Latest Musings - Favre, Olympics, Panthers

A few ramblings from the past week:

Favre - I don't think there was a winner or loser from the Packers-Favre divorce. The Green Bay Packers obviously wanted to move on. Truthfully, I don't blame them. Favre has held them hostage for the past few years. The Packers were ready to move on. I think they were very frustrated. They couldn't plan for their draft, look at potential free agents, and juggle the salary cap because of Favre's waffling the past few years. Favre finally announced he was retiring. The Packers moved on. They drafted Brian Brohm in the second round in case Aaron Rodgers doesn't work out. When Favre changed his mind, AGAIN, the Packers had enough. I really think if Favre would have told them, yes, he was coming back initially, the Packers would have been satisfied and would have accepted him. They could have used their 2nd round draft pick on a position need. Obviously, any team would rather have Favre than Aaron Rodgers, but the Packers felt they were being held hostage. Thompson and McCarthy were satisfied with Rodger's progress and felt satisfied with their team without Favre. I'm not going to question the Packers for this decision. McCarthy and Thompson have been good the past few years in judging young talent. They developed a lot of young players last year and their future looks bright. Grant, Jennings, Hawk all were very young players that contributed heavily to the Packers success last year. I still think they will win the NFC Central this year.

As for Favre and the Jets, this made them from who cares to somewhat interesting. They will definitely be better than 4-12 from last year. They made a lot of FA signings and have drafted well the past 2 years. Favre is an upgrade, but not as significant as a lot of the experts are saying. Sure, he may add a few wins this year. Realistically, how many more years does he have left. Would they be better in letting Kellen Clemens develop or take a flyer on 1 year, 2 max, with Favre? I think this team is a 9-7 team at best. Problem is, this doesn't get you into the playoffs in the AFC. Favre will bring them publicity and excitement temporarily. However, I think the Packers are still in a better situation this year.

Summer Olympics - I really haven't been interested at all in the Summer Olympics since the games were in Atlanta. However, this year's Olympics has a lot of intrigue and NBC has done a great job in presentation. I've heard more buzz about this Olympic Games the past few days from friends, co-workers, media coverage, etc. than I have for the past 2 combined. The USA Basketball team, otherwise known as The Redeem Team, gets the bulk of the coverage. I think they will win the Gold easily. Kobe Bryant has shown a lot of leadership skills this year and on this team. That's what USA Basketball has been missing the past few years. All these basketball superstars really didn't have a leader and we are seeing more team basketball rather than individual agendas. I think the 2nd biggest reason for the buzz of this Olympics are the location. China is the most populated country in the world and just like real estate, location sells. Even though I don't agree with China's political agendas and really don't trust them, they have done a great job being a host country and the athletes seem happy to be competing over there.

Carolina Panthers - Final musing is about my hometown team, the Carolina Panthers. Their 1st pre-season game has come and gone. The 1st string, for those that played, looked good. Peppers looked like the old Peppers, the O-line looks like the real deal, and the Defensive Line as a whole looked better than I thought they would. Coming into this season, I thought the Defensive Line would be their weakness. I would have liked to see Delhomme play a longer series. He played mostly short series thanks to the defense. It was just the 1st pre-season game though. The Colts had a lot of key players out, including Peyton Manning, so who know if this game really gauges anything for the Panthers. A better Eagles team looms this week. Let's see if we see promise again this week or if we got the classic Carolina Panthers tease.