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Former Packers LB Dave Robinson

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its two senior nominees for 2013 on Wednesday. The class of 2013 will not be elected until February, but Wednesday’s news elicited two very different reactions from fans of the Green Bay Packers.

The good news–linebacker Dave Robinson was named as a finalist for enshrinement.

Robinson was selected to three Pro Bowls, while playing on three Championship teams under Vince Lombardi. The former Penn State standout played ten seasons with the Packers from 1963 until 1972 before finishing his career with a two-year run with the Washington Redskins.

But the bad news–offensive guard Jerry Kramer was left off the list.

It’d be a mistake to let the disappointing news about Kramer overshadow Robinson’s big day, but it’s hard to overlook the travesty of Kramer being left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kramer was the subject of a well-organized and persistent campaign by his daughter, Alicia. Although Kramer, a ten-time finalist for Canton, appreciated the support, he told his daugther that if he would not want to see another campaign if he were not chosen this year.

However, the fight for Kramer’s inclusion in Canton is not yet over. There may not be a formal movement for Kramer next year, but regardless, Packers fans can nominate him on their own by going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Website. With the unrivaled support you can expect from Packers fans, Kramer is sure to be considered again next summer.  Read more... (281 words + 1 image, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

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It’s not exactly the hair of the dog that bit you, but maybe a jog down memory lane will help us cure our “Super Bowl expectations that feel short” hangover that we have all been experiencing since the Green Bay Packers’ season ended three weeks ago.

There have been a lot of memorable moments in the five Super Bowls the Packers have played in, so narrowing the list to five moments was a daunting task.  This is by no means a definitive list, so you may have something else in mind. That’s fine. This was meant to be a fun post, not necessarily one for totally serious debate.

Keep in mind I am 28, so Super Bowls XXXI and XLV will be fresh in my head.  I have seen highlights of the first two Super Bowls but never viewed them in their entirety.

That said, here’s my top five:

5. Max McGee’s performance in Super Bowl I

Paul Hornung went down and McGee came in. Problem is McGee was hungover.

Thinking he wasn’t going to play much, McGee skipped curfew the night before the game and went out drinking. Personally, I would not have between so stupid with Lombardi around but it is what it is I guess.

McGee ended up catching 140 yards and likely would have been Super Bowl MVP had Bart Starr not had his great performance.

4. Vince Lombardi’s final ride

It’s an image engrained in every Packer fan’s head.  Read more... (736 words, estimated 2:57 mins reading time)

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Post-Victory. What a Christmas gift!

If there is one thing I have learned growing up in Wisconsin, it’s that when someone offers you a free ticket to a Green Bay Packers game you must say yes or face terrible consequences.

Even on Christmas Day.

First a little background: I work two jobs, both in retail. Obviously the arrival of Christmas was a big relief to me as it’s the sign that the craziness that began the day after Thanksgiving was finally coming to an end.  With both employers being closed, I was looking forward to the day off and quiet time with family and watching Packers vs. Bears on TV before going back in at 5:30 am on the 26^th.

Then the phone rang at about 9 am.

You don’t expect too many phone calls Christmas Day aside from relatives outside the area calling to say “Merry Christmas.” This one, however, was a very different (and honestly a much better) phone call.

It was cousin, ironically from Illinois but a Packers season ticket holder. He had a spare ticket to the game Sunday night and asked if I wanted to go along, no charge at all.  If ever there was a stupid question, this is it.  Read more... (1639 words + 1 image, estimated 6:33 mins reading time)

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One of the little quirks that set the Packers apart from any other team in the league at the moment is the Packers’ extensive use of fullbacks.  Where else but Green Bay can a fullback have the fans screaming his name every time he gets on the field?  Last year, the Packers turned some confused heads by keeping three fullbacks on the roster when some teams only keep one, that’s something straight from the Vince Lombardi and Jim Taylor era.

The Packers use the fullback position as something of a jack-of-all-trades player; for instance, John Kuhn alone played the role of blocking fullback, wing-T fullback, short yardage back, halfback, blitz pickup 3^rd down back, personal protector on punts, kickoff jammer and to add to that he was a threat on the red zone as a receiver.

Unfortunately, in the Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers era, this plan backfired a little. In essence, the 3^rd fullback stole a roster slot from the halfbacks, and when starter Ryan Grant went on IR after the season opener, the Packers were left scrambling for depth behind Brandon Jackson. The Packers managed to hide the issue with a late surge from James Starks and consistent short yardage from fullback turned folk hero John Kuhn. But the problem still remained, the Packers running game was never the same.

But lessoned learned, and probably in a way that many might not have considered; in the 2011 NFL draft, the Packers selected tight end DJ Williams from Arkansas in the 5^th round and Ryan Taylor from UNC in the 7^th round.  Read more... (957 words + 1 image, estimated 3:50 mins reading time)

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JERRY KRAMER, G, GREEN BAY PACKERS

Career Highlights:

Played 11 Seasons for the Green Bay Packers, 1958-1968

Played in 4 League Championship games and two Super Bowls

Earned 5 Championship rings.

5-Time All-Pro and 3 Pro Bowls

The Case for Jerry Kramer:

A fourth round draft pick in 1958, (selected after Jim Taylor and Ray Nitschke), Kramer earned a starting job immediately. As a rookie, the 6′ 3″, 250-lb Kramer quickly gained the reputation as a tenacious player that could hold his own against the best defensive tackles. In 1959, a fiery new coach came to town and soon recognized Kramer’s talent. Years later, Vince Lombardi would say of Kramer, “He didn’t know how good he was…”

Lombardi helped develop Jerry Kramer into an All-Pro NFL guard.  Kramer became the key blocker to the success of the famous Green Bay Packer sweep. Along with fellow guard Fuzzy Thurston, it was Kramer’s job to provide the inside “seal” Vince Lombardi famously talked about, keeping pursuing linebackers or defensive backs away from Jim Taylor and Paul Horning.

While Hall-of-Fame membership has eluded Jerry Kramer, fame itself has not. In the historic Ice Bowl game against the Dallas Cowboys, Kramer threw the most famous and recounted block in the history of the NFL, giving Bart Starr just enough room to score the winning TD. Kramer also appeared in one of the most famous Sports Illustrated covers ever, the classic photograph of Kramer carrying Vince Lombardi off the field after the Packers’ Super Bowl II victory.  Read more... (1101 words + 3 images, estimated 4:24 mins reading time)

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We’ve all read or heard the quote. It’s a time-honored choice of words that transcends football, or any sport for that matter, and it was uttered by the most famous coach in Packers and NFL history.

“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if these words, or a variation of it, were said in each NFL locker room every season. The quote in itself  is nearly perfect, as there has only been one “perfect” team record-wise in the Super Bowl era.

Which brings me to my overall point. While the Packers accomplished the goal that every team sets out to at the beginning of the season, they weren’t a perfect team by any means. The 2010 Packers lost six games along the way, overcoming several deficiencies in the process. Every Packer fan from the Pacific to the Atlantic (and beyond, for our international readers) expects the Packers to repeat next season, but that might not be possible unless the Packers continue to chase perfection.

Listed below are several areas where the Packers can continue to improve for next season, and the ways in which they can do it.

Kick and Punt Returning

Could Improve:  Read more... (1542 words + 1 image, estimated 6:10 mins reading time)

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This story is about a gruff, quote-worthy coach who single-handidly built a football dynasty in the 1960s. No, this isn’t a review of the upcoming Broadway play based on the life of Vince Lombardi. Rather, it’s an interesting story about another type of football coach, born the same year as Vince, whose persona and achievements closely mirror those of Lombardi. Eerily so, in some cases. I call him “Vince Lombardi with an Accent”. This fine piece of historical comparison is brought to you by guest author Fran Dunn, a Packer fan from “across the pond”, known as “baboons” on twitter.

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

I wonder how many of you reading that quote thought you’d missed an excerpt from one of Vince Lombardi’s famous speeches.  Don’t worry, you haven’t.  These words belong to Bill Shankly, the manager of English football team Liverpool in the 1960s.  Shankly created a team, a dynasty that would live past his retirement and untimely death in 1981.

If Green Bay is TitleTown USA, then Liverpool is the English equivalent.  It remains English football’s most successful team, being national champions 18 times and European champions five times. Whilst many of these titles would come after he left the club, it was Shankly’s ideas, Shankly’s philosophy, Shankly’s “way” that was responsible for the success.  Shankly and Lombardi were men cut from the same cloth.  Read more... (1403 words + 3 images, estimated 5:37 mins reading time)

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