My Official Green Bay Packers blog

No ado - here’s the shizzle:

Minnesota at Green Bay
Kansas City at Oakland

Baltimore at Pittsburgh
Carolina at Atlanta
Chicago at Detroit
Indianapolis at Houston
New England at Jacksonville
New Orleans at N.Y. Giants
Tampa Bay at Cleveland
Tennessee at Buffalo
Washington at St. Louis
Arizona at San Francisco
Cincinnati at Denver
San Diego at Seattle

Philadelphia at Dallas
N.Y. Jets at Miami

Record this season:

Week 15: 7-9
Week 14: 7-9
Week13: 8-8
Week 12: 14-2
Week 11: 9-7
Week 10: 9-7
Week 9: 10-4
Week 8: 8-6
Week 7: 5-8
Week 6: 8-5
Week 5: 10-4
Week 4: 11-3
Week 3: 10-4
Week 2: 12-4

Total for the season: 128-79

Like the Packers, I’m going to need some help to make the post-season.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “closer” before.  In baseball, it’s the relieving pitcher you put on the mound last, who (in theory) is just un-hittable.  You put him on the mound and the game is effectively over.

There are salesmen that are closers, too.  And sometimes it works a lot like baseball - you get a junior sales rep to warm (or soften) up a prospect, and the silver-tongued shark comes in the finish the sale.  Like the pitcher, when he sees the finish line, there’s nothing that will stop him from finishing the deal.  Not even badly mixed metaphors.

Not so long ago is was like that with Green Bay Packer football.  If the Packers got close to the end zone, they were getting in, no matter what.  The ball was going to Mark Chmura, Keith Jackson, Edgar Bennett or Dorsey Levens (or Freeman or Brooks or Rison or Beebe, etc), and it was getting in.  If those didn’t work, Favre would do the wet work himself.  But it was getting in.  You could count on it.

But not anymore.  When the Packers have a big drive and they have their foot on the throats of their opponents, they don’t press.  They don’t close the deal.

Sure they beat the Vikings on Thursday, but unless they learn how to close out their drives in the next 6 days, the Chicago Bears are going to show them what to do when your spikes are on the other guy’s jugular.

On a side note regarding poor performances in the clutch:  I’m working on starting a new website:  cutbubbafranks.com

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, closers, Bubba Franks, Butterfingers are delicious

I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking this.  I know that a lot of the younger former football players that are in second careers working on the media side of their industry like to push the boundaries of fashion.  Michael Irvin likes to wear his ties like he’s from the 1800’s. A triple-windsor, if there is such a thying. Damn near looks like an ascot.  But at least I don’t laugh when I see what he’s wearing.

However, when I watched whichever of the ESPN football shows that Merril Hoge (former Pittsburgh Steeler running back) is in, I realized the envelope on good taste had been pushed too far. 

USA Today sports writer Michael McCarthy felt that way, too.

And as I looked at his plaid mixed with stripes mixed with polka-dots, in blindingly contrasting purples and reds, it hit me.

He’s a card-carrying member of the Red Hat Society. 

Viva la diference, Merril!

Technorati Tags: Merril Hoge, clothing, purple, red, colorblindness