Pack Mentality

How desperate have the Packers become to keep this from becoming a PR disaster? They've just hired Dubya's former press secretary as a media consultant...

After the end of last season I thought the Packers were in a can't-lose situation. If Favre comes back, great - he's the most electrifying player the team has had in decades, if not its entire history, and is still as capable as ever. If he retires, also great - Aaron Rodgers has shown signs of developing very well, and could end up being Steve Young to Favre's Joe Montana. Even in the worst-case scenario, a QB controversy, I figured Ted Thompson could find some sucker opposing GM willing to give up a s**tload of players and/or draft picks for either Favre or Rodgers. The trouble is that Favre basically pulled a reverse Barry Sanders. Sanders, as you may recall, waited until just before training camp in '99 to announce his retirement, and the entire Lions organization has been reeling ever since. When Favre announced his retirement before the draft, I was relieved that he didn't do to the Packers what Sanders did to the Lions. But instead he did the exact opposite - retiring early and then coming back just before camp - and that can be just as disruptive to a team as what Sanders did, especially one that's been planning for his departure for at least the last three seasons (when they drafted Rodgers) and began to implement that plan in earnest when he retired, only to find him still around, maybe not physically anymore, but still casting a long shadow over the team. Thompson's big problem now is time. If he tries to complete a trade too quickly just to be rid of Favre, he could well end up being the sucker, and not get as much out of the deal as he otherwise could. But if he holds out too long for the "right deal", Favre could still be overshadowing the team, and Rodgers in particular, well into the regular season. Remember that six of the Pack's first seven games are against division rivals or 2007 playoff teams. The pressure on Rodgers to perform will be sky-high in any event, but many times more so if there remains the slightest possibility that #4 could suit up and resume the starting role.

I'm not an NBA fan to begin with, and I'm still getting that sinking feeling that the worst is yet to come. If Donaghy rats out any other refs or players, it's basically nuclear winter for the NBA, and it will drop close to the bottom of the U.S. sports totem pole, beneath hot dog eating, roach racing, the World Series of Tiddlywinks, and maybe even (gasp!) the NHL. (Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

I commish two leagues, and in both of them we just use MyFantasyLeague's Drop Players feature to cut our rosters down. There's no set order, and no positional requirements or restrictions on who you keep or drop. The only rule is that cuts have to be in before the deadline (typically one week before the draft), or else yours truly makes the needed cuts at his discretion.

I saw Ted Koppel's report too. However as of midnight Central time, none of the major news or sports outlets have yet made any mention of the Superdome being condemned on their Web sites. If it's true it's probably curtains for the Saints in New Orleans, but before Koppel's report I'd not heard anything about the Superdome being damaged severely enough to be unsalvageable. The place was built to last, and except for the roof damage it appeared to have done just that.

Are the Packers worse than the Bears? No. At least the Packers still have a proven QB and the best group of WRs in the league. But will they be a real Super Bowl contender? Hell, no. O-line problems or no, defense still wins championships and the Packers have no defense to speak of. Yes, they won the division without one last year, and given the sorry state of the NFC North they may yet win it again this year. Been there, done that. Without a strong defense they'll just get spanked at Lambeau Field in the first playoff game again, just like they did against the Vikings this past January (a debacle I got to witness firsthand at Lambeau). I don't blame them for drafting Aaron Rodgers, as all the upper-echelon defensive players were already taken when the Packers' pick came up. I also don't blame them for ditching the declining Darren Sharper. But the Packers also passed on Ty Law, Samari Rolle and a host of other free-agent veterans who could have bolstered their defense. That tells me loud and clear that the Packers organization doesn't share Brett Favre's sense of urgency to get to another Super Bowl before he retires. In a word, shameful.

Well, as long as it's not "Los Angeles Saints of Anaheim" (if Anaheim is in fact where they end up).... UPDATE: myhousekey mentioned Baton Rouge as a possibility. Well, now it looks like the Saints have their eye there too, at least for this season.

Well, yes. The same factors working against the Saints ever going back to New Orleans are also working against the Sugar Bowl (which also is played in the Superdome) and the Hornets (whose arena is right next door). It's going to take years, if ever, for the city to recover to the point where it can support any major sports again, not just the Saints. If you thought I meant all three would be going to L.A., no, that's not what I meant. St. Louis is probably the most likely destination for the Hornets, but where the Sugar Bowl will end up (or whether it will still be called the Sugar Bowl after the move) is anyone's guess.

I've already commented on this possibility at some length in this thread. To put it succinctly, I don't believe the Saints will play in New Orleans again, not just this season, but ever. (Neither, for that matter, will the NBA's Hornets, or the Sugar Bowl.) Given Paul Tagliabue's obsession with putting another team in L.A., that seems at least as likely a future permanent home for the Saints as any other city. And now for the first time since Katrina, there are rumblings to this effect in the mainstream media.

Well, I don't know about what they'll do with what's left of the city, but here's a pretty thourough - and grim - prognosis for the city of New Orleans in the coming years, which underscores many of the points I and others have made here. It looks like it will be many, many years, if ever, before the city is in any shape to support major-league sports again. The Saints are still weighing their options for where to play this season, and surprise, surprise - the L.A. Coliseum is now one of the candidates being considered. Indeed, ESPN's Mark Kriedler seems to think playing in L.A. is a swell idea. Kriedler makes clear that he's only talking about this season, but he's not fooling anyone except maybe himself. UPDATE: Now the Saints are denying that they're considering L.A. as a temporary home for this season. Of course that doesn't rule out an eventual permanent move there in another year or two...

Division winners (and wild card teams) AFC East: Patriots (Jets) AFC North: Ravens AFC South: Colts AFC West: Broncos (Raiders) NFC East: Eagles NFC North: Vikings (Lions) NFC South: Falcons (Panthers) NFC West: Rams Conference Championships AFC: Colts over Patriots NFC: Eagles over Rams Super Bowl XL Colts over Eagles

Actually I didn't forget this point, it was just one of too many factors to count that work against the viability of the Saints remaining in New Orleans long-term in the wake of Katrina. I completely agree with this. The only good reason to try to rebuild New Orleans at its present location is the city's historical significance and cultural heritage, but even the vast majority of that is pretty much toast now. Better to build a "Newer Orleans" on higher ground farther up the river, where at least they won't get swamped when the next hurricane comes through. Still another point is that if the city's sports teams do leave for good, they will hardly be alone. I'd imagine that many of the people and businesses who have had to evacuate New Orleans will ultimately just relocate permanently somewhere else, and I wouldn't blame any of them a d@mn bit for doing so. Indeed, just a few minutes ago on MSNBC someone predicted that many if not most of the Superdome refugees now being evacuated to Houston will end up just staying in Houston. The same goes for the Saints and Hornets. Obviously Houston isn't a long-term option for either of those teams, but San Antonio is for the Saints. And of course there's Los Angeles too. The minute the Saints start talking about permanent relocation, you can count on Tags doing everything in his power to steer them toward L.A.

Well, this is a football forum, and the Saints have to play somewhere. Deserving a team has nothing to do with it. (Otherwise, half the teams in the National Hockey League wouldn't exist.) At least as far as Tags is concerned, it's all about getting more money in the next set of TV contracts. That's why he's so obsessed with putting another team in L.A. - it's the second-largest TV market in the country.

Um... Tulane plays at the Superdome too. They used to have their own stadium (in fact it hosted a few Super Bowls before the dome was built) but not anymore. Given the scope of the devastation, in the end the Saints (and for that matter the Hornets) may not have much of a choice, backlash or no. The local infrastructure, the local economy and hundreds of thousands of homes in the area will have to be rebuilt almost from scratch. That will take years, if not decades, and that's under the Katrina-sized assumption that the area doesn't get nailed by another hurricane in the interim. Expecting New Orleans to be able to continue to support NFL and NBA teams on top of all that is probably too much to ask, even if it is a priority to New Orleanders under the circumstances (another Katrina-sized assumption). My gut feeling is that the longer the Saints are physically unable to play, practice or conduct other team business in the New Orleans area, especially if it extends beyond this season, the more likely they are to start looking for a permanent home somewhere else, especially with L.A. still without a team.

Well, actually it's a fall sport. And in any event, without a roof on the place, Atlanta would probably have had zero chance of hosting a Super Bowl. Their winters may be mild, but it sure as hell ain't Florida. Hockey, now that's a winter sport. (Never mind that the Stanley Cup Finals are played in June.)