Lambeau: Time Heals All Wounds

Time heals all wounds, so they say.

Breezing through the Packer Blogosphere, there’s precious few days you can go without some headline about Brett Favre, usually accompanied with more conjecture than any confirmed facts. And so it goes, Favre being placed more and more in the crosshairs of Packer fans. He’s a traitor, they say. Spiteful. Disrespectful of all Packer fans.

And he might be. Time will tell the story of Brett Favre, and how this messy divorce will be looked back upon. But if history proves correct, Brett Favre will once again be beloved by Packer fans. It’s just going to take time.

It’s uncommon for any player, coach, or GM to leave on fantastic terms with his team. Usually, for some reason, one of the two parties ends up feeling a little slighted. When a coach is fired for having a poor record, he usually doesn’t agree with the reasoning, and often, the media and fan base don’t remember him with love and adoration, either. Players bolt in free agency, get traded, or are cut as soon as their usefulness is past. Some of the biggest names in Packer history left with some sort of dark cloud following them.

But the bigger the star power, the bigger those emotions become. Ego, power, entitlement, pride: all play a factor in how stars view themselves, how the team treats them, and how the fans regard them. And certainly, Brett Favre had as much star power as anyone.

But perhaps one of the biggest stars in Packer history had one of the ugliest divorces from the team. Curly Lambeau, the team’s founder and winningest coach, engaged in a power struggle with the Packer Board of Directors in the late 40’s and 50’s. His 1946 purchase of the controversial Rockwood Lodge as a training camp site set the tone for the board to start questioning his decisions…something the team’s founder wasn’t used to.

If you think Brett Favre has been “the face of the Packers organization”, imagine how Curly Lambeau had to be regarded. The man organized the team, helped get funding for the team, played for the team, and coached them for over thirty years. And, he was remarkably successful: a 229-134-22 record and six NFL championships.

Curly Lambeau was the man. That is, until the Packers Board watched Lambeau suffer through the 1948 and 1949 seasons with a combined record of 5-19, and pulled off a major coup: for the first time in the Packers’ 31-year history, a coach (and vice-president) was fired. And it wasn’t pretty. The power struggle had gone on for several years, and had become a distraction to the team and the fans.

And Lambeau didn’t leave happy. In fact, he refused to come back to Green Bay for years, even when invited. He was angry at the Packers front office over how he was treated, how he was let go so unceremoniously. He went on to coach two other NFL teams before finally hanging it up three years later, but there was no happy homecoming for Curly Lambeau. He stayed away from Green Bay, and reportedly, he stated that he did not want to be associated with the organization in any way.

As the Packer Board members continued their own internal power struggles throughout the 1950’s, the team on the field also suffered through a revolving door of coaches that left many fans wishing they had Curly back. It wasn’t until 1959 when a new coach finally walked through the door, pounded his fist on the Board table, and stated, “Let’s make one thing clear, I am in charge here.” That man was Vince Lombardi.

But as the Packers enjoyed a Renaissancence in the early 60’s, Lambeau, the father of the Packers, continued his difficult exile from the organization. He was invited back in 1959 for Vince Lombardi’s first game as coach*, but it set up a quiet rivalry between the two. By many accounts, there was no love lost between Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.

A couple years ago outside the Atrium, I was standing near the two statues of Curly and Vince while waiting for some friends before a game. An older gentleman struck up a conversation with me, talking about the irony of the statues standing thirty feet away from each other.

“In life,” he said, “those two would never have gotten that close to each other if they could have helped it.” And now, they are frozen in time together, even though in the early 60’s, it was clear there was some ego and pride running in overdrive on both sides.

Curly had been approached on several occasions by different parties in Green Bay for some sort of honor for his years of service, but Lambeau consistently declined, as he did not want his name associated with the organization.

Curly Lambeau died in 1965 with this kind of relationship still standing with the Packer organization, his own 31 years of founding, coaching, and insuring the prosperity of the franchise marred by pride, hurt feelings, and perhaps, spite.

But on the occasion of his death, the Green Bay Labor Council began a push with the local media to name New City Stadium posthumously after Lambeau. City officials were hesitant, given the previous rebuffs by the man himself. But there was one man who was vehemently opposed to the idea, and spoke out against a “Lambeau Field” many times in public.

That man was Vince Lombardi. Even after Lambeau’s death, the rivalry, spite, and prideful competition continued.

In the end, Lambeau’s family approved of the idea, and a groundswell of support for the man who founded the franchise drowned out the catcalls and naysayers. Today, not only do we visit a stadium named for the once-deposed (and sometimes despised) coach, but we admire his bronzed likeness as you walk in to the Atrium and order a cold beverage at the pub that bears his name.

Pretty good for a guy who was run out of town on a rail, and who swore never to return. People forget those less savory details as time goes on. They remember how important it is to honor your past, especially when it is the past of the greatest football franchise in the NFL. Today, those who write about the ugly rift between Lambeau and the Packers often sweeten it up with a passing “less-than-amicable split” or a “didn’t leave on the best of terms”. In reality, it was an ugly, permanent divorce, involving a man who was more than just the “face of the franchise” for sixteen years.

He was the franchise...for thirty-one years.
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Not too long ago, history again repeated itself. When Reggie White retired from the Packers in 1998, he did some things that caused the Packer organization to slowly distance themselves from their once-glorified player. First, a speech made before the Wisconsin state legislature was characterized as being racist and stereotyping by critics. Then, he made public statements against homosexuality, and appeared in anti-homosexuality ads in his Packer jersey. These actions caused him to receive a reprimand from both the Packers and the NFL for appearing in his jersey without approval, and lost him a TV commentator spot with CBS.

When Reggie White asked for his release in 1999 so that he could un-retire and play for the Carolina Panthers, the Packers didn’t blink an eye and quickly let him go elsewhere. Few seemed to question why he wouldn’t want to come back and play for the Packers (or why the Packers wouldn’t want to make him play with them first). You did not see Reggie White as a regular at Fan Fests or making pre-game sideline appearances. By the time of his death, the Packer Pro Shop no longer carried any White memorabilia or jerseys. There was a quiet rift between the Packers and the player who had brought glory back to Titletown.

But when White passed away in 2004, the Packers couldn’t trip over themselves fast enough to bring White back into the Packer family. Within a year, they had retired his number and placed his name in the Ring of Honor inside Lambeau Field, and enshrined him into the Packer Hall of Fame soon thereafter.

Time heals all wounds.

As we continue to deal with the ugly divorce Brett Favre has had with the Green Bay Packer organization, it is wise to look back on other seemingly immortal Packers who saw the end of their careers end on "less-than-amicable" notes. Most of us today never think twice about Curly’s resentment towards the Packers, or recall White’s exodus from Green Bay. We celebrate them as Packer heroes, men who laid the foundation for today’s Packers to continue to be a part of a storied organization in the NFL.

Someday, Brett Favre will receive the same kind of honors: a retired number, a place in the ring of honor, a plaque in the Packer Hall of Fame, and likely, some sort of permanent fixture inside or outside Lambeau Field. Perhaps another practice field or facility will bear his name in large letters as we drive by in our hovercars twenty years from now. People won't remember Greta, or the $20 million dollars, or the Vikings.

It’s just the way history works.

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* the picture you see is indeed of that visit by Lambeau in 1959, but I also show it for another reason: the young man and woman standing behind Curly are two of the greatest Packer fans I know: my father- and mother-in-law, Bill and Gail Phillips, a newspaper clipping that still hangs on the wall in the Phillips basement today.

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Resources used for this article

The History of the Green Bay Packers: The Shameful Years by Larry D. Names (1995)
Lambeau Field: Green Bay’s National Treasure by The Green Bay Press-Gazette (2003)
Al Breightol, my tour guide on the Lambeau Field Stadium Tour on 5/13/2009 (yes, I did field work to research this article!)

Greg Doyel: Translated

I happened across CBS Sportsline, and found this precious little nugget from some columnist I've never heard of. Apparently, he's got a quite a bit of Favre Angst, something you don't usually see from a national columnist (in fact, you don't normally see this from amateur bloggers).

Oh Lord he's doing it again.

Brett Favre is coming back. Probably. Again. So we're all talking about him. Definitely. Again.

It would be hilarious if it weren't so sad, but it is sad, and my goal today is for one of you Brett Favre apologists -- just one of you -- to read everything I have to say and then, at the end, concede that you're wrong. That I'm right. That Brett Favre isn't merely another great athlete struggling with the decision all great athletes have to make, eventually, about retirement. That Brett Favre is actually a liar, a fraud, a creep who for some reason -- and I think it's a lack of intelligence, I really do -- cannot stop burning through his hard-earned goodwill any more than a chain smoker can stop burning through Camels.

Just one of you. Please. This is your come-to-Jesus moment. So come, my son. Confess that Brett Favre isn't a jeans-wearing, spiral-throwing good ol' American icon. Confess that he's a deceitful egomaniac willing to step on anyone, in any town, to get what he wants.

And what does he want? To play for the Minnesota Vikings, apparently. Makes no sense to me, mind you, but that's what Favre wants. He wants to play for the one team that his fan base back in Green Bay dislikes more than any other, short of the Dallas Cowboys. And everybody, other than people in Texas, loathes the Dallas Cowboys. Nobody loathes the Vikings, because loathing the Vikings is like loathing your kid's music recital. You can be bored at the recital. You can be unimpressed by it. Depressed by it. But moved to loathing? No. You cannot be moved to loathe your kid's music recital. Or the Minnesota Vikings.

But they loathe Minnesota in Green Bay, so that's where Favre wants to play. It's incomprehensible, but there it is. He wants to be a Viking. He wants to take those 16 years he spent in Green Bay, winning three MVPs and one Super Bowl and hundreds of thousands of loyal fans, and flush them down a purple commode.

Wow. Quite the spewing of emotion! I'm exhausted just reading that!

Now, look...I'm the first to admit I have been a Favre Fan, and have defended him for years...long before the events of last summer. And I'm also the first to admit that my undying admiration has been muted a bit given his decisions over the last twelve months.

But this line of Jim Rome-wannabe rantage from Doyel, loosely translated, is this:

"The Favre storyline has always been a sure-fire blockbuster for all of us in the media...at least until recently, where it seems more people are weary of Favre or just don't care. So, I am just going to bait the Favre supporters into becoming more vocal, which in turn, will get the Packer fans back into fighting with each other again!"

Come on. CheeseheadTV bought into it. Seriously, if you really, really wanted to get a mea culpa from former Favre defenders, this is the tone you would use to get it?

Nope. It's directly inciteful, a cheap piece of sensationalism that is designed to do one thing: keep the fans fighting and arguing. It's worked for the media for quite some time, as we all know. Favre can scratch his butt while mowing his lawn and it's been headline news.

Why? I just posted an article last week stating how much we all--Favre Fans and Favre Critics alike--need to move on and stop allowing this to clog our message boards and blogs. We needs to stop minimalizing each other with taunts and accusations and "labels".

And then, we get this from a "national journalist"? Apparently, the thought of the Packer fan base moving on scared the heck out of those who make their living off our hysteria.

Doyel is the perfect exhibit as to why newspapers and the media are in trouble nowadays. Instead of sticking to their true journalistic teachings, they whore themselves out to shock writing... whatever they need to do to illicit a reaction from the crowd. Because, as long as people are reacting to what you are writing, you can make the point that they are reading it. Right?

Journalists have the responsibility of presenting the world in an objective light. Yes, they can offer opinions and even a level of bias when they write, but this is the kind of ESPN sportutainment that lowers the bar even further. Sure, you may agree with it. You may indeed be weary of people defending Favre, attacking Ted Thompson, and ripping apart Aaron Rodgers. And I will be the first to admit that the folks attacking Rodgers are way out of line.

But those aren't "national journalists" that are doing the irrational defending of Favre, attacks of Thompson, and ripping apart of Rodgers. Those are regular schmoes, just like you and me, who have an internet connection and too much time on their hands. If national journalists were doing those sorts of things, many of us would spare nary a second in condmening them.

Just because you may agree with his thoughts, the intentional baiting and belittling is just as condemnable.

Did I ever think Favre should have come out of retirement? Nope. But that doesn't mean that I (or Thompson) have any right to prevent a man from making a living (and live with the rewards and consequences for his own decisions).

Do I think Favre walks on water? Certainly, after this past year, we all have to admit that Favre is not going to be the one to take the high road.

Is it wrong for Favre to be looking for revenge against the Packers, assuming all these "unnamed sources" are for real? What would you rather have... for it to settled on the field, once and for all, like men? Or more interviews with Greta?

If you truly wanted some sort of admission by Favre fans that their hero isn't all he was cracked up to be, would you really force them to grovel on their knees and beg forgiveness, to finally have Packer Nation come together in a tearful reconcilliation?

Doyel doesn't want that. He wants the complete opposite. I guess spite is in high supply these days.

Forty-Time, Schmorty-time.

Lot of ink the past day or so about undrafted FA Tyrell Sutton, the undersized running back from Northwestern, who ended up missing out on millions of dollars on Draft Day after suffering through injuries his last two years at college, then recording a plodding 4.75 40-yard dash at the combine.

He's latched on with the Packers, and the 5'8" back seems to be an intriguing prospect. 3,884 total rushing yards in the Big Ten isn't a fluke. It could make you Ron Dayne, too, but at least he's worth considering.

I'm kind of rooting for him. Not making any predictions or anything, but you like to see kids rewarded when they have the real talents you need in the NFL. And news for you: blazing straight-ahead speed ain't one of 'em. Remember Willie Gault? Or did you forget about him, too?

In fact, of all the measurables out there at the combines, I'm offering that the 40-time is one of the most misleading predictors of success in the NFL. Oh, don't get me wrong. I am totally on board that you can't teach speed, speed kills, and all those other cliches.

But speed without the intangible skills is useless. Case in point: LeShon Johnson, and his blazing 4.35 40-yard dash time. Highly touted as a first-round talent, he dropped to the third round in 1994, where Mike Holmgren was left to wonder "how can I get this speed on the field?"

He was left to wonder that for quite some time. Johnson was blessed with some pretty impressive speed, but he lacked the real skills you need in the NFL: awareness, vision, picking the right lane, waiting for your blocks to develop, and hitting the hole hard.

Come on. You all remember LeShon getting the ball, hitting his warp speed drive, and running right into the back of his blockers (who got credit for the tackle). In college, they never told him the names of plays: they just told him specifically what hole to go hit (they numbered them for him).

LeShon blamed it on poor vision, but never really got it going as a career rusher. He finished his career in the XFL (while "He Hate Me" is finishing his in the NFL. Irony?).

If Sutton is able to embody those talents that Johnson didn't have, I'm willing to throw out his lack of straight-line speed. In fact, how often does a running back ever really have to use straight ahead speed? The position is dependent on securing the ball, being able to see the field, to move laterally as well as forward, to change speeds, and take a hit.

In fact, the stat that makes me feel a bit better about Sutton isn't his 40-time, it's his Wonderlic, which is a respectable 21 on his first test, and a 25 at the combine. While that in and of itself doesn't mean he's going to have all those intangibles that Johnson didn't have, it gives me a lot of hope that he has that capacity to translate his skills from college to the NFL a lot more successfully.

And why not? He's 5'8". According to scout John Dorsey, he's short, but not small at 213 lbs. Can he become the change-of-pace back we've hoped for from Brandon Jackson, but never quite got?

The coach was impressed.

“Good little football player, I’ll tell you that,” Mike McCarthy said after Friday’s practice. “He jumped out today. I don’t know what everybody here thought of him. I thought he definitely showed some ability. He definitely has a chance. He has a spring in his step, and he’s instinctive, so we’ll see.”

Of course, this is rookie camp, and other than the drafted guys, few of them will even be around come training camp. It's fun to get excited about a kid like this, but we all know the chances are slim.

But Jerry Rice proved that you can run a 4.7 40-yard dash and compensate by getting the job done elsewhere. Face it...if you need someone to catch one pass for you to win a game, do you want Jerry Rice or Don Beebe on the other end?

Sutton may be an excellent fit for McCarthy's hybrid ZBS if his instincts serve him well. Getting a handoff in the ZBS means you get it, wait for the blocks to set up in front of you, then make your one cut and go. In other words, LeShon would have been a really bad ZBS running back.

But Sutton might be the kind of player that would thrive in it as a third-down option. We will have to see if he can beat out Kregg Lumpkin as the third RB, another UFA. Lumpkin was unavailable most of last year due to injury. You never know if that sits in the back of a coach's mind when looking at the roster the next year.