2020 SE01

Report From the Hill 

Aaron Rodgers is Angry!  I am also angry!  You may say, “But Ken, the team is 4-0.  Why is Aaron angry?  More to the point, why are YOU angry?”

I’m glad you asked!  First, let’s answer the second question first.  Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, C.D. Lamb, and Brandon Aiyuk.  That’s why!  4 wide receivers picked in the first round before the Packers sent in their first pick.  Jeudy went to Denver with the 15th pick in the draft.  He’s a Biletnikoff award winner, 2X All—SEC player, H.S. All=American.  He could have lined up opposite DaVante Adams.  Henry Ruggs III went at No. 12 in the Draft.  He recently(today) sparked the Raiders to win in K.C.  something the Raiders haven’t done since 2012, K.C. hadn’t lost in 13 straight games. C.D. Lamb plays for the hapless Cryboys.  He went 17th in the Draft.  He played his butt off for Oklahoma in College, All Big 12, All American.  Brandon Aiyuk was in the glide path, Matt had his arms opened wide (did he?  We’ll neve know).  Then the Minor 49ers step in front of us with a trade from the Viqueens and took him.  For those of you that don’t know him, he’s the guy that hurdled a defender and scored a touchdown for S.F. last week or week before last.

You say, “But Ken, Aaron is throwing the ball better than ever, he made Lazard a star in NOLA, you said so yourself.  He made Bobby Tonyan a star on Monday against ATL!  Why are you mad?”  We didn’t do anything in FA!  We didn’t do anything in the draft.  Imagine if we had done some horse trading of our own and had Jeudy or Ruggs lining up opposite Davante.  He might not have been out for 2 ½ games!  Lazard might not be on I.R.  Remember in the NOLA review when I said Lazard was skinny, and he goes down immediately after that game with a “core” injury?  Yeah, that happened.  Imagine if we had Brandon Aiyuk in the slot, fast as a hiccup and hurdling opponents in the grass at Lambeau Field. 

But no.  With all of the scouting acumen of the team, all the analytics right there on the computer screen and with Todd McShay and Mel Kuiper, Jr. on ESPN chewing up the television, we drafted Brandon Love.  A project.  You may say, “Ken what’s wrong with a project?  Aaron was a project.” 

No.  Aaron Rodgers was never a project.  He needed to hold the clipboard and could have walked on and led the team from day 1.  The only thing that Alex Van Pelt the QB coach did was raise Aarons arms and helped him with his quick release.  That was during training camp.  Andrew Luck came on and was ready Day 1, Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, the list goes on.  All first round picks all going on Week 1.  Love is 3rd on the depth chart, behind Tim Boyle.

Aaron Rodgers was asked on ESPN how his relationship was with Brandon Love.  No. 12 replied, “Icy.”  He half grinned and told how Love did a good job decorating the Quarter-backs Room for Halloween.  He was also asked about his relationship with Matt LaFleur in light of the draft pick, he was equally cage.  But then told ESPN.com "I think last year did a lot for Matt and I, just understanding each other," Rodgers said. "I think last year did a lot for Matt and I, just understanding each other," Rodgers said. "It was going to be a work in progress when you have guys from different types of backgrounds and systems, but I really felt like the communication with us was so strong, and it was really nonstop. We would have conversations early in the morning and a lot of conversations late at night about things we were thinking about, him asking my opinion about things, me kind of bouncing things off of him and trying to see where he was coming from. Those moments, and really like I said, the desert rose of all it being the Zoom meetings this offseason, I think really helped our relationship to progress to where we’re hashtag #FriendGoals."

Aaron was a little bit more open when he was on Mad Dog Sports last week.  He was asked by Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo about how he had a down year last season.  Aaron said, “Down year? My down year is a career season for any other quarterback in the league!”  BOOM!  MIC DROP!!  You really think Aaron doesn’t feel disrespected?  He’s PISSED!!  I just hope the Wideouts get healthy and MVS gets his hands softened up.  Aaron’s anger can take us all the way to Tampa.  We just have to let him. ALL HAIL THE KING IN THE NORTH!! 
GO PACK!  GO!!!
(Ken Hill)

 Just Jimmy

 I know I have mentioned this before, but football is all I have left as far as a spectator sport goes. Well, football and professional cycling. But does anyone else keep up with that? Anyhoodles, since football is mainly all I have, the offseason is excruciatingly long. So I am regularly looking for Packers news. While there usually isn’t much to read about, there was a little. Rodgers was talking about how he started watching film of when he was playing at a higher level than he had the last couple of years. He noticed some differences and changes in his play then vs. recently. He never stated what the differences were, but started working on them during training camp. We have been watching the results. And he has been doing this with 2nd and 3rd tier wide receivers. During Rodgers entire time on the Packers roster, there has NEVER been a 1st round WR, RB or TE drafted to help him. And if you noticed his on-field demeanor the last few seasons, he looked like he would like to have been anywhere else than on the field. I think part of that was the last coaching staff. They had become so predictable, that no team was scared to play the Packers. And BTW, I guess many of us have noticed how the coaching staff in Dallas is doing a really bang up job of “coaching them up” to that ONE win they have. Fast forward to this season and look at Aaron on the field. He looks like a kid out there enjoying a game for the first time. And he has bought into Lefleur’s system so well, that he is playing at as high a level as any QB in years without a No. 1 WR for the last 2 ½ games.. We have a bye week here, then 4 games and a mini-bye after the Thursday night game. I don’t have realistic expectations of the Packers going 16-0 in the regular season, but I am enjoying this run right now!!!
Just Jimmy
(Jimmy Smith)

 GPB In Our SPARE TIME

The great news is the Pack is now 4-0!  The not so great news was that the Pack played a night game two weeks in a row—and then the kickoff was delayed.  That did not undermine the 32 Packer backers who met at Spare Time on Monday night to cheer and get rowdy!  Joining us Monday night was Bobbie Rogers, visiting from New Berlin, WI. Come visit any time you’re in the neighborhood.

Eight great door prizes went home with those lucky enough to get their number drawn this week.  117 Nick Papala, 566 Brittany Tomlin, and 453 Leon Stenzel chose tee shirts, and 328 Marge Bramlett will warm up under her wrap.  242 Cristina Harrison will sport a wallet with matching key chain.  542 Kathie Mervyn will rest with her new neck pillow, while 221 Barb Gambrell will lean on her auto headrest covers.  And all the while 567 Steven Clancey will toast the Packers with his new Pilsner glasses. 

We filled a $1 board.  Congrat-ulations to winners 506 Sebastian Sharpe, 450 Stacey Stewart, and 542 Kathie Mervyn (2).

The correct answer to the trivia question was provided by 127 Kent Sargent.  He is the lucky winner of a $25 gift card from our great friends at Spare Time whose generosity is much appreciated!

Next week is our bye week, so I’ll miss seeing you all.  Don’t forget to check out the Packers Media Guide to find the answer for the Bye Week Trivia Contest and email it to greevillepackerbackers@gmail.comI look forward to seeing you all 10/18 to see the Pack take on “Tommy” Bay.  It’s scheduled for 4:25.  Even though kickoff is later, at least this one isn’t a night game… yet! See you in 2 weeks—stay safe and healthy—through thick and thin… 

Marge 328

Packer Fans Everywhere!

I am writing this article on the road back home to Wisconsin to visit family with my wife Ella (you know her as GPB member #599).  25 years ago I relocated for my job from Wisconsin to northern Indiana.   I immediately purchased a Green Bay Packers frame for my Indiana license plate to ensure I would not be mistaken for a bloody Bears fan in that too-wide Chicagoland area.  That identifying “badge of honor” has started countless friendly interactions with strangers over the years.  It did not matter if I was deep in Bears Country, across the Michigan state line, or down near Indianapolis, somebody would see my license plate frame and greet me as if we were tailgating together at Lambeau Field.

And then 15 years ago when my family and I left the NFC North area and relocated here to South Carolina, I realized that Packer fans are truly everywhere!  Fellow Cheeseheads give me high-fives at the gas station.  GO-PACK-GO is cheered at me from across the parking lot at Lowe’s.  Thumbs-up and waves on I-385 come from other vehicles adorned with green and gold emblems.  And greetings of the “Duh Bears Still Suck!” in the church gathering area (that was Packer John Wieloch).  Each vehicle in our family has a Packers license plate holder, so my wife and sons get in on the action as well.   New friends were quickly found at grocery stores, auto repair shops, yard sales, fitness centers, high schools, and universities.   

We like to attend Packer games whenever they play in the southeast.  You would think our journeys would be full of trepidation as we travel into enemy territory.  But as we get closer to the destination city, the highway is full of friendly faces in car windows recognizing our license plate holder and heading towards our same goal of seeing the glorious Packers victory in a foreign stadium.  Win or lose on the field, at least the swarming Packers fans have dominated the parking lots with superior tailgating skills and drowned out the host cheerleader routines with GO-PACK-GO raining down from the upper deck seats.

As we approach Chicago in today’s road trip, Ella will hand over the driving duties to me to contend with the inevitable bumper-to-bumper traffic.  But I have great confidence the FIB’s will see my Packer-endorsed vehicle coming and I will easily bob and weave my way on I-94 through the armpit of Lake Michigan as if it were the Bears defense.  Ultimately crossing the goal line and entering Wisconsin with my arms outstretched and envisioning my own version of a Lambeau Leap.

We will enjoy our time in Wisconsin along with a visit back to northern Indiana to see Ella’s family (yes, I will have to endure some grumbly Bears fans there, but at least my brother-in-law and a few nephews enjoy the more fruitful riches of Packer fandom).  And then we will make our way back on the highway towards South Carolina and the greatest concentration of Packer vehicle gear outside of Wisconsin: the parking lot of Spare Time on Sunday afternoons. 
Hail to the Greenville Packer Backers!
(Bill Demuth #398)

Met some packer backers while wintering in Ft Meyers Beach, FL (Jackie Boyd #516)
A Wisconsin Pooch all decked out for the game. (Jackie Boyd #516)

While living in Charlotte for a short time, I was invited to this game. And we thought we were crazy dressers! (Jackie Boyd #516)

 Jill Fant Reminiscing

My earliest recollection of The Pack goes by to 1967-8 at my grandpa’s house in Janesville, Wis.  Many Sunday afternoons were spent at my Grandpa’s house. Looking back, I think he would have preferred  we came on Saturday, when the Pack was not playing.

When we came to visit including my parents,  twelve people came into grandpa Austin and my grandma Anns’ house. It was a Small six room house and most of my sibling (9) would have to sit on a lap or the floor.



I wont pretend I was a Packer fan at 7 or 8. But if they were playing it was on the radio or the tv.  The voices of the commentators always in the back ground. Even though I did not understand the game the sights or sounds of the game are part of my memory. 
Fast forward to the Feb 6, 2011. I am working as a admission registrar in the ER.   It is the day of the super bowl and I had already got permission to wear my cheesehead if the Pack won.  You should know how much explaining I did that night. I had to leave for work before the end of the game and when I got there the Er was nearly empty and most of the staff there are rooting for the Steelers. It was a great night to be a cheese head. 🥰.
I learn two things that night. I didn’t know how we got to the super bowl and Aaron Rodgers was ABSOLUTELY, my fantasy boyfriend! My hubby Bill is actually okay with this !
That is when Bill and I both decided not to go into the playoffs without knowing how the teams got there.
A dream came true in 2017 season on a visit to Wisconsin that I went to Lambeau field to see the Pack play the Bills with my 85 year old father and my brother and my nephew. It was so exciting. Cold 48 degrees to me. And weird drinking a beer and eating a brat at 0900.  But I am game anytime!
In October of 2019, went with Bill’s sister Sharon, ( a Chiefs season ticket holder) To see the Pack beat the Chiefs. Comfort wise, the Chiefs stadium wins. The seats and beer holder are great. I left the stadium happy. Sharon, not so much. But found many Packers at Arrowhead supporting the Pack.
I do bleed Green!
Go Pack Go!
(Jill Fant #574)

 Webmaster Report

 Hello and welcome to the behind the scenes and screens report from your friendly Greenvillepackerbackers.club webmaster and facebook administrator. First the business:

- Greenvillepackerbackers.club AND .com domains have been secured. If some of you longer term members recall, we historically had the .com domain but registration lapsed so we switched in 2018 to the .club address. I have since picked it back up in the last year and now both domains will work. No need to update your bookmark! 
- The greenvillepackerbackers page on facebook continues to be updated although I am not as active as some facebook page administrators. You will find weekly newsletter updates and events set up for the games. Go ahead and like the page to receive updates on your newsfeed and respond to the events to see who's interested and going to see the games at Spare Time. If you are interested in being a facebook administrator to help respond to questions and set up events and generally interact with the fans, please let me and Packer John know.
- The same call for input goes for the website. Right now I have it set up as a simple blog for the newsletter along with information on where we meet and a link to our fb page which I think is the basics of what we need. If anyone has thoughts as to how they might want to improve the webpage, let me know. Most interactions online these days come through social media, but there may be some opportunity to make it better. Any savvy developers who want to give some input are free to speak up. I have only limited experience in web design so I'm sure there are other improvements that can be made but I would stumble through trying to figure out.

Now, how about them Packers!? It's exciting to see the team undefeated going into a bye week. An interesting coincidence for me is that I am similarly undefeated in my fantasy league. This is the first time I've seen such a convergence of positive events. I might not make it through week 5 without Rodgers racking up the points on my fantasy team but as we approach week 6 the Packers will still be undefeated and rolling into the next 2/3rds of the season. We should be getting Adams back so I fully expect the offense to continue to deliver. Defense (especially up the middle) will continue to be a risk. Hopefully we can keep it together and the other teams don't figure out a scheme to exploit us a la SF last year. 4 of the next 5 games are non conference so I'll be itching to get to that bears game week 12 so we can complete the phrase "on further review...." 
GPB Webmaster
Justin Curtis #246

 Your help is needed!

 Thirteen years ago, Tim & Jamie, along with Lauran & Nancy, Linda & I started this club.  Tim was a go getter who put together the format we still use today.  He even got us some air time on channel 7.  As time went on, Tim past away and Lauran & Nancy moved away leaving Jamie, Linda and I as caretakers of the club.  It has been our joy to get all of you together every Packer game  to have some fun, enjoy the game and maybe win some money or a prize. 

As I said last year and throughout this year, Linda and I will be backing out of running the club at the end of this year.  Linda & I are moving into a new chapter in our lives and feel it’s time for others to take over.  Several of you have signed up to help with game day activities, MC, set-up & pack-up and I really appreciate it.  Up until now, the schedule has been full; but the remainder of this year is still very much in need of MC’s and office help.  Beyond that, what is completely lacking is anyone stepping up to do the weekly tasks.  They include keeping tack of club income and expenses.  Marge 328 does a wonderful job at our front table each week but can’t do it all.  With Linda stepping down, there is a need for another depen-dable person(s) along side Marge.  Updating our database is another simple task.  Managing the office bag, including printing forms, name tags and signs, then be responsible for getting it to the game.  Another is buying prizes, reloading the prize bags and then be responsible for getting it to the game each week.  None of there are difficult but they do have a degree of commitment.  Before you commit, talk to me and I can show you in detail what each one does.  If you decide to help, I will walk you through it until you feel good on your own.

I believe we have THE best Packer club in the nation.  Not because of what Tim, Jamie Lauran, Nancy, Linda, Marge or I have done; no, it’s because of each of you.  Linda & I want very much to continue to be members but it’s time for new blood, Green Blood to take over.

(105 Linda & 106 John Wieloch)

 Warm? Memories

 It goes without saying, that fall and winter weather in Wisconsin is described by one word…cold!  There is a reason why Lambeau Field has been dubbed “The Frozen Tundra” and that goes back to one particular game held there—The Ice Bowl!  Where the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys on one of Wisconsin’s coldest and iciest days.  I recently found out from an aunt, that my dad took my grandma to that game.  How exciting!  And my aunt said that my grandma stated she was never cold!  Alas, herein lies the subject of this article.  I was NEVER warm in Wisconsin winter.

The very first Packer game that I went to at Lambeau Field was around 1979 or ’80 in November.  I don’t even remember who we played or what the outcome was.  All I remember is Cold!  Suffice it to say, Lambeau Field to this day (except for the hospitality suites) does not have cushy fold down seats like Raymond James Stadium or the Georgia Bowl (inside) Stadium.  It has galvanized steel benches like the ones the fans sit on at high school football fields.  There are numbers painted on the benches to designate your seat according to your ticket.  Many people bring cushions to sit on which may overlap your area of coverage to bring some comfort to their viewing enjoyment.  The old-times swear a piece of cardboard under your boots keeps the cold out… really?  But not I.  I was dressed in winter jacket and long pants with gloves.  Don’t remember wearing a hat.  You would think that with so many human bodies huddled so close together (don’t start me on the Covid spacing), that we would share our body heat.  Nope. 

About the end of the 2nd quarter I realized that this would indeed be a very long game!  In the middle of the 3rd quarter I knew I had to do something to prevent turning into a popsicle.  My friend kept ordering ice cold beers (ha!) while I headed inside (not heated, of course) to the bathroom.  I struggled with the removal of outerwear just to relieve myself and before I turned blue, I redressed.  I then had a brilliant idea that the water in the faucets must be warm to keep the pipes from freezing.  NOPE.  After washing my hands with ice water, I dried them and redonned my worthless gloves.  I warmed with some of the activity I had just experienced, but when I went back into the elements, I quickly became Frosty (like the snowman). 

I somehow survived to the end of the game and was so happy to leave that place of frost.  When we got back to the car, as I was anxiously awaiting the return of heat from the combustion of the car engine, we found it wouldn’t start!  *%$&#_!@!!!!!  Luckily there was a Walmart (or equivalent…maybe K Mart) across from Lambeau Field where we went to buy spark plugs, wrenches, etcetera, and I got the chance to restore circulation to my extremities.  All I can remember as the sun was setting over Lambeau and only one fricking car in the parking lot (ours), the car finally started and off we went home.

So, the moral of this story is: if you visit Lambeau Field in fall or winter and you want a cheery remembrance of the place, take along your electric socks, electric gloves, electric hat, electric scarf, a car battery to run them all, wear a snowmobile suit and heck, bring a piece of cardboard too!
#105 Linda Wieloch 

Football, Politics, Patriotism

 Do you remember the anxiety you felt the day before a big game that was important to you?  You were not quite right until you got out on the field and felt the first contact, the first shove, the first pain of the contest.  Then you were fine, and the joy of competition took over.  You were in the moment.  We play through the pain.  In combat we keep going through the pain until the shooting stops.  You were in it to win.  That determination takes over and everything else falls aside. We compete for love of the game.  To prove we are the best at what we can do.  To triumph…. Or die trying.

Today’s professional athletes, owners and television media are in it for the money and political fame.  Otherwise, how do you explain their behavior…all of them!  It is certainly not for honor.  Fans are the pawns.

I am a product of the early 60’s, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1961.  We are known as the Shipbuilders because of the yards that were in Manitowoc.  I graduated from the UW in June 1965.  It was all engineering and business subjects.  No time for liberal arts.  Russia had launched Sputnik.  The drumbeat was technical careers.  And there was a war in Vietnam and after that a job in industry, I hoped.  I was enlisted for Navy Officer Candidate School in my junior year at Madison.  You do not hear about the patriots from U.W., only the leftist, malcontent, murdering bombers. 

I learned to swim in the cold waters of Lake Michigan.  To dive into the waves off the harbor breakwater and the jetties positioned to avoid sand erosion from the constant storms.  Up the hill from the lake was 4th Street Playground where we cobbled together our touch football games and plotted who would block and who would catch the passes.  I have four brothers and we each had a friend and we argued strategy all the time.

Every Sunday afternoon in the late 1950’s we watched Victory at Sea on our Philco black and white television.  I identified immediately with the Battle of the Atlantic, the cold water, the German wolf packs and the inadequate convoy escorts.  I identified with the merchantmen in the north Atlantic water and the burning oil pools as their tankers sunk.  I pondered if I could be that brave.  They were “sitting ducks”.  Later, just before I worked for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at the Manitowoc dock, I met Captain Arthur Fredrickson who was a survivor of a torpedo attack in World War II and commander of an Ann Arbor Railway Co. car ferry.  Captain Fredrickson was friends with my father who was editor of the Manitowoc HEARLD-TIMES.  He wrote a book about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.

At 14, he invited me to sail overnight to Frankfort, MI, have breakfast at his home with his wife, off-load, and on- load freight cars and return to Manitowoc.  I was hooked.  War or no war I would go to sea.  On the lakes or on the oceans.  With the Navy, the Coast Guard or the Merchant Marine.  I was learning living history imprinted with the comfort of a wool blanket on a cool summer night and the moonlight through the porthole above my top bunk on the steamer.  I was absorbing history without a book.

Today, the sports world is dominated by a generation of privilege and pride.  They have migrated into the NFL from the most prestigious universities in the country.  They know what they learned from their liberal arts professors and social media.  I doubt many have majored in the exact arts like business, math, engineering, chemistry etc.   In those subjects, truths are absolute.  In the “soft sciences” truths are relative, just like the algorithms developed by Google to appeal to users.  They develop truths for everyone!  See the Netflix documentary: Social Dilemma.

Like everyone else in the country they are addicted to what they see and hear on social media and network television. And like any team, they all want to go along to get along, to trust that each one has the other’s best interests at heart.  It is the same in a military unit, a ship or a platoon.  This unity is necessary for performance in times of stress and combat.  The leftists know this and play upon the vulnerability of the players and coaches.  Coaches have “end racism” embroidered on their facemasks;  how about “Thanks Veterans”?

The enemy today is attacking from within, ever since the end of World War II.  The KGB from Russia, the Chinese Communist Party, check:

(https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/blm-co-founder-teams-up-with-chinese-advocacy-group/) the Islamists and their proxies and offshoots are rioting on the streets of America. 

These influences are the product of ideology and they manipulate the tools of social and computer science: psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, political science and new studies of discontent that are being invented monthly.  Now it is white supremacy!  By the way, my great-grandfather Mathias worked as a day laborer in the agricultural fields of Oconto (WI) to earn enough money to go back to Bohemia and bring the rest of his family through Ellis Island and medical quarantine.

The NFL is into appeasement to assuage their collective guilt about distorted historical wrongs I doubt the front office understands.  (Read: Death of a Nation, 2018, Dinesh D’Souza).  Using sports to influence the body politic is like dropping LSD into your cocktail at a party you are really enjoying.  The next day, you do not know what hit you! 

The Green Bay Packers are owned by the stockholders.  For years they have trusted the wisdom and decisions of the management.  A management, like other NFL teams, is willing to denigrate the symbols, songs and expressions of the democratic republic that enables the team’s success.  For many years, we have been America’s Team.  But now our team belongs to players who have real and imagined grievances.  If they do not play, no one makes money.  It is a threatened strike. 

About ten or 15 years ago, the team welcomed Vietnam veterans in a show of appreciation and rectitude for a public that blamed soldiers for the disastrous decisions of politicians.  That is an example of how the Left shifted the blame for the Vietnam debacle onto the country’s war fighters.  Now, what the Left in the US cannot win legislatively, they hope to get through media intimidation, lies and propaganda, through high school and college indoctrination, through street violence and destruction and finally…the politicization of the NFL and as part of it, our beloved team, the Green Bay Packers. 

When the Left cannot persuade, which is the essential art in a democratic republic, they must rely upon secretive, manipulative, stealthy methods that never stop.  Watch how determined they are to take down a duly elected president.  Now they are undermining the NFL teams and management, each one afraid to stand up for individual values.  This is the way communism works.  Everyone afraid to be an individual; everyone eager to be part of a collective. 

The Kohler Company in Wisconsin took a bitter strike and it survived and thrived.  So did Major League Baseball.  Let us lock out political activists of any persuasion who dare to use the public television airwaves, the stadiums paid for by tax paying citizens, etc.  Stop the season in midseason.  Disappoint the hell out of the self-centered privileged.  Do you have any idea how disappointing it is for a war fighter to lose an arm, a leg, suffer third degree burns, lose an eye?  Turn the tables on the left.  Yes, the players will suffer, but they are the usurpers of the fees and massive investment of their fans’ and their employer’s massive investments.  They are gifted athletes leeching off others.  They should use their time off to question and debate their professors who twist the truth.  Go back to a patriotic school like Hillsdale in Michigan and take a year of American History.  Are you aware that Camp Randall in Madison trained Union soldiers from the region before they boarded trains to the front in Virginia to maintain the union and stop slavery?  Read: Fire Within: A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin by Kerry A. Trask, a former professor of the UW Manitowoc campus.  Wisconsin Badgers should never feel ashamed or intimidated by black lives matter or antifa. 

As for the public, go back to bowling leagues, local ice hockey, indoor tennis, anything that avoids network television and left-wing commentary.  Go to the bars like they do in Lakewood, Wi and play pinball, drink beer and tell hunting and fishing stories.  Go to the movies with your kids and explain the morality of the Hollywood narratives.  Go to church together on Sunday. 

Sue and I love our Packer Backer Club.  We love our God.  We love our U.S. Constitution.  We love the vision of our founders.  I want to fight the people who want to change the rules of the game because they are having trouble competing and winning on the traditional battlefield of ideas.  They want to pack the Supreme Court. They want to resort to popular vote instead of the electoral college.  They want to add states who will vote their way in the senate.  I say NO. NO. NO.  You do not get to change the rules of the 230-year-old game!

I immediately told my tennis and church friends the day of first symptoms and 3 days prior, to be aware of possible contagion; no one has told me they were contaminated by me. Sue and I are finally out of home quarantine this week from having the China virus.  It is devastating.  It saps your strength, your courage, your determination.  All you want to do is sleep.  Honestly, sometimes at the beginning, it seems like dying will not be so bad.  It takes your appetite.  We have both lost 10 lbs. in two weeks.  When you do not eat, you do not build resistance.  We can only have the therapeutics drugs that the CDC allows hospitals to recommend.  President Trump, due to his status demanded drugs Dr. Fauci did not want him to have, but it cut his illness time in half compared to ours.  Sunday afternoon, an anonymous someone called to interview me about my recovery, says he is a government contract tracer.  What about the HIPPA privacy law?  Who told him about me?  I do not need some stranger on the government payroll to tell me what my civic duty is or gather MY statistics!  If the CDC needs data, they can get it anonymously from health institutions.

Finally, regarding this Wuhan Virus, I cannot imagine going onto the playing field or the battlefield sickened with it.  It knocked us out for two weeks with 3 weeks predicted for regaining of full function.  But then we are in the higher risk age group.  We are not to rush it.  I am convinced that it is a product of the Chinese Communist Party to weaken all western democracies, especially the USA.  I read reports on U Tube from Israeli intelligence about the Wuhan laboratory and the Chinese Bat Lady, how she has gone into the caves to draw infected blood and take it back to the Wuhan lab.  Then how the Royal Canadian Mounted police uncovered Chinese researchers stealing secrets from the Canadian Virology lab in Toronto back in July of 2019. 

There is willful ignorance being practiced in our country at our great peril because leftists want political power at any cost.  We must stay God centered.  We must stay informed.   We must know our true history.  We must stay American.  We must keep the true spirit of the Green Bay, Wisconsin Packers alive.
#292 Joe Valitchka
Captain, USNR Retired
*Vietnam combat veteran, amphibious and brown water Navy
*Military Order of the Purple Heart
*And oh yes, old fashioned Eagle Scout and
*Sea Explorer, SES 241 USS Constitution, Elks Club,
Manitowoc, WI

Parting Shots

 One weird year! A weirdness that has infiltrated into sports and the NFL in particular. No pre-season games, none or little crowds, recorded crowd noise (under 70db), no player jersey exchange after the game but you can hug and shake hands, sideline coaches wearing masks but players not required to, a franchise now called “Football Team”, practices cancelled and games rescheduled due to Covid exposure and then let’s not get into whose lives matter and how many national anthems we have.  Through it all, we do our best to persevere.

This goes for our club as well.  It is good to see members returning from years past and new members joining us this year.  As of this week, our club membership stands at 108.  Given the current social environment, I find that number good; but as good as I think it is, there is a slightly dark side.  By this I mean there are 4 members who joined late last year when we offered the “2 for” special that have yet to be seen or heard from this year.  Then there’s 8 past members who have yet to return because they’re protecting their health, 2 have moved, 1 is homeschooling her grandkids so the parents can work, 5 for nonspecific reasons and 8 because of the NFL.  I understand and respect their choices and hope things can return to a “normal” where they feel safe and good about coming back.  Adding all the numbers mentioned above, minus the 2 that moved, that’s makes a total of 27.  I would love to see them all return.

Spare-Time is doing all they can to make this our home.  The staff is more experienced, the menu is slowly expanding back to normal, adding cheese curds and hopefully adding Brats to the menu just for us! Steve told me at the last game, seating restrictions have been removed.  He also told me the seating for our games will be as WE feel right.  Right now, that’s 45 but can go up to 90 per side.  Let me know where you feel our caring capacity is.

What can you say about our Packers?  A 4-0 start, ½ game ahead of duh bears and a season ahead of the viqueens and lyins.  Good things have happened in the past with a start like this but there is still ¾ of the season to go.  The defense (other than the 20-play drive last week) has been much improved.  It has however had its problems.  Kenny Clark being hurt and injuries to the inside linebackers has opened their run game.  But with the Smith brothers on the edges and Alexander in the backfield, they can disrupt even the best QB’s.  This in turn has taken pressure off the offense, helping to create the “Two Headed Aaron”, Rodgers and Jones; both are having MVP years so far.  And like the defense, the offense is not without its problems.  We have been dinged up a little on the front line, digging deep into our linemen reserve.  The main concern is again at wide receiver.  Adams has been sidelined the last couple of weeks.  Lazard come up big one week then ends up on IR for a while.  Last week we had only one wide receiver on the roster with a catch this year (Marquez Valdes-Scantling).  The answer to that problem was send in the Tight Ends and Running Backs who went 20 of 21 for 241 yards and 4 TD’s, while the wide receivers were 7 of 12 for 86 yards.  Davante should be back next week joined by Malik Taylor & Darrius Shepherd.  The question for our opponent is who do defend? running backs? Tight ends? Wide receivers?  Air-rons answer, cover whomever you want, I’ll throw to the open guy!  The Pack has show depth and imagination, a recipe for fun and definitely interesting.

Here is a strangle fact about the Fail-cons game.  Looking at the gamebook from that game I noticed that Lewis & Clark were listed as inactive for the game.  When I mentioned that to Linda, she was amazed that without these two “Studs” playing, the Pack won.  Of course, she was thinking Kraig & Neil where the Packers listed them as Marcedes & Kenny.  An honest mistake.

Here is my question and maybe yours as well: “Why can they just play Football?”  I personally don’t like the positions taken by the NFL or actions by some of the players.  This is not to say they are wrong in what they say or believe, I just don’t think the football field is the proper place.  Then again, I’d feel the same way if Wal-Mart, Lowes or United Airlines allowed their employees to protest while working.  Players in the past and behind the scenes have done much for their com-munities to raise awareness and champion neighborhood programs and I and all for that.  The NFL has the Walter Payton Man of the Year award where each team nominates one of their own, highlighting their involvement in the community, and the winner chosen at the end of the season. Last year, Blake Martinez was our nominee and Calais Campbell, from the Jaguars, was the winner.  If they have it his year, I can’t seem to find anything about it.  I do see where they have “Critical Catch” for breast cancer awareness.  They have selected several games from several weeks to promote this.  Looking at the schedule, the Packer Fail-con game was one.  Does anyone remember anything being said during the game about it?  Next week it’s the GB/TB game, look to see what they say.   I say promote player and coach’s involvement in making a better community off the field and on the field… let’s just play football. 

As a young child growing up in the shadow of Lambeau Field (Appleton), I got a very early transfusion of GB+ blood. I became addicted.  Like every junkie, I need Green & Gold blood in my veins and need that fix every game day so I can
Bleed Green My Friends!
(Packer John)