterback John Hadl. (The trade was known as the “Lawrence Welk trade,” since it involved “a-one and-a-two and-a-three.”) Starr had to clean up that mess by trading Hadl, former All-Pro cornerback Ken Ellis and two draft picks to Houston to get quarterback Lynn Dickey, which meant that Hadl cost five draft picks to acquire and a player and two more draft picks to get rid of him.
Even in the ’70s, though, the majority of successful NFL coaches — Miami’s Don Shula, Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll, Oakland’s John Madden and Dallas’ Tom Landry, to name the four most prominent examples — came from NFL, not college, backgrounds. The Packers’ executive committee labored under the misapprehension that just because Lombardi had been a successful general manager and coach (and truth be told, he was much more successful at the latter part of his title than the former), that his successors could succeed as well.
The fact that Paterno didn’t become anyone else’s NFL coach probably proves that either the rest of the NFL was unconvinced he could be a pro coach (he rejected the Packers after he rejected Steelers’ overtures), or that Paterno decided he had things pretty good in Happy Valley. (I saw Paterno win one of his national championships at the 1983 Sugar Bowl.) But even in the ’70s, the job of acquiring players and the job of coaching players could not be handled by one man, regardless of who answered to whom in the organizational flow chart. (Even in the NFL, coaches are only as good as their players, and the fact that not many Packers the team finally gave up on played elsewhere in the NFL proves that neither Devine nor Starr nor Forrest Gregg could handle the GM parts of their jobs.) Either the Packers’ executive committee was too cheap to hire a GM and a coach instead of a GM/coach, or they drew the wrong conclusion about Lombardi’s success.
The right conclusion would have been to hire a head coach with a primarily pro background, an assistant from a successful NFL team, like Lombardi, former offensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Not until the late 1980s did they finally hire a GM before a coach, and, well, they got the choices right on the second, not first, round. Mike Sherman’s term as GM/coach proved they got it right before, and of course after they fired Sherman (technically twice).
The announcer who got to cover the results of years of managerial ineptitude was Jim Irwin, Wisconsin’s iron-man announcer, who died Sunday night. Consider Irwin’s schedule after he moved from WLUK-TV in Green Bay to WTMJ radio in Milwaukee:
He did the morning sports report on WTMJ. That, of course, meant getting up before dawn.
On fall Saturdays, he went to Madison to announce Badger football. He split play-by-play and color with Gary Bender until Bender went to CBS in 1975.
On fall Sundays, he went to Green Bay to announce Packer football. He did color with Ted Moore and then Bender before getting the play-by-play job in 1975.
In the winter (after a stint announcing UW–Milwaukee basketball, working with, of all people, Bob Uecker), he announced Badger basketball until 1979, when he replaced Eddie Doucette as the Bucks’ radio voice. Some weekends, he had a Badgers–Packers–Bucks tripleheader.
Irwin occasionally stood in for Uecker on Brewers broadcasts because of Uecker’s ABC-TV commitments and, during one summer, when Uecker missed time after heart surgery.
Unfortunately, much of Irwin’s Packer and Badger work chronicled ineptitude — not his, but the teams he was covering. During the 1970s, the Badgers had two winning seasons, and the Packers had two winning seasons. In 1988, the Packers were 4–12, and the Badgers were 1–11. Current Badger announcer Matt Lepay said he had a great experience working with Irwin on his last two years of Badger football, even though those two years featured exactly three Badger wins.
Irwin did have some Badger highlights, including three 1980s bowl trips:
Irwin also got to cover the Bucks when they were the fourth best team in the NBA in the early 1980s. (Unfortunately they could never get past the Celtics, 76ers or Lakers.) As an NBA announcer, Irwin was a world champion referee-baiter; I remember him yelling at officials from his courtside seat while doing play-by-play.
Irwin was certainly a homer. But that’s really what Wisconsin fans want, or have gotten used to, dating back at least as far as Milwaukee Braves announcer Earl Gillespie. Wisconsin sports fans want their announcers to want their teams to win; objective down-the-middle announcers don’t last too long here. (And team announcers should want their employers to win if for no other reason than their own professional interests.) Midwest sports listeners generally and Wisconsin sports listeners specifically will forgive not terribly descriptive play-by-play, but they will not forgive lack of passion. There was never a question who Irwin wanted to win.
Either because of Irwin and partner Max McGee’s popularity, or because the announcers CBS had do Packer games were so bad, for years Packer fans would watch CBS (or NBC if an AFC team was playing at Lambeau Field or Milwaukee County Stadium), but turn down the sound and listen to Jim and Max. For years, the pair would do something you’re unlikely to hear again — take calls from fans at the half, sometimes a dangerous thing to do in this state given what usually accompanies Packer games.
Larry McCarren, who worked with Irwin and McGee for their final four seasons, described their style:
“They were part of the fabric of Packers games,” McCarren said of Irwin and McGee, who worked together for 20 years. “They were as much a part of the game as the coin toss, kickoff, blocking and tackling.
“Jim, his individual style, fairly folksy, clearly he was a Packer fan. The thing I really admired about him, the talent I thought was really unique, he could up the intensity without turning up the volume. Some guys that do play-by-play, you can tell something important’s going on, something big’s going on because they just talk louder or holler louder. With Jim, it was intensity that grew and you could tell it was coming right from his core.”
The 25 years of Packer ineptitude Irwin was sentenced to cover was made up, however, by his final seven years, when, miracle of miracles, the Packers became pretty much an instant contender, highlighted by Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII.
I got to meet Irwin at the unveiling of the 1996 Packers highlight video at the Weidner Center in Green Bay, where Irwin’s career highlights were showcased. Irwin and McGee retired after the 1998 season, when Irwin brushed off his 612 consecutive Packer games as being nothing special because, well, “there was no one else.” Had Irwin not been able to announce a Packer game, he added, “You want to see panic, that would be it.”
Irwin also had the ability to laugh at himself. The opening of the “Stories of the Strange” segment of WTMJ’s former Green House show, included Irwin saying “Phil will have allllllll of the stories …” then, laughing, he added, “I’m imitating myself.”
Most Wisconsin-raised announcers around my age grew up listening to Irwin because of all the sports he did, something you’ll probably never see again. (Irwin’s former workload is currently filled by four announcers, WTMJ’s Greg Matzek, Lepay, the Packers’ Wayne Larrivee, and the Bucks’ Ted Davis.) None of us probably consciously patterned ourselves on Irwin (who grew up in Missouri as a fan of Harry Caray), but all of us probably sound something like him. That’s a pretty good tribute to Irwin if you think about it.
Remember on Friday that I pointed out that the NFL regular season and the postseason are not the same thing.
If last Packer season didn’t prove that, Sunday’s 37–20 NFC second-round loss to the New York Giants did. All the Packers’ 15–1 regular season did was get them a number-one seed for what turned out to be a one-game postseason.
The irony is that the Packers’ much maligned defense, with the egregious exception at the end of the first half and the fourth quarter, didn’t play that badly. The defense forced three Giant field goals instead of touchdowns and two turnovers. Eli Manning’s last touchdown pass in the best postseason game of his career came right after Ryan Grant’s fumble.
Sunday’s problem was the one thing that had been excellent all season — the offense. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked as if he hadn’t played in three weeks, missing receivers with whom he would have connected in the regular season. The team that finished second in the regular season in turnover ratio committed three turnovers. The Packer offense played as if the football was made of molten lava, with eight dropped passes. As New Orleans (five turnovers) showed Saturday, you cannot turn the ball over and expect to win in the postseason.
As Packer fans recall after the Giants’ last postseason win at Lambeau Field, playoff losses suck because a return playoff trip does not necessarily follow. (Recall that half of the 2010 playoff teams did not appear in the 2011 playoffs.) As the financial types say, past performance does not necessarily predict future results. The chemistry of this year’s team won’t be the same next year, just because things change. Players get better or worse or leave, and assistant coaches leave to improve their own careers, and their replacements are not guaranteed to be improvements.
And so, as defined by my wife, winter begins. (And no, Miss Wisconsin’s winning Miss America is not better than winning a Super Bowl.) However, things could be worse: You could be a fan of Da Bears or the (headed-to-Los-Angeles?) Vikings.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 