Pack4ever's Blog

As I search the web for NY media coverage of Brett, it strikes me that while this is big news in football circles, the top daily sports stories in NY are about the Yankees and Mets and the Olympics. In Wisconsin we have the Pack and then some colleges but New Yawkers have two major teams in every major sport. The Jets and the Giants, Yankees & Mets, Rangers and islanders (and even a 3rd team in Buffalo),plus basketballs Knicks and Nets(NJ). Then there are second tier sports that attract millions of fans annually such as Horse Racing, Indoor Soccer, Arena Football all before you get to the college level sports. Sports reporters don't tend to worship any player and delight in knocking them all down a peg or two.

What this all means is that in NY, there are teams with stand-out players, but in Wiscosnin it was Brett and the Packers. The player and then the team. I wonder how he'll handle going from "God" status to "Another Great Player" status.. It is interesting to see the mentions of punishment laps he's had to run for fumbling a snap or throwing a pick. He never had to do that in Green Bay. I also chuckled when at the lunch break of his first practice in NY he told a reporter he was a bit tired, and in Green Bay he'd have just gone home, but as a Jet he is expected at all practices.

I have no doubt he'll learn the plays, learn the players names and have some really great games. What I don't know is how he'll personally handle the small fish in a big pond atmosphere.

I wish he had just gone out on top and stayed retired. My guess is by next year, he'll have wished the same thing.

Brett, you can always come home to Green Bay, we'll leave the lights on for ya!

 

So I rarely think about slamming businesses for what they do, cause I'm a Buyer-Beware kind of guy.. But I just have to sound off about this because it affected people I know..

As you may know, our TV signals are switching to digital from the current analog next year. In anticipation, the Government (FCC) and the Consumer Electronics trade association agreed a few years back to start labeling analog TV'ss with a warning that digital was coming and the TV's would no longer be useful after Feb, 2009.  The labeling rule was designed to protect consumers from unsavory electronics shops who would sell the outdated TV sets to unsuspecting consumers..

And that is exactly what happened anyway. You see the big boys like Best Buy decided to ignore the labeling rules and sold tons of soon to be useless anaolg only TV sets without a warning or mention of the digital change coming. Consumers spent hard earned money and became outraged when friends explained the issue. Of course the stores refused to take the TV's back and the consumer was screwed..

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6561130.
html

Then the FCC decides to spank the bad boys for ripping off the public. Best Buy got a whopping $288,000 fine which they are refusing to pay. (this probably amounts to less than a fraction of the profits they made selling useless TV's to unsuspecting consumers). They claim the FCC had no right in the first place to stop them from misleading the public and selling outdated TV sets.. The arguments are all very legal but basically says Best Buy can rip people off and nobody has the right to stop them. They didn't say oops, we made a mistake, or even we're sorry. They basically said  something akin to we chose to ignore the ruling, rip off our customers, and we defy the government's authority to do anything about it.

A few months ago I saw some congressional hearings on digital TV on CSpan. Seems that the digital converter boxes the giant retailers (including best Buy) are selling actually block local stations who are still analog, again screwing the consumer who gets home and wonders why thier favorite station is not available anymore. The big retailers refuse to take the converters back, and also refuse to sell the correct models until they are sold out of the bad converters. Again, they are selling the consumers bad junk just to make a buck and they'll sell the right equipment as soon as they have sold the last piece of junk.

What a world. Remember what happened to the guy in China who sold the bad pet food. They hung him in public. Maybe China has some good ideas after all.

I have to admit that the Giants Defeat of the Patriots will be one of the best Superbowls ever.. My anger at the Giants for stealing the NFC Championship from the pack started to fade early in the first quarter as I got involved in the nailbiter of a game. I soon found myself rooting them on, but at the same time wanting to see a perfect season by the Pats just because it would be good for the sport.

In the end, the Giants are truly the deserving Champs and my consolation is that we did get beat by the best.

Too bad Brett is refusing AGAIN to play in the Pro Bowl.. Maybe they should just stop naming him to the team if he isn't going to play for the fans. I guess it's on to NASCAR until next August.

I can't hardly wait for this Sunday.. The Pack is finally Back and there is no stopping us.. Nice frozen day forecasted and all systems are go.. I'm feeling the Superbowl in our future..

GO PACK GO!

GREEN & GOLD!

Anybody got any thoughts on the score??

I am so damn mad at the NFL.. They claim to be the most fan friendly sport but this whole NFL network fiasco tells me it's all about the money.. I do not want to pay more for what I have always seen for free.. Let FOX pay for the games and sell ads to support it.. I;ll gladly watch the ads and suuport those businesses that give me the Packer games for free the way its always been. I don't want to pay for the NFL network just to get one or two games a year.. The NFL is too greedy.. And my beloved Packers are turning their backs on the fans for supporting this move..